It is commonly said that the workforce is the greatest single expense and the greatest asset in the public services. Councils are often the biggest employers in their local community and the performance of the organisation is influenced as much by the leadership, development, management and motivation of the workforce as by business structures, systems and processes.
No-one is ‘the finished article’ in their role and every manager, supervisor and employee needs to commit to continuous personal development to make the best possible contribution to the performance of their organisation, and to personally succeed in the career. If organisations need to continuously improve – so does their workforce. It is critical that councils see themselves as ‘learning organisations’, investing in the development of their workforce, giving opportunity for employees to innovate and constructively challenge the ‘tried and tested’ ways of doing things, and supporting the exchange of learning across organisations.
Strategies for people development include:-
- human resources strategy
- workforce development planning
- training and development strategy
- organisation development strategy
- skills audits and training needs analysis
- professional development programmes
- continuous personal development and appraisal
Methods for developing skills and potential include:-
- formal professional qualifications
- competency based skills programmes
- knowledge acquisition programmes and events
- action learning sets
- coaching and mentoring
- placements and secondments
- leadership development and change management programmes
- networking with other councils and other partner organisations
- peer exchanges and peer learning
Elected members, as employers and as politicians, also need support to meet their development needs. Member development is covered on a separate page.
For more information contact: Daniel Hurford