Strategic Leadership and Development
Group Meeting Synopsis
Tuesday 24th January 2012
Present:
· Lucy Marder Herefordshire (Chair)
· Lee Foley Wolverhampton
· Shelley Howell Birmingham
· Laila Doman Stratford
· Jeremy Snape WMC
· Samantha Darby WMC
Apologies:
· Karen Canavan Sandwell
· Richard Luckman Sandwell
· Tracy Leonard Warwick DC
· Sue Evans Warwickshire and Academy
· Sarah Getley Staffordshire
Introductions
1.0 Minutes from the last meeting
The group agreed the minutes were an accurate representation of the previous meeting.
2.0 SLDG Chair and Vice Chair
The following nominations were confirmed in the meeting as part of the 12 month review:
· Lee Foley to take the role of chair
· Lucy Marder as vice chair
The group thanked Lucy for her work as chair over the first 12 months of SLDG.
Standing Items
3.0 Achievements Update/Work Programme Progress
3.1 Coaching Conference: Feedback from November’s event was very positive, with many people appreciating the use of ‘Pool Grown Talent’ in the form of Christian van Nieuwerburgh who delivered a keynote address on the day. There were some delegates who were requesting more use of pool coaches at the event, but others still wanting the big names that we have had in the past. SLDG acknowledged that as the coaches have advanced (many now having at least 4 years coaching experience) we need to ensure the appropriate level of stretch and quality from future contributors, as well as recognising the benefits from using our Pool grown talent.
It was agreed/actions:
· Could look to involve coaches in the planning of this year’s event (not just board members)
· Need to ensure workshops are practical and may require deeper discussions with speakers before confirming them for the event so we can establish relevance and content.
3.2 Coaching Evaluation: Feedback from client and coach survey’s carried out at the end of 2011 have provided very positive results about how the pool is progressing and providing value to organisations involved.
It was agreed/actions:
· We need to use the evaluation data to raise the profile of the pool and give further credibility to the coaches as ‘thought leaders’ and hence we could become the big conference names of the future.
· It was suggested to get articles in: MJ, Personnel Today, LGID, journals and The Guardian Public Leaders Network.
· Details about the annual conference should be included in articles to raise the profile and broaden potential audience.
· Lucy also offered support, through Herefordshire’s communications team, for press releases.
3.3 ROI: Jeremy has now completed a number of impressive ROI case studies for delegates who have accessed Catalyst, Coaching and partners of the WMJobs website. Case studies are available from: www.wmjobs.co.uk/otheremployers/roi.
It was agreed/actions: SLDG members and other organisation leads involved in the projects should be encouraged to share the ROI data and website with senior managers within their organisations and use internal communications and bulletins to promote awareness.
3.4 WM360 Extension: The WM360 contract has been extended for an additional 2 years to March 2014, therefore giving us the ability to continue providing cost effective 360 reviews to organisations. There are currently 6 partners signed up to the system and many others using it on an adhoc basis where reviews are managed through the People and Leadership Team. Coventry City Council is also looking to join to provide 360 reviews alongside a number of their in house ILM programmes.
It was agreed/actions: Lucy offered to speak to any organisations thinking about linking 360 feedback to development programmes as they have managed to do this successfully in Herefordshire.
4.0 Areas of Concern
4.1 Training Teams becoming Traded Organisations
A number of organisations have indicated that they have or are to move towards a traded service, looking to provide training and development solutions to generate income. This is obviously a potential threat to the regional programmes. In particular there have been conversations about the desire to promote a coaching service, or for employees of these organisations to be added to our paid coaching pool. A question was also raised as to whether organisations have a policy to move to in-house delivery rather than accessing externally delivered programmes, such as Catalyst.
It was agreed/actions:
· Jeremy to carry out further investigation to the policies of different organisations with regards to accessing external training as well as a potential move to offering L&D services externally
· Need to make sure all our products clearly outline their unique selling points. Group members to share these with others they work with to support promotion and involvement.
5.0 Regional and National Update
- WMC have been working to develop a national Pay Bench Marking tool that should make it cheaper for local authorities to carryout pay bench marking. This maybe relevant to our agenda going forward in relation to compentecy frameworks and pay and rewards.
- WMC has issued a Pay Policy Statement & Guidance to authorities setting out a minimum standard required in respect of senior officers published pay.
Main Business
6.0 Future Focus
SLDG considered two proposals for products that could be developed as a regional offer: Team Coaching and a Regional Mentoring Pool. Following research shared about the different options it was determined that the People and Leadership Team only had capacity to deliver on one of these in the immediate future. The decision for SLDG was not only to agree whether to progress with either option but which should take priority.
It was agreed/actions: Mentoring is the preferred choice as it has a wider appeal, broadens the opportunity for development thorough the regional projects and more partners can be easily involved.
Further details about the discussions for each project are outlined below.
7.0 Team Coaching
The group discussed the research provided about team coaching. Although they could see the merit in the team coaching approach there was little consensus about how it could be utilised across the region. There were only 4 members in the discussion but the potential use and appetite for developing team coaching varied massively, due to the differences in available resources, culture and demand.
It was therefore agreed that at present there was not enough backing to progress with team coaching from a regional perspective. It will, however, be reviewed again in the future.
8.0 Mentoring
The group discussed the report issued about mentoring, which included research and results from a regional survey. It was agreed that there is a clear desire for mentoring in the region and agreed that a regional pool would help provide external mentors for individuals that are in high profile positions and may not wish to be mentored by someone internally. In addition, the Pool may also offer access to individuals with skills or professional standing unavailable internally.
Proposed mentoring programme to include:
· Light touch mentor training delivered through partners i.e. facilitators in partner organisations who have previous experience of delivering mentoring training.
· Matching site – supporting both internal and external mentoring (i.e. to access mentors from within your own organisation or the regional pool)
· For each mentor put into in the pool an organisation can gain access to an external mentor for their employees
· Upfront charge to be part of the pool – covering management costs.
· Start with a staged approach where the mentor pool focussed on supporting CEO’s, Directors, Heads of Service and Service Managers, (if successful will look to roll out wider for other levels of staff).
It was agreed/actions:
· Share the proposed approach with potential partners to gain interest.
· Get some clarity for the following questions:
· What volume of demand do potential partners believe there will be?
· Interest for mentoring in professional domains?
· Why would someone choose mentoring over coaching? Create a clear distinction.
· The mentoring pool should be promoted alongside coaching and, if possible, through a joint matching site.
· Coaching Pool Board to look at initially, but open out so that other organisations can get involved in the development.
· Lucy to forward information to PLT about the Strategic Health Authority mentoring pool for background information
· PLT to provide SLDG details about feasibility and progress at next meeting
9.0 Engagement Update
There has recently been some movement with regards to organisations who were previously not involved in our projects coming on board with activities. This has initially been in regards to delegates being placed on the Accelerate programme. In addition Shropshire, Worcestershire and Stoke have all shown interest in joining up to the Coaching Pool programme.
10.0 Paid Coaching
To date 6 individuals have accessed paid coaching through the new service launched in September last year. The service has generated income with only a small draw on the time from the People and Leadership Team. Although still early days, no concerns previously raised by SLDG members have materialised.
It was agreed/actions:
· SLDG approved the continuation of this service and promote more widely as a WMC coaching offer.
11.0 Items for the next meeting
o Mentoring Update
o Are the right people in SLDG – review of membership
o Continuing Catalyst
o Update on Lumesse Talent Management Modules
Next SLDG Meeting
24th April 2012, 10am-1pm, The Partnership Centre, Birmingham.
Samantha Darby, People and Leadership Consultant
E: T: 0121 245 0156
W: www.wmcouncils.gov.uk/peopleandleadership
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