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The Business
Our client is a municipality providing a wide range of local government services to their constituents. While the organization is relatively small, they conduct their business in a highly regulated, complex, unionized business environment which demands a high degree of sophistication in their people management plans and practices.
The Engagement
Our client understands that attracting, motivating, including, and retaining the right people are fundamental to achieving their business goals. Furthermore they recognized that they needed a revitalized and integrated HR Plan if they were going to meet their 5-year Strategic Plan. The challenge was their limited internal resourcing to achieve that goal: while they were successfully managing their everyday people needs with a high degree of professionalism and empathy, strategic HR initiatives were being performed off the side of someone’s desk.
They chose the Jackson Consulting Group to develop a strategic HR Plan encompassing contemporary attraction, development, and retention strategies, programs, and tools.
What We Did
Methodology
When choosing our methodologies, we consider our clients’ needs, their employee make-up, people and team dynamics, strategic goals, budget, and their values and cultural nuances.
In this project we used a holistic methodology i.e., as we moved through the project we collected and synthesized data on many of the deliverables simultaneously because many of the HR processes/services being reviewed and developed were interrelated and interdependent; furthermore this allowed for time and budget efficiencies.
We used face-to-face and telephone structured interviews, focus groups, and on-line questionnaires to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. Our primary aim of this stage of the project was to gather information, however, it was just as important for us to build trust and gain support from all stakeholders – we did this through actively listening, regularly and consistently communicating the goals of the project, readily sharing our tools and knowledge, focusing on what was working, and demonstrating genuine empathy towards the challenges individuals were sharing.
Unanticipated benefits
While we were focused on strategic HR, our client continued to manage their everyday HR needs, including recruiting a member for their leadership team. Through discussion, it became evident that our client had not overtly articulated the leadership success competencies for their organization. We saw this as a cornerstone component of their HR strategy so, as part of the original project budget, we quickly helped them to identify and validate a Leadership Success Profile for recruitment, feedback, development, and succession purposes.
Analysis
After careful analysis of all current HR documentation, programs, and policies and input from all stakeholders, we created draft documents and approach for all the deliverables including: a review of HR capacity; performance and development program and tools; a sustainable leadership development and succession strategy; and a review of the excluded compensation framework. Our focus was to ensure that all components of the HR Plan aligned with our client’s strategic and operational plans, were socially and economically viable, and that the design reflected practices to promote and sustain a healthy and positive workplace environment.
Results
For our client it was important to present to Council an HR plan (plus contemporary programs and tools) that had been carefully developed in light of the municipality’s 5-year Strategic Plan, the size and culture of the organization, input from key stakeholders, and science and best practice research. Our clients were delighted that we met that brief on time and within budget and that Council approved the HR plan without revision.
Since that initial engagement, we have continued to work with the municipality to provide Performance Management and Development training as they transition to a more contemporary approach of continuous feedback and coaching. In addition, we have helped them to develop a legally sound and attractive recruitment methodology. Our client’s complex and sophisticated human resource environment cries out for strategic HR and organizational development expertise – we are delighted to provide them with that on-going consulting resource so that these initiatives are no longer tackled off the side of someone’s desk.