Y Bwrdd Rheoli
Management Board
Minutes of
meeting on 14 July 2014
13:30-15:00, Conference Room 4B
Present:
Claire Clancy (Chief Executive and Clerk) (Chair)
Nicola Callow (Head of Finance)
Anna Daniel (Head of Strategic Transformation)
Non Gwilym (Head of Communications)
Bedwyr Jones (Acting Head of ICT)
Elisabeth Jones (Director of Legal Services)
Mair Parry-Jones (Head of Translation and Reporting Service)
Kathryn Potter (Head of Research)
Mike Snook (Head of People and Places)
Craig Stephenson (Interim Director of Commission Services)
Dave Tosh (Interim Director of Assembly Business and Director of ICT)
Chris Warner (Head of Policy and Legislation Committee Service)
Siân Wilkins (Head of Chamber & Committee Service)
In attendance:
Joanne Gemma (Learning and Development Officer, HR) - for paper 2
Liz Jardine (Secretariat)
1.0 Introductions and apologies
1.1 The Board welcomed Joanne Gemma to the meeting to present, with Mike Snook, the paper on Corporate Induction. There were no apologies.
1.2 There were no declarations of interest.
2.0 Communications to staff
2.1 Bedwyr Jones would draft a note of the Management Board discussion for the news page.
3.0 Minutes of the previous meetings
3.1 Several amendments to the minutes of 23 June 2014 were recommended. It was agreed that social media would be revised to a corporate risk with a short term resolution date of September. It would also be noted that Safeguarding would be made a corporate risk. Anna Daniel agreed to provide clarification for the item on Assembly Member use of resources.
4.0 Corporate Induction
4.1 Mike Snook and Joanne Gemma introduced new proposals for induction for all new starters to improve the corporate induction experience and make it more timely. The new sessions would have a shorter, one-day format with a strategic focus, and be opened or closed by a Management Board member. Materials and some presentations would be provided and short, informative DVDs produced to provide an overview of the work of service areas and Commissioners.
4.2 The Board welcomed the proposal and agreed the recommendation to implement the revised corporate induction in the Autumn term, with a review after six months to identify any further improvements.
4.3 Actions:
· Service Heads to ensure line managers include meetings with other teams across service areas in the personalised induction programmes for new staff; HR to work with line managers to tailor further introductory opportunities;
· HR to ensure there is a read-across with the CPD team to make effective use of resources;
· HR to liaise with teams to link corporate and local induction arrangements and ensure there is an integrated, holistic approach to induction across the organisation.
5.0 Corporate Performance Report
5.1 Dave Tosh introduced the recommendations for changes to the indicators for future Corporate Performance reports; the next report for the period April to June 2014 was due to be published in the Autumn term.
5.2 Following a full year of reporting, Kathryn Hughes (Risk and Governance Manager) had reviewed the indicators with Service Heads and data providers. Based on the review some more meaningful indicators had been proposed.
5.3 The Board agreed the following:
· to move to quarterly data, reported on a termly basis;
· Heads of Service to work with Kathryn Hughes to identify specific measures in some areas, for example bilingual working, and to address the questions raised in the paper, by the end of August;
· to combine this work with that being done by Strategic Transformation Service on measuring benefits, where possible and appropriate; and
· that HR/resourcing information would be provided to the Investment and Resourcing Board.
5.4 The next Corporate Performance report would be reviewed by the Commission at their meeting on 29 September.
6.0 Performance Project
6.1 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).
6.2 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.
6.3 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.
6.4 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.
6.5 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
6.6 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.
6.7 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.
6.8 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).
7.0 Monthly Finance Report
7.1 Nicola Callow provided an oral update on the financial report to the end of June 2014. The main highlight was the current projected underspend and it was, therefore, imperative that service areas provided a clear indication of spend and priorities so that the Investment and Resourcing Board could make the most effective use of the available budget. Management Board were asked to ensure Finance were made aware of any plans or proposals that might be drawn upon at short notice.
7.2 Claire Clancy advised the Board that she had signed the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts (2013-14) and that the Auditor General would sign the next day. The report would then be laid before the Assembly.
8.0 Investment and Resourcing Board update
8.1 Nicola Callow provided an update on the Investment and Resourcing Board meeting held on 26 June. Two items had been discussed. The Board had asked Nerys Evans (Head of Facilities) to prepare a prioritised list of the programme of works; they agreed to all of the proposed works up to the end of the financial year, totalling £590k, which would be funded from the normal EFM budget plus additional investment.
8.2 Wayne Cowley (Project Manager) had presented an update on the HR/Payroll project, outlining the benefits and successes, together with lessons learned. The Board agreed to the allocation of additional funding for the completion of all work on Phase 1. A checkpoint would take place after Phase 1 to evaluate the project and gauge readiness for Phase 2 before the Board made its decisions on further expenditure. An independent review would also be undertaken. Lessons learned would be shared with Management Board.
Winding up the meeting
9.0 Any other business
9.1 Mike Snook provided an update on the Sabbatical policy, which was in the final stages of review, before circulation to Management Board (with indicative numbers of staff). Following this, it would be shared with the Trades Union.
9.2 Chris Warner confirmed that the interim policy on Safeguarding would be available before the launch of the Youth Engagement project on 16 July. There would be further work to integrate it with other policies, raise awareness and provide training.
9.3 The next meeting would be held on 15 September.