EXECUTIVE SUMMARY / In one short paragraph please describe this project and what it has achieved.
We will use this in any future publicity material.

The Council’s Leadership & Management Development framework, ‘Leadershipmatters’(LM), develops required leadershipskills andbehaviours across the Council’s 3,500 leadership population. Managers can choose to access individual programmes and development opportunities on a flexible and individually tailored basis based on development planning conversations via the 121 performance management process. The framework incorporatesa blended approach to facilitate a full range of learning styles including workshops, e-based learning modules, traditional paper-based self study materials and surgery discussion sessions based on case studies and particular project submissions. The LM framework was developed to:

- define a consistent, council-wide approach to leadership development

- enable access to development opportunities for all leaders and managers

- consistently promote key skills and behaviours required to achieve the Council’s strategic objectives

- support the ‘one council’ ethos and corporate initiatives.

PLANNING / · a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs
· contributes to organisation’s goals, community plan and SOA, and national policy context
  • The LM framework was developed in response to the assessments and findings of Investors In People (IIP), Best Value(BV), the Employee Attitude Survey(EAS)and the need for a consistent delivery platform for leadership development as part of the organisation’s performance management strategy which drives a ‘one council’ ethos. Furthermore, a newly formed council-wide Leadership Developmentteam had been formed andthe LM framework provided a transparent, easy to digest, simple development ‘shop window’ for the leadership population.
  • In addition, a series of stakeholder engagement sessions with key reps across the organisation’s 6 directorates ensured that all development options were ‘sense checked’and validated against local/organisational need.
  • LM provides the Council with a common leadership standard, benchmarked against our competency andbehavioural framework.
  • It is designed, delivered, evaluated and continually enhanced by the in-house design and consultancy team, resulting in cost savings by reducing the need for external delivery and design, while ensuring that benchmarking and ‘rubber-stamping’ of the framework’s components is achieved. Furthermore, any changes to policy, approach or strategic direction can be quickly incorporated into the existing materials and ‘just in time’ design and delivery is achieved, enhancing the speediness and relevance of the framework.
  • The development options cover a host of subject matter,including, people process and HR policy, leadership skill, Public Sector Environmentandcurrent ‘big ticket issues’: eg Partnership Working, Workforce Planning, Local Government in Context.
  • LM realises that without the correct investment in developing leaders, strategic goals will not be achieved.Every component part of the LM framework links to organisational need and key organisational deliverables.

DELIVERING / · implemented in all relevant areas and across all the required stakeholders
· carried out in a structured and logical way , using robust and sustainable methods

The launch and promotion of the LM framework involved initial launches, normally hosted by a Director/Service Head, with a range of publicity materials including the intranet, posters, leaflets, seminarsandstaged events throughout the organisation.The framework has been sponsored by the Chief Executive and his team. Furthermore, a series of meetings with the directorate and operational teams ensured wide-spread face to face framework engagement.

There are a number of core compulsory modules, such as absence management or leading change, as well as core management skills, for example ‘Coaching Culture’ or ‘Creative Problem Solving’. All development options within LM are linked to the organisation’s competency framework and the achievement of organisational objectives and key sources which inform the framework include IIP, Best Value(BV), Employee Attitude Survey(EAS) and ‘Achieving Excellence’(AE), the Council’s performance management programme. Over 1800 managers have accessed facilitated modules under the LM1, LM2 and Talent Pool initiatives and hundreds more have accessed e-learning development modules. There is also the ability to ring-fence module/programme delivery to specific groups and ‘bespoke’ where necessary.

INNOVATION + LEADING PRACTICE / ·Demonstrates leading practice
·Achieves genuine innovation or new ways of working
  • The Council required a flexible development product, accredited and benchmarked against recognised leadership standards, and one which provided external auditing of its materials and development processes.
  • LM provides a consistent, easy to access management development framework which supports the organisation's competency and behavioural framework.
  • LM recognises that people have differentdemands on their time and therefore offers numerous options for staff development. Selected key framework components are summarised below:

LM1 – Front line Development Programme

-Key entry point accessible by all managers regardless of position / experience

-Core non-negotiable modules ensures a level of basic consistency cross-council

-Additional ‘PicknMix’ modules allow flexible development on a needs only basis

-Blended with e-learning activity to meet different learner needs and reduce costs

-Flexible entry – module only development or ILM (Institute of Leadershipand Management) certification route at 2 levels of study: internationally recognised awards

-External partners allowing benchmarking and design/delivery standards: StevensonCollegeand theInstitute of LeadershipandManagement

-Runner Up in the ‘Government in Business Awards: Workforce Development’ May 2010

-Continually exceed programme evaluation scores: Average is 8.8/10, organisational SLA is 7.5/10

LM2 – Middle/Senior Leadership Development Programme

-First council in Scotland to design and launch the programme developed jointly in partnership with the Improvement Service, NapierUniversityand the Institute of Managementand Leadership Practice

-Blended with e-learning activity to meet different learner needs and reduce costs

-Flexible entry module - only access for specific areas of individual development or academic certification route at 3 levels of study, Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma or Masters

-Exploited opportunities to invite other councils to experience the modules / programme through ‘taster’ events – desire to share knowledge and approaches confirmed

Talent Pool

-Key component of the Council’s workforce planning strategy and driven by department Directors

-Assessment of high potential and high contributing staff identified as critical for posts / retention

-Skills development programme built around competency analysis via 360° and development centre feedback

-Assessment / Feedback via externally validated tools and a mix of internal/external assessors

-Blended development options including Coaching, Mentoring, action learning sets, self awareness tools. Leadership seminars hosted externally via the Institute of Management Studies also provide networking opportunities with other public and private sector organisations.

Coaching Bank:There was a need within the Council to increase the coaching capability of managers at a low cost. Drawing on the core modules within LM1 and LM2, thecreation of the Internal Coaching Bank is a natural progression.The Coaching Bank makes use of the potential already existing within the Council by training and developing existing managers to become dedicated internal coaches through the process recognised by The Association for Coaching. This cost effective, internal resource will prove invaluable to the Council moving forward into challenging times.

E-Learning

-content provided by AshridgeBusinessSchool, Learning Nexus and P2 Project Management

-blended with classroom events meaning that time off service and cost to deliver have reduced

-authoring tool enables the team to produce own materials resulting in huge savings

-Edinburgh was the first council in Scotland to introduce the Brightwave e-learning platform – this has now been adopted by 14 other councils and is growing

-‘@home’ access allows developmental access 24/7 from any internet point

RESULTS + IMPACT / · a convincing mix of customer perception and internal performance measures
· clear line of sight to the delivery of the Single Outcome Agreement
· a full range of relevant results showing improvement over time

LM1 : Over 1340 managers have accessed the programme and feedback evaluation on the modules has exceeded expectations. Employee opinion scores have also increased in a number of areas as a direct result of the programme, e.g. absence rates have reduced and staff attitudes and uptake to the Performance Review process have increased. Programme feedback consistently exceeds the service level agreement of 7.5/10. As a result of the high take-up by managers, the cost per head has reduced since inception from £284 to £55.

Talent Management (TM): Now in year 5, the programme goes from strength to strength and is seen as a key engagement and retention tool as part of the HR/People Strategy. Programme success comes in the form of a number of talent pool members: 1) gaining promotion within the organisation; 2) exiting the organisation to fill jobs at same or higher level. 3) Moving across the organisation into other areas. Recent evaluation and feedback statistics include:

- 95% feel more motivated, engaged and valued by the organisation

- 95% feel better able to take on more responsibilityandbelieve their performance has improved

- 100% participants would recommend the programme to others (also supported by manager)

- Candidate quotes include:

‘TM has given me a chance to work with colleagues across the city, who I would not have contact with', ‘My confidence has improved in dealing with more complex management issues’, ‘I have gained more insight into my strengths and weaknesses andaware of my perceived performance.'

Coaching Bank: The expected outcomes of the Leadership Matters Coaching modules and the Coaching Bank service are increased engagement, motivation and a cultural shift towards a coaching style of management, enhanced performance and an increase in organisational KPI’s, including EAS scores andattendance rates. It will strongly support and enhance the work in the Edinburgh Improvement Model, Best Value and the organisation’s performance management programme, and contribute towards the re-achievement of IIP. Other elements which are products of coaching, are improved well-being at work, a more positive solution focused approach to work challenges and improved communication and interpersonal contact, all of which contribute enhanced performance.

E-Learning: Edinburgh is the first council to launch the Brightwave e-learning platform which has now been taken across 14 local authorities in Scotland. Other successes in e-learning have been:

- the ability to respond to large scale roll out programmes across a population size of up to 18,000

- the freeing up of development team / resources generally to concentrate on more value added activity such as coaching, consultancy, project work and bespoke design / delivery

- the ability to build internal expertise and build our own materials and not incur heavy design costs externally

- enter into a ‘sharing protocol’ with other councils allowing resource sharing and reduction in design time/costs

- realising cost savings – top 5 projects realised over £800k in savings versus traditional approaches

-increased demand for tailored events facilitated by the team, saving money on external consultants

-increased demand to build e-learning content internally.

Recently, key elements of the LM framework received commendation in a successful IIP re-accreditation exercise. Douglas Hall IiP Managing Assessor stated:"The importance of people- management behaviours and skills for everyone in such a ‘managerial’ role is being recognised increasingly as fundamental to the motivation dand effectiveness of teams and individuals, particularly in times of change.This priority has been acknowledged by the Council through its initiatives ‘Leadership Matters1’ and ‘Leadership Matters2’, the combination of which offers development to all managers."

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