Hello PPMA members and friends

Keeley Metcalfe is this our 2018 HR Rising Star runner up and in this post, she gives us an update on what has been happening since the competition.

“Thanks to the PPMA and the LGA I recently had the unique opportunity to share my business case with the UK’s Chief Social Worker for Adults, Lyn Romeo, in Westminster.

It was a great privilege to be invited to Westminster, kindly arranged by Suzanne Hudson from the LGA, but presenting the case was the easiest part; it’s now implementing elements of the project that is requiring some hard work, determination and creativity.

As a participant in the PPMA’s Rising Star competition I wrote a business case based on a project that proposes new approaches to attract and recruit staff to work in the care sector, a sector which is extremely difficult to recruit to nationally. Once the case gained recognition from the PPMA I was supported by my employer, North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) to implement elements as a pilot project.

In the last month I have started to build networks with partners who can make this become a reality, explaining the project and the benefits to their organisation, whilst also keeping it realistic.  There’s also the important factor of practicalities to consider; ensuring safeguarding requirements are met, time logistics and locations. The most difficult part is to think creatively and not to become fixed on the original format of the business case, to ‘make it happen’ is requiring me to look at it from different perspectives and let it evolve.

Taking part in the 2 day PPMA Rising Star event was a fantastic learning experience and the PPMA and LGA have set up some hot irons in the fire for me, but what I am learning most is that it’s down to me to seize these chances to ignite the flame and bring the project to reality.”

Keeley Metcalfe

PPMA Rising Star Runner Up, 2018

Hello PPMA members and friends

Lisa Rathbone from Swindon Borough Council is our 2018 HR Rising Star winner and in the second of our series of posts from participants of both the HR Rising Star and The One to Watch, she shares more about her working life and her experience of taking part in this brilliant competition.

What you do?

I’m Lisa Rathbone – a Learning and Development Consultant at Swindon Borough Council.  I love my role because we get involved in so many diverse projects and there are always new challenges!

 Why do you work in public service?

For me, it’s all about working together to improve outcomes for our residents, particularly supporting those who are the most vulnerable.  Through enabling and empowering our employees, I feel I have a tiny part to play in the amazing work of all our staff who strive every day to transform people’s lives – that’s incredibly special.

How did you feel about participating in Rising Stars?

It was a fantastic experience!  It was really inspiring to work with so many talented professionals and share ideas.  I was a bit nervous before, but everyone was supportive and cheering each other on, which made it great fun!

What did you learn about yourself from participating in the event?

Gosh, where to start?!  I’ve never shared before what personally drives me, so presenting my legacy statement to a room full of people was quite emotional.  Through that experience, I’m learning the power of owning your own story and harnessing that passion to create positive change – and I’m discovering that I’m ready now to take that step, which feels so liberating.  This is just the beginning of that journey!

Here is my Personal Legacy Statement

Voice… we all have one, but some are quieter than others – and some are barely heard at all…

I’d like to leave a legacy of listening, so that all service user and employee voices can be heard.  This empowerment will harness new ideas, galvanise energy and transform our public services.  I’d like to see organisations turned on their heads, so that change is driven by the people it will affect most.  This starts at the foundations by ensuring service users have a voice in decision making and that employees can influence strategy and direction, based on this service user insight.  Radical change will come from the bottom-up.

Numerous studies have outlined the positive benefits of service user and employee voice; however it is about so much more than that.  When I was younger, I was in receipt of specialist services where I felt I didn’t have a say in key decisions impacting my life.  I felt my insights didn’t matter; my opinions didn’t matter; I didn’t matter.  Voice is not just about business-sense, it is about respect, self-worth and sharing hope for a more positive future.

Truly valuing service user and employee voices would require a significant shift in leadership culture – our leaders need to be brave and humble.  Re-balancing power and challenging hierarchies is uncomfortable, but essential to ensure our public services are efficient, responsive and fit for the future.

My legacy will be a legacy of listening.

Their voices will be my legacy.

Lisa is a well deserved winner and we wish her a fantastic year ahead!

Lisa Rathbone, PPMA HR Rising Star 2018 and Learning and Development Consultant, Swindon Borough Council

Hello PPMA members and friends

The PPMA Rising Star and The One to Watch programmes took place recently, with the final being held over 2 days in Leeds. It was fantastic event and the wonderful group of talented people, enjoyed a variety of activities. Over the next few weeks we are going to be running a series of blog posts from some of the participants about their experiences.  In this first post, we hear from Keeley Metcalfe who was our Rising Star runner up.

“Earlier this week someone asked me if I consider myself to be an introvert or an extrovert. This question was raised because I was describing how I love my own space, taking time to relax in my own company and ‘switch off’ after a busy day at work. My colleague proposed that I was an introvert due to my love of solitude, but my thoughts immediately sprung to a recent situation at the PPMA HR ‘Rising Star’ competition where I clearly described traits of an extrovert. At the PPMA event we were tasked to work in a small group to produce and deliver a 5 minute ‘Children’s TV advert’ incorporating singing and dancing, with 20 minutes preparation. We had just met our group colleagues in the previous hour, so there was a need to communicate quickly, sing, dance and get on with it! Realising that we had to leave our inhibitions behind I suggested that we leave the meeting room to prepare and practice in the hotel lobby. My view being that if we can dance and sing in a public hotel reception area, we can certainly present to a group of 25 people who we had just met.

In short our group developed and delivered our tv advert for a toy called a ‘Flubberwotsit’, a tropical bird toy who has a ‘Great big beak and stompy feet’. Hopefully you can start to imagine the singing and dancing element….

Reflecting on my participation in the activity, I clearly displayed some of the traits of an extrovert; quickly problem solving through discussion, taking a shared leadership role, getting stuck in and not being concerned about what others thought (mostly those in the hotel reception who saw 4 people imitating a tropical Flubberwotsit’).

In summary, I think I am somewhere ‘in-between’ an introvert and an extrovert, it doesn’t really matter. I believe that what is more important is to have an ability to reflect on things you have done and how you behaved, assessing if you would do things differently next time. This helps personal development and learning and raises our own self-awareness, an essential skill in the world of HR. The PPMA Rising Star competition placed us in a variety of challenging situations to test our knowledge and skills. It’s a great opportunity to reflect on our own approach and to help us to learn about our reactions and recognise development needs.”

Keeley Metcalfe, Senior HR Adviser, North Yorkshire County Council

Hello PPMA members and friends

Leatham Green leads our excellent HR Rising Star and the new The One to Watch programmes. The finals were held recently in Leeds and Leatham tells us more about the event.

“We are now into our sixth year of PPMA’s award winning HR Rising Star initiative and 2108 has seen a major refresh with the introduction of a new sponsor, judging panel, event structure, location, and coaching team – so there is much to share with you!

While we have brought much change this year, the one thing that has remained constant is the inspiration which the event creates for everyone who gets involved. For me, this is such a great occasion to be part of – having the opportunity to connect with a community of talented young professionals is such a privilege watching every participant put their heart and soul into the experience. I am in no doubt that the future of HR and OD in public service is in fantastic hands and the professionals I have met deserve to have the spotlight illuminate their talents and passion for what they do and aspire to achieve.

There is something about HR Rising Stars that seems to attract snow as yet again the snow was falling when I arrived in to Leeds City – something we have become accustomed to as the snow has fallen at each event over the past 5 years! It was great for me to be back in Leeds – I attended University there in 1984 however recognised nothing of the City at all – but it was still as vibrant and welcoming as ever. I was delighted to be joined this year by the 2017 Peer into the Future winner, Sonia Grewal, Swindon Borough Council. It was fantastic to be able to co-host the event with Sonia – another first for 2018!

A huge thanks to Gemma Taskas, Deputy Chief Officer HR and her colleagues from Leeds City Council for supporting us so well. These events take so much organising and coordinating and the team made sure everything worked perfectly. We will be moving the event around the country each year, so if you would be wiling to host the event please do get in touch – alongside the hard work it is also great fun!

With the new location and venue came a new sponsor. For the past 5 years we have worked in partnership with Nick Heckscher and his colleagues at ManpowerGroup who will now be working with us on our Apprentice of the Year event. This year we have partnered with EY and one of their senior Directors Marcus Haddrell, joined us on the judging panel. The other judges for 2018 were Caroline Anderson, HR and OD Director, The Land Registry; Suzanne Hudson, Senior Workforce Advisor, LGA; and our Rising Star from 2016 Ashleigh Richards, Bristol City Council

To add to the mix, this year it was decided to have two spotlights to the event – our traditional HR Rising Star and a new feature called ‘The One to Watch’ – this was targeting HR professionals at the very start of their careers. The two groups of participants worked alongside each other on all of the activities with the exception of the ‘business case’ which was delivered by our Rising Stars only. This proved to be a great addition to the event and is something that we intend to continue with in future years.

Our official line up for 2018 was:

HR Rising Star
Dorothy Coleman: oneSource
Jessica Dolphin: Leeds City Council
Aruj Haider: Westminster City Council
Charlotte Hill: oneSource
Keeley Metcalfe: North Yorkshire County Council
Lisa Rathbone: Swindon Borough Council
Katie Rixon: Hertfordshire County Council
Loran Simpson – Powys County Council

The One to Watch
Oliver Fletcher, Somerset County Council
Ross Shawe, Swindon Borough Council
Sue Podmore, Leeds City Council
Alison Backhouse, Manchester City Council
Eric Stephenson, Bristol City Council
Imogen Comely, Bristol City Council
Jade Donnan Lee, Manchester City Council
Laura Guilliatt, Serco/ Lincolnshire County Council
Matt Burrows, Serco/ Lincolnshire County Council

The event opened with a morning of personal development and coaching followed by two days of activities testing our delegates skills in areas including personal resilience, spontaneity, operating under pressure, team work, communication, confidence and creativity. The performance of all delegates was outstanding and this made the judges task extremely difficult. The highlight was the slot where delegates shared their personal legacy statements which proved to be extremely powerful and moving. It highlighted that while we have a great deal of diversity in public service there are a number of common values that bind us together in wanting to make a difference to our local communities. We hope to share some of these stories in more detail over coming weeks.

After two tough, but rewarding days the judges made their deliberations and announced the following results:

HR Rising Star 2018
Lisa Rathbone, Swindon Borough Council
Runner- Up
Keeley Metcalfe, North Yorkshire County Council

The One to Watch 2018
Matt Burrows, Serco/ Lincolnshire County Council
Runner -Up
Oliver Fletcher, Somerset County Council
Highly Commended
Ross Shawe, Swindon Borough Council
Alison Backhouse, Manchester City Council

Caroline Anderson, one of our new judges for 2018 had this to say about her experience: “As a strong advocate of emerging talent, I was really pleased to be invited to participate in the judging/ coaching process. Being new to this event I wasn’t really sure what to expect but what a joy it turned out to be. Through a challenging and engaging programme of competition, assessment and development it took a group of mainly inexperienced HR practitioners (some at the very beginning of their careers) through a journey which saw them emerge as confident and competent professionals. They were able to hold the attention of an audience and their surroundings. It was both uplifting and validating of the profession/sector and left me feeling immensely proud and privileged to have been part of that journey.”

On behalf of our new sponsor EY, Marcus Haddrell reflects: “EY is a proud sponsor of PPMA and for me personally it was a great privilege to be part of the judging panel and witness the incredible talent on show and witness their remarkable journey of development over 2 days. I saw amazing passion for public service and innovative thinking by all participants and was left feeling we have a very bright future in public service with such talent in show. Rising Star winner Lisa Rathbone demonstrated amazing confidence, persuasive delivery and critical thinking throughout the event. Matt Burrows, our ‘One to Watch’ showed a depth of thought and willingness to learn that marks him out as an HR professional with great potential.”

We know that all of our 2018 stars have very bright futures ahead and we can’t wait to introduce our winners to you at our Annual Conference in April.

Thank you to everyone for making this year’s event so memorable and a huge success and if you have anyone you think deserves the opportunity to shine watch out for the launch of the 2019 event later this year.”

Leatham Green, PPMA HR Rising Star and The One To Watch Programme Lead and Founder, Mindful HR

Dear PPMA colleagues and friends.

It’s a belated New Year from me and all of us at PPMA.  We’ve all been incredibly busy here in January already and it sadly feels like Christmas and the New Year was an awfully long time ago.  I hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends.  My husband Kevin and I spent a few days over the holidays in beautiful Gloucester.  It was a wonderful opportunity to relax and reflect on what we have been doing since last April.

Time passes so quickly, but I feel very strongly that we have made some real progress with our Agenda and I’m looking forward to the rest of my term.  Since you last heard from me, I have visited colleagues in Northern Ireland, Scotland (our SPDS colleagues) and down in the South West, where our Regional Chair Julie Biggs and her colleagues put on a fantastic event focused on Wellbeing.

I also had the opportunity to talk at the HPMA conference in Leeds in November.  We’ve made some really positive and sustainable progress in building our relationships with other groups this year and it’s a constant inspiration to me to see the passion, commitment and energy of like-minded professionals up close.  I increasingly worry about our ability to keep abreast of change so it’s always refreshing to be with highly committed colleagues.

There is a key area though where I’m not sure that we are keeping up.  And that is the critical issue of our own professional development.  We heard from one of our Sponsors, Osborne Thomas at our October Northern Forum about research they had done with the LGA.  This showed that HR and OD professionals just aren’t focusing on their own development.  No I know we are busy BUT it’s critical we keep up with our own CPD.

I’m really pleased to say that Rising Stars and Apprentice of the Year 2018 programmes are underway.  Leatham Green is leading on this and I know he’s excited about entrants so far, but it’s critical we all continue to push these very important programmes.  Given the research I just mentioned, we can’t be satisfied until we have an overwhelming response to these programmes.

Turning my eye to this next few months, we’re obviously focusing on this years awards and of course Annual Conference in April.  Karen will be updating you more on this over the next few weeks, but don’t forget conference booking has been open for several months.  We’ve been using our social media channels heavily.

Talk of social media, this is one area that our new PPMA Business Admin and Marketing Support Officer will be working with us and TenHorizon on.  We failed to find a snappy title for our new full time role, but we absolutely succeeded in finding the right person for the role.  My final note for this blog is to introduce you to Grace Davies.  Grace has been with us since the beginning of January and she has already made herself a critical part of our team.  Grace has put together a short film below – go and make a cuppa and then listen to what she has to say.

Until next time and with very best wishes

Hello PPMA members and friends

We’re delighted to announce the launch of PPMA Rising Stars 2018. We’re looking for future HR & OD leaders to take to the stage and showcase how and why they believe they can inspire the future generation of HR & OD professionals across public services with their ideas at the Annual PPMA Conference in 2018.

To be in with a chance of winning this prestigious competition and presenting at the PPMA Annual Conference, we would like you to research and write a business case in fewer than 2,500 words presenting an idea around innovation through people in the delivery of HR/OD services across public services – an idea which generates curiosity – demonstrates passion in your profession – and brings benefit to the end user of the service. We are opening the door and look forward to seeing who steps through and what thought provoking ideas you have to share.

The competition is open to entrants from across the entire public service landscape. Whilst you don’t need to be a PPMA member, we’re confident you would want to join our great network of professionals once you participate in Rising Stars.

Selected entrants will be invited to Leeds for two days of personal coaching, communication and media skills workshops plus plenty of time to get to know your fellow HR & OD Professionals. You will also have the opportunity to present your project to our panel of judges. The three individuals with the highest scores will then be invited to attend the Annual PPMA Conference in April 2018 and the winner announced at our Gala Awards evening on the first night of conference.

Download the PPMA Rising Star entry form  and further information.  The closing date for entries is Monday the 22nd January and we look forward to some fantastic entries.