Drive For Change Website
Last updated: 24/3/2006
When developing a framework for employee engagement and consultation it is important to start with basic principles of joint working.
Capacity building means equipping people with the skills and support they need to participate in staff involvement. It also means that those involved can acquire the necessary skills for joint working.
By offering activities and support to build capacity, the message is clear that people from all levels of the organisation are being supported and encouraged to get involved.
Everyone needs to feel confident that they can contribute on an equal basis even though their skills and experience may be different. At a practical level, all participants will have training needs to refresh or new skills to learn for a new way of working. In addition, some people will need support and development in new areas or activities such as understanding financial information.
To be representative and reflect the diversity of the workforce, the team may need to attract people who might otherwise choose not to get involved. Getting involved can be promoted as a learning and development opportunity. Capacity building also helps ensure that people don't drop out because they feel out of their depth or believe they have nothing to contribute.
Capacity building is a process that will need to evolve as joint working develops. It will be particularly important in the early stages as it helps build the foundations for success. It can involve a wide range of training and developmental activities, such as identifying training or development needs, basic skills provision, conflict resolution skills, problem-solving techniques etc.
The programme or plan for capacity building has to be appropriate to the organisation, its workforce and the partnership model. It should be jointly designed and have the active support of union representatives.
Training and development needs may be explored with union learning representatives (ULRs). These are union members trained to encourage their colleagues to explore the learning opportunities available to them at work. ULRs have statutory rights that provide them with paid time off to train for, and to carry out, their roles of supporting their members in accessing learning and engaging with employers in delivering provision. Visit www.learningservices.org.uk for information on the learning opportunities available through TUC.
By building capacity, a more representative and diverse group of people will be involved. This increases the legitimacy of the joint working project within the organisation. In addition, the organisation is seen to be putting its policies on diversity and learning and development into practice.
There are also benefits from having a wider pool of talent to draw on for joint working. Fresh ideas are brought to the table. New champions may emerge. People take the transferable skills they have acquired through their involvement back into the workplace.
Building capacity increases the momentum for change and contributes to breaking down barriers that inhibit involvement.
Since there had been very little experience of staff engagement within the department, it was important for the project to break down traditional bureaucratic union/management relationships.
After establishing overarching terms of reference for the project, four working groups were set up, with representatives from the management team and unions. An explicit goal was set to involve managers and staff who did not usually get involved in the formal bargaining mechanisms. Importantly team members should understand the remit of the project and have the necessary skills to undertake the work.
To get started, two training sessions were carried out, one on understanding the culture of an organisation and the other on running focus groups. These helped give members a grounding in joint working and running a project.
The second stage involved working group meetings to enable members to scope out their work and set up a timeline of activities. These were also important for teambuilding and assessing the team's skill base.
The authority realised that releasing staff from their posts would be crucial for the project to succeed. On the whole, most participants received time off from their normal duties to enable them to carry out this work. This project has given most of the participants their first experience of collaborative working within the authority and widened their skill base. More importantly, it has widened employees' understanding of and involvement in improving service delivery.
Catherine Griffiths from the management team states that the project has trialled a new way of working and this has shown that jointly agreed policies can work. She says: "it created a environment to show joint working is possible, the challenge now is to mainstream it". The lessons learned from the working groups need to be embedded in future working to enable a culture of joint working to be developed beyond this initial project. Catherine recommends that key project activities such as focus groups, surveys and meetings should be run between managers and unions as joint partners, underpinned by jointly agreed terms of reference and action plans.