Corporate Services Policy and Review Panel - Thursday, 10th November, 2016 7.00 pm - Agenda and minutes

            To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8th September, 2016 (copy attached).

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 8th September, 2016 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

            Karen Edwards (Corporate Director), Alison MacLachlan (Organisational Development Officer) and Hannah Shuttler (Systems Thinking Analyst) will be attending the meeting to provide an update on the Organisational Development Strategy.

The Panel welcomed Karen Edwards, Corporate Director, and Alison MacLachlan, Organisational Development Officer, who gave a presentation updating Members on the Council’s Organisational Development Programme, which had been developed over a three to four year period.

            In 2013, the Council’s narrative had been created; “Rushmoor – fit for the future”. Members of staff had been involved in the process and had worked together to identify a common understanding of the changes that would need to be made by all staff in order for the Council to become financially sustainable. It was noted that there were four key themes to the narrative:

·         Political leadership

·         How we will work with residents, communities, local businesses and local partners

·         Leading and working together

·         Learning and developing together

            It was explained that the key themes of the narrative linked to core behaviours, which focused on how staff worked, not what they worked on. The length of the narrative had meant that it was difficult for staff to memorise and, therefore, small groups of staff to developed the ‘simple rules’, which summarised the principles; everyone matters, give it a go, continue to improve and take responsibility and see things through. It was noted that the simple rules used language that was easy to understand and were promoted around the Council Offices, which helped staff to remember and adopt the simple rules.

            The Panel was informed of the desired outcomes of the Organisational Development Programme, which included ensuring that the Council was a sustainable learning organisation. Other areas that the strategy hoped to improve was engagement with communities, residents, businesses and partners and supporting Members in their “local leadership” roles.

            In order to deliver the Council’s 8-Point Plan to achieve financial sustainability, the Organisational Development Programme was split into eight categories and examples of previous, current and future work was shared with the Panel. The Action Learning Programme was explained in detail and Members noted that the Council had trained twelve facilitators, nine of which had been accredited. The crucial conversation training was also explained as an example for ‘organisational skills’. Between August, 2016 – January, 2017 a total of 148 members of staff would have participated in two days of training. One Head of Service had qualified as a crucial conversation trainer, which meant that the Council had not needed to arrange external trainers for the sessions. Staff feedback from the sessions had been positive and it had encouraged a number of staff members to tackle difficult conversations that had previously been avoided.

            Members noted the launch of “My HR” in October, 2016, which was described as an e-portal for staff to access their payslips and view or update their basic employee information. There was an intention to include a functionality that would allow staff to claim mileage and overtime. The Panel questioned whether this system would be rolled out to elected Members and it was confirmed that this could be explored in the future.

            There had also been a focus on developing core  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

            To note the Panel’s work programme for the 2016/17 Municipal Year (copy attached).

The Panel NOTED that the remaining programme of work for 2016/17 would be considered at the next Mid-Cycle meeting, with all Members invited to contribute in advance.