Capability Reviews: Progress and Next Steps - The Civil Service

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Amongst the actions that we prioritised were: reshaping HR to deliver the strategy,whilst preparing for shared services, revamping the induction process, launching anew brokerage service and introducing a new learning and development offer. Theprogress we have made was highlighted recently by ‘People Week’, a new venturededicated to explaining how HR works, offering taster training sessions, HRsurgeries and seminars on the department’s new values. With over 80 events,proactive board endorsement and a range of different communication channels,People Week was a great success and an important demonstration to staff of howHR has become a proactive, customer-focused driving force for the department.The progress we have made has been acknowledged by the review team (“Werecognise the progress you have made through … improvements in Cabinet Officesystems, including tangible action in HR”), by a board member (“HR are definitelyon an upward trend”) and most importantly by staff (“It’s a very welcomedevelopment by the Cabinet Office for its staff”).’Case study: Performance management in the Department for Business,Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR)‘Every department has a challenge in building a high-performance culture at alllevels. In BERR we have made it very clear to everyone that objective setting andmid- and end-year reviews are a key part of their role as a member of thedepartment, and that a manager’s own performance will partly be judged by theirability to performance manage their staff.But compliance with the process is not enough: we see the key to a performanceculture being in the ability to give and receive honest feedback. To that end,members of the management board set time aside to give each other feedback andto work on feedback with their own staff. Cross-departmental training programmeshave also been established, which aim to address the issue from another angle. Forexample, there has been a very positive response to a diversity training programmefor senior managers, which included role-playing giving feedback to staff with verydifferent backgrounds from the manager.’At a year after the review:• Staff have responded to changes in performance management. Clear messageshave been communicated and the basics set up, with appraisals completed andpay awards paid on schedule. Some tougher conversations are being had on poorperformance and ‘priority movers’ (surplus staff) are being dealt with moreproactively (DCSF).38 COMMON CAPABILITY GAPS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS
Case study: Development work with directors in the Home Office‘A programme of targeted, practical workshops on skills related to peoplemanagement is currently being delivered for all directors in the Home Office.The workshops focus on:• coaching skills;• giving and receiving feedback; and• engaging people.The format centres on practising concrete skills in small groups, in the context ofdirectors’ own business situations.The workshops were commissioned in response to the skills assessment,development planning and person-profiling work carried out with directors in late2006 by means of structured one-to-one coaching. Participant feedback to date hasbeen good, showing improvement through the life of the programme. This approachreflects both our commitment to continuous improvement in delivery, and also thesense that this common learning experience may prove valuable in bringingdirectors together as a leadership group.We will be using some qualitative interviewing of deputy directors to evaluate whatbehavioural changes are taking place as a result of the directors’ workshops.We are now also planning to extend the programme of workshops to deputydirectors throughout the Home Office in early 2008, alongside more tailored workwith directorates on their leadership and learning needs.This will continue to be complemented by our successful series of high-profilemasterclasses (which participants have described as “inspirational” and “excellent”)and by executive coaching, workshops and corporate programmes.’Where departments are making less progress, we are seeing:• HR functions not yet capable of making a strategic input to the changeprogramme or the design of the future workforce. HR is seen as transactional andnot providing the support required by the business;• people management not regarded as a core role for managers; and• skills surveys and strategies too narrowly focused and not consistently foundedon a clear and strategic vision of the future workforce.What is most difficult for departments in improving skills, capacity andcapability?The biggest challenges are:• Performance management. Departments know that they need to focus on thisarea, which has consistently scored poor results in staff surveys, with only 33 percent of the SCS being satisfied with the way performance is managed in theirCAPABILITY REVIEWS: PROGRESS AND NEXT STEPS39
Page 1 and 2: Capability Reviews:Progress and Nex
Page 3 and 4: This has been an excellent example
Page 5 and 6: 1. Tranche 1 departments: a year on
Page 7 and 8: Department for Children, Schools an
Page 9 and 10: This will act as an innovative and
Page 11 and 12: • ‘Managing for improvement’:
Page 13 and 14: Home OfficeStarting from a low base
Page 15 and 16: Department’s wider agenda. Develo
Page 17 and 18: Ministry of JusticeThe MoJ was crea
Page 19 and 20: A number of significant programmes
Page 21 and 22: 2. Common capability gaps: progress
Page 23 and 24: later tranches have not been able t
Page 25 and 26: or hinder it:‘lack of leadership
Page 27 and 28: All of these aspects came together
Page 29 and 30: Case study: Collective leadership i
Page 31 and 32: • Engaging the wider SCS. This is
Page 33 and 34: Participants’ comments included:
Page 35 and 36: Consequently, the areas of focus su
Page 37: Building up the supply and demand s
Page 41 and 42: Case study: A skills strategy for g
Page 43 and 44: The recent CSR has emphasised the i
Page 45 and 46: At six months after the review:•
Page 47 and 48: Our challenge now is to ensure that
Page 49 and 50: • a more comprehensive approach t
Page 51 and 52: The Tranche 3 report identified the
Page 53 and 54: Case study: The Home Office Strateg
Page 55 and 56: The group is expanding to include l
Page 57 and 58: • The Sunningdale Institute facil
Page 59 and 60: Exhibit 3: Change trajectoriesCapab
Page 61 and 62: original reviews. The re-review wil
Page 63 and 64: Departments increasingly have to wo
Page 65 and 66: LeadershipKey questions that test c
Page 67 and 68: DeliveryKey questions that test cur
Page 69: Capability Reviews TeamCabinet Offi

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