Meetings

Deborah Hill was welcomed to the meeting to discuss the next steps for implementation of changes to the PMDR process. It had previously been agreed to improve the effectiveness of the system by:

·                putting emphasis on behaviours critical to the outcome of objectives;

·                using the existing competencies framework as a toolkit;

·                improving the quality of assurance through greater senior level involvement, sample checking and supporting managers; and

·                publishing guidance, providing training and raising awareness.

Management Board had previously agreed to introduce the changes from April 2015 on a gradual basis. It had been piloted informally in a couple of areas, including Research and CAMS, and worked well where staff were self-reflective, but there was a need to support the spread of good practice.  The Board had some concerns about the timescale but agreed to review the prepared guidance materials and comment on whether to go ahead with a voluntary introduction in March. There was some preference to restrict it to SEO level and above, using the guidance and evaluating before implementing fully in September.

As part of a support plan, HR would attend team meetings to explain the increased emphasis on setting competence based objectives and would offer further assistance and support throughout the process, including one to one coaching and drop-in sessions.

Actions:

·      Deborah Hill to send draft guidance materials urgently to Management Board, who would provide comments by return.

Oral item

Elisabeth Jones reminded the Board of their discussions in February, when it was agreed to revise our Performance Management and Development Review (PMDR) system and our culture to place more emphasis on behaviours i.e. “how” staff perform, rather than performance objectives being focused mainly on “what” staff are expected to deliver. The Board had also agreed in February to retain the existing competency framework (currently used mainly in recruitment).

Mike Snook then gave an update on progress of the project and outlined the stages for implementing the change. The first stage would run to September 2014 and would not involve any significant change for line managers or other staff. As usual, the PMDR cycle would be closed in September. The MyView system would be used, as it was in March, to capture the performance review. The only changes would be improvements to the MyView system, such as the ability to include text over 2000 characters in an attachment, and using separate report documents within MyView for each six months of the reporting year, i.e. the next cycle would close in March 2015. Where objectives needed to be carried forward from one reporting period to another this could be done automatically through the system’s in-built functionality.. Guidance and support would be provided and would pick up on learning from the initial use of the MyView system for capturing mid-year performance conversations in March.  Good communication was paramount and, in addition to publishing guidance on the intranet, the Learning and Development team and MyView Ambassadors within each service area would be on hand to provide face-to-face support.

The second stage would run to March 2015. The key change to be introduced in March 2015 would be that managers and staff would set new objectives at that point, placing increased emphasis on behaviours. The first performance review of this new approach for most staff would therefore take place in September 2015.

However, the HR and Legal teams would be piloting this new approach from September 2014. It was also noted that Research Service had already piloted the new approach in a light-touch way. Kathryn Potter reported that feedback had been positive; although a big cultural change was needed for staff to talk about behaviours rather than outcomes, the result delivered was more valuable.

Management Board expressed disappointment that the change to discussion of behaviours would not take place until March 2015, but recognised that this was the result of unavoidable priorities and pressures impacting on the HR team

It was agreed that the Board would receive proposals on how the competency framework, with an emphasis on quality conversations, would be brought into the PMDR process in practice, in time to be able to agree the way forward for implementation for the March 2015 reporting cycle.  To support this, the Learning and Development team would visit the London Borough of Bromley (by the end of July) and would then be in a position to advice how best to proceed with implementing the competency model on the new HR/Payroll ICT system.

It was emphasised that a PMDR review should already be a quality conversation about the employee's performance and development. All members of Management Board were asked to seek to ensure this within their Service areas; it was not something that needed to wait until the introduction of the changes in March.

Actions:

• Mike Snook to ensure that the learning from the pilot exercise is captured and informs our approach.
• Management Board members to ensure that PMDRs are completed on time and that quality conversations take place (reviewing the previous PMDR year, refreshing and resetting objectives for the next 6 months and identifying any development needs).