OD Strategy Session: v1 Sept 2015
Organisation Development Strategy and Priorities 2015/16
Facilitation Guidelines for Managers
The following guidelines are to accompany the slide deck from the COO Networking lunch event on
14th September so that you can discuss colleague engagement and cascade the information from this
event to your colleagues and/or teams. You may use the slide deck as an aide memoir to share what
happened on the day or in conjunction with the facilitator notes below to run a more interactive
session.
Preparation
To complete the cascade of information and facilitation of the exercises with your team we
recommend the following in terms of preparing for the event:
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Distribute a copy of the Organisation Development (OD) strategy to all colleagues prior to
the event or instruct them to review the document via the Engagement section of the HR
web pages on the staff site.
Prepare copies of the OD strategy for use on the day and ensure that if you are aiming to use
the slide show as a presentation that you have suitable AV equipment available to allow for
the engagement video to be played as part of the presentation.
Should you wish to ask your colleagues and team members to complete personal
commitment cards please contact the HRD team for copies of these.
Briefing guidelines
The slide deck that accompanies this briefing is the same as that used at the COO Networking lunch
and thus includes all the elements to allow for your briefing to mirror the activities and interaction
on the day. The timings in the first column are a useful guide.
Alternatively you may use these slides to just inform your colleagues of what happened at the event
and take the opportunity to share what you and your colleagues’ views at the event were.
The text marked in bold print identifies key messages to share with your colleagues
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OD Strategy and Plan overview
What is OD?
Using slide 1, bullet 1, introduce the concept of Organisation Development (OD) and how it
improves the functioning of individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole.
On revealing bullet 2, emphasise that OD is not something that is owned by HR or delivered
to departments and individuals by HR, but is in fact something that is owned and practiced
by Leaders and Managers within the organisation, supported and facilitated by HR/OD
professionals. In fact we all have a part to play in this and by being here today you are all
in effect practitioners in OD.
On revealing the third bullet stress the importance of the OD strategy and plan enabling the
organisation to deliver its strategy and vision and how “strong colleague engagement” is
vital in doing this.
Make reference to the last SES results and feedback from colleagues referring to a greater
level of engagement in change management practices being needed/wanted.
Colleague Engagement
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To get a feel for what the audience think about colleague engagement, ask the following
question:
“What do you think of when you hear the term Colleague Engagement?”
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Gather views from around the room. Anticipated responses may include
 It’s about talking to your staff
 It’s about change
 It’s just another way of saying employee engagement
 It’s about gathering views and opinions of staff members
 It’s about involving employees in decision making
 I don’t know
It will be important to acknowledge any responses from the group and to challenge
appropriately any negativity or cynicism and acknowledge their reasons for this.
Reveal the speech bubble examples to clarify how we are seeing Colleague Engagement
within our plan
Summarise the views and clarify using the slide speech bubbles with the fact that we use
‘Colleague’ rather than ‘Employee’ as the latter infers that this is something that is DONE TO
rather than the former being DONE WITH.
It is also something that is becoming increasingly important for successful organisations as it
refers to a state of “being” where people feel valued and have a passion for work that
leads to better wellbeing for the individuals and the organisation as a whole. This was
identified as a key SES priority for the organisation
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State that engagement is not something, as an organisation, you can demand, instead it
needs to be something that an individual feels for themselves. All an organisation can do
is create an environment where individuals want to come in to work each day and
contribute to the organisations goals.
Ask the group:
“What makes a great employer great? What would you want from them?”
Ask for one or two volunteers to share their thoughts and look for how many others in the
room thought something similar.
Ask them to hold on to those thoughts as we run through the following 4 enablers to
Colleague Engagement and see how they fit in with this model.
Move to the slide referring to the four key enablers of Colleague Engagement (CIPD) run
through the 4 enablers clarifying in your own terms what these mean.
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Visible, empowering leadership that provides a strong (1) STRATEGIC NARRATIVE
about the organisation, where it’s come from and where it’s going – Think of it as a
flotilla all heading in the same direction but not all doing things exactly the
same way.
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(2) ENGAGING MANAGERS who focus their people and give them scope, treat their
people as individuals and coach and stretch their people – PDR’s and coaching
conversations
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There is (3) COLLEAGUE VOICE throughout the organisation, for reinforcing and
challenging views; between functions & externally; colleagues are seen as central
to delivering change and improvements
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There is organisational (4) INTEGRITY & TRUST – stated values are embedded into
organisational culture and are reflected in day to day behaviours. There is no “saydo” gap
(NOTE) be prepared for some potential resistance and challenge to these as there may be
historical issues around some of these areas.
Restate that these are the things that great organisations do, and that we acknowledge
there is some history here that may demonstrate the opposite of this as much as there may
be some that supports these. Today is about acknowledging where we are or have been and
moving forward to where we want to be – the kind of workplace that we’d like to create.
We’ll share and explore these views and opinions a little more fully in the ‘Hats’ activity
shortly.
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So what’s different this time?
 We have a clear vision and strategy of where we want to be as an organisation and
this has been developed with colleagues and not in isolation by one or two
individuals
 We have a dedicated OD function whose sole aim is to facilitate and support the
delivery of the University vision and strategy providing individuals and teams with
development and support to best enable them to contribute to this
 We are encouraging all PDR objectives to be aligned to strategic priorities so
everyone can see how they will personally contribute to the University’s success.
 We have a clear Strategic plan and priorities
OD Plan
Show the Grid and advise that we have started the OD strategy with identifying some key
priorities in each of these areas. They will be able to view the strategy and priority plan in
the engagement section of the HR web pages
Identify that the areas marked with the red circles are those that we are likely to be
delivering in the next 12months, making sure to reference as the final point item number 2
in the Colleague Voice as the link in to the Best Companies survey.
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Best Companies
Segway and intro
 We’ve heard about some of the things which help a workforce to feel engaged. I’m
going to talk to you now about how we start to bring that to life here at Salford and
develop ourselves more strongly into the type of University that we really want to work
for – the particular strand I’m focusing on is the enabler in the purple box – COLLEAGUE
VOICE – and a main initiative that is taking place as part of this.
 I’ll talk you through our leadership’s decision to implement a national workforce
engagement survey and tell you a little bit more about this survey, the timescales, etc.
Story so far (SLIDE)
 Since 2008 we’ve used the internal Staff Experience Survey to get your input, views and
opinions on working at the University. This compared internally across schools and
professional services, and enabled a national comparison using the ‘engagement
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funnel’, but as it was a tailored survey just for us, it allowed no other comparisons.
Though the survey provided useful information:
o We’ve not consistently action-planned across the University
o Change hasn’t been as good as it should have been
o Other change activity and the leadership culture across the organisation has
side-tracked us from focusing on implementing survey recommendations
The criticism is that students have a very clear voice and strong role in driving change
through the NSS but we currently have a weak colleague voice. Staff views aren’t serving
to highlight issues or drive improvements for our workforce and the university in the
same way.
We need better balance of the information used to improve the University for all of us.
There are pockets of excellence and engagement, but these have not become
widespread or commonplace to enable our University to become a great workplace
where we feel engaged.
SES and NSS results demonstrate that there’s a clear case for change
Intro to Best Companies (SLIDE – So what’s different now?)
Therefore…
 We’ve decided this year to use an externally benchmarked workplace engagement
survey.
 The company selected is ‘Best Companies’ - workplace engagement specialists regarded
nationally as the measure of an engaged workforce. They supply the data which makes
up the ‘Times Top 100 Best Companies’ lists.
 This has been agreed on by our leadership as the right tool.
 What’s different now?
o The survey itself - It’s a robust, external measure. It’s benchmarked, publicised,
and we can break down the data to identify key parts of the University to focus
effort.
o Leadership commitment – every member of VCET and UMT will be measured
on colleague engagement and the steps being taken to create an environment
to help you feel engaged.
o OD Strategy is in place
o OD Team is in place
Best Companies – what does it measure? (SLIDE):
 What it is and how it works (workplace engagement survey; low and high scoring
factors)
 Survey for every employee: 70 questions
 8 factors of workplace engagement: Best Companies will analyse the survey results
according to these categories
 Organisational questionnaire
Best Companies – benchmarking (SLIDE):
 5 different lists. We’re on the mid-sized companies list.
 3 different levels of accreditation (3, 2, 1 star plus ‘ones to watch’)
 We will be compared against those in sector and other companies with a similar number
of employees. Last year, 27 education providers entered, 9 of which were HEIs.
Best Companies - Timeline and Method (SLIDE)
 This autumn for 3 weeks from Mon 26th Oct to Fri 13th Nov
 An electronic survey for the majority, some paper surveys via line managers.
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Completely anonymous.
The administration will be managed by Best Companies who will analyse the data and
produce a report and recommendations. No one will be identifiable.
Results will be shared from February onwards
Questions?? Opportunity for more detailed questions and comments during the table
exercises.
Views/Input and Reaction
Say: Next is an activity to get your views, input & reaction to what’s been said. Through this
methodology, we’re living the behaviours and culture we’re aiming to create - seeking your
involvement, and working with a spirit of co-construction to gain agreement, alignment &
commitment. Great plans are those that have gone through strong scrutiny and challenge,
so we’re looking to you to provide this challenge so that we can ensure the OD Strategy is as
robust as it can be!
Show Slide.
Say: Have you seen this model? It’s a useful method of getting a variety of viewpoints on a
particular issue to ensure a really good conversation around the issue, ensuring we all have
a chance to look at the positives, the challenges, and so on
Explain the 6 hats using the table below. Refer to the kinds of questions that may be asked
by each hat using the slide
The White Hat calls for information known or needed. "The facts, just the
facts."
The Yellow Hat symbolizes brightness and optimism. Under this hat you
explore the positives and probe for value and benefit.
The Black Hat is judgment - the devil's advocate or why something may not
work. Spot the difficulties and dangers; where things might go wrong.
Probably the most powerful and useful of the Hats but a problem if overused.
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The Red Hat signifies feelings, hunches and intuition. When using this hat you
can express emotions and feelings and share fears, likes, dislikes, loves, and
hates.
The Green Hat focuses on creativity; the possibilities, alternatives, and new
ideas. It's an opportunity to express new concepts and new perceptions.
The Blue Hat is used to manage the thinking process. It's the control
mechanism that ensures the Six Thinking Hats® guidelines are observed.
Activity:
 Depending on the size of the group you may choose to i) explore each hat as a whole
group or, ii) allocate just one hat to a sub-group of a few people within the wider group,
or iii) circulate in small groups around all of the hats
 Allow for approximately 3-4 minutes to gather thoughts and views for each hat.
Alternatively you may wish to explain the exercise conducted on the day and use the
attached outputs from the day to provide some feedback of points raised at the event
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Commitments
Say: We’re going to start with a short video about the impact of colleague engagement. This
was a study commissioned by the government in 2008/9 to look at whether a wider take-up
of engagement approaches could impact positively on UK competitiveness and performance
as the recession was biting; delivered by David MacLeod. They worked with companies such
as John Lewis, Tesco, Google, O2, BAE Systems and bodies such as TUC, CBI (Confederation
of British Industries), Chartered Management Institute
See what you think… Show video
Ask: What are your thoughts on that? Elicit initial views from the group
Make the point that low colleague engagement negatively impacts the organisation, and more importantly - the people in it. The MacLeod study showed a clear correlation between
engagement and performance – and most importantly, between improving engagement and
improving performance. In a world where most factors of production are standardised (a
production line/goods on a supermarket shelf are the same the world over, colleague
engagement is the difference that makes the difference. Lots of business leaders are
recognising that the most valuable asset an organisation has is its people – therefore
enabling an intellectual and emotional relationship with work is critical to success
Slide: we can certainly improve at the UoS. Absence = poor / churn = positive (so people do
want to stay) = be brief!!
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OD Strategy Session: v1 Sept 2015
Say: we saw in the video the negative impact of low colleague engagement on both
individuals and organisations. In the modern era, engagement is the difference between
good and great organisations. People are key to success!
However, while we have a strategy for supporting the culture change (that you’ve all just
contributed to, and will continue to!), a common stance for people is to look up to senior
managers to deliver it. But actually culture change only succeeds if we all live the culture
we’d like to work in; as Ghandi said: “Be the change you wish to see”
Refer to the best employers we mentioned earlier (e.g. Google/John Lewis, M&S - ?) whose
cultures depend not only on senior managers but on all colleagues at all levels.
You’ve spent the last hour looking at input and reflecting on this, now I’d like to invite you to
think what YOU can do to impact culture here/in our team. We all impact other colleagues
on a daily basis; so what can we/you do to create a great environment here?
Ask: What simple changes can we all make that would make UoS a great place to work?
Show slide: talk through the examples of the kinds of changes that colleagues might make:
To demonstrate the idea, elicit an example and ask: Why is that important to you? Add to
flip (Elicit 2/3 more examples if appropriate)
Activity:
Say: In small groups, brainstorm the kinds of changes that you feel would make the most
difference. Let’s try to keep it positive and something that we can all do! We’ll ask you to
present your best suggestion back to the rest of the group. (5 mins brainstorm)
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Groups present their chosen commitment on an A3 version of the card
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Give out personal commitment cards. All write a personal commitment to engagement
– this can be anything that you have heard (in the group, from other groups, your own
suggestion)
Show slide:
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Capture all personal commitments on a combined table commitment flip – when
completed (without names/first name only if preferred)
Say: hopefully we can start straight away to make UoS / this team a great place to work!
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