Sense People Strategy 2013- 2016
‘A great place to do great things’
Growing Stronger Together
Sense is a national charity that, for nearly 60 years, has supported
and promoted the interests of children and adults who are deafblind,
multi-sensory-impaired, or who have a single sensory impairment
with additional needs. We offer high-quality advice, support and
services in a range of areas including communication, access to
information and mobility, across the UK and internationally,
Our vision is:
‘a world in which all deafblind children and adults can be full and
active members of society’.
People are essential to everything we do and the success of Sense is
wholly dependent on having well trained, supported and motivated
staff. Our values describe the culture that we all aspire to achieve:
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Honesty in how we behave
Aspirational in our approach
Accountable for our actions
Recognition of peoples contribution
Trust in each other
These values are underpinned by a set of ‘I’ statements, which
describe the behaviours we expect from everyone who works with us.
People are listened to, understood and respected. We are honest
and open and we encourage everyone to participate and
contribute. We also ask people to consider the benefits of taking
informed risks and to celebrate success when it comes. Our final ‘I’
statement is no decision about me without me as we always seek
to involve people in decisions that affect them.
These behaviours and expectations are inclusive and apply to staff,
trustees, deafblind people, families and the wider Sense ‘family’ of
partners, members, supporters and volunteers.
We have an ambitious corporate strategy, ‘Growing, Stronger,
Together’, which sets out how we will work together with people,
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partners and communities over the next 3 years and beyond. This
strategy, along with our values and behaviours, set the context for our
People strategy.
Our People Strategy – ‘A great place to do great things’
At Sense we recognize that respecting and investing in our people is
vital to improving the lives of the people we support.
This People Strategy describes how we will work together to become
an ‘employer of choice’. It embraces our vision and values and
provides a set of overarching aims and objectives to guide us in all
we do with our people.
Our strategic people vision is to have:‘excellent people who are engaged and motivated to do great things
to the best of their ability; so that we can make a real difference to the
lives of the people we support.’
We will deliver this vision through inspirational leaders who will coach
our people to have the competence and confidence to be innovative
and challenging, in a way that keeps the people we support at the
centre of all we do.
Our Aims
We have identified four strategic aims to enable us to become ‘an
employer of choice’ and an even better place to work. These are
designed to give our people a sense of pride, trust, fairness and
opportunity:
• A positive culture and work environment where people are
proud of what they do and can be the best they can be. – Pride
• Outstanding leaders who act with integrity, set clear direction,
recognize success and inspire teams. - Trust
• A diverse and flexible workforce, who are given a ‘fair deal’ that
attracts and retains the right people with the right skills and
motivation to succeed and flourish. - Fairness
• High performing people with the flexibility and autonomy to
manage their own performance and development. - Opportunity
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Our Objectives
Achieving our people vision and aims requires us to work towards six
key objectives.
Communications and Engagement
Communicating, engaging and involving people is a key priority for
us, so that our people can influence, understand and champion the
plans, aspirations and values of the charity. We will:
 Provide people with clear, timely, accurate and accessible
information in a variety of ways eg via the intranet, newsletters,
meetings.
 Work in partnership with our Staff Forum to receive the views of
their constituents and involve them in our plans and priorities.
 Consult our people on changes that may affect them, either
nationally or locally through their managers.
 Expect people to take responsibility for keeping themselves
informed and to raise issues proactively and constructively as
soon as they arise.
Organisational Development & Diversity
We are committed to developing the organization and our services
fairly and safely and in a way that embraces diversity and equality of
opportunity, reflecting the communities we serve. We will:
 Expect our people to understand and accept their personal
responsibility to recognise diversity and to value the
contributions of others. Ensuring that no-one receives less
favourable treatment and we have a healthy work/life balance.
 Adopt a collaborative approach with our people and work
together across the organisation, to develop better, safer and
more efficient services and ways of working.
 Develop and implement structural, contractual and policy
changes that support our corporate goals and ensure that they
are applied fairly and consistently.
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Resourcing and Recruitment
Having the right people, in the right place, at the right time and cost is
essential for us to be able to deliver our corporate strategy. We will:
 Produce workforce plans that anticipate the demand for
permanent and temporary people as efficiently and
economically as possible.
 Develop innovative and accessible ways to recruit and select
people from the widest possible pool, appointing those with the
right values, motivation, competencies and skills.
 Create opportunities and expect people to be prepared to move
around Sense in order to meet organisational needs and to be
accountable for fulfilling their own personal career aspirations.
Reward and Recognition
Creating a working environment where the contribution and success
of others is valued and recognised will motivate people to improve
their own and the organisations performance. We will:
 Provide the best reward, benefits and support package we can
afford, that aims to reward people fairly and motivates them to
perform to the best of their ability.
 Create opportunities for people to celebrate and recognise
individual and team success, sharing ideas and efficiencies.
 Take a flexible approach to rewarding and recognising people
who perform above and beyond what is expected of them.
Learning and Leadership Development
Continued investment in the skills and competences of our people is
fundamentally important to the long term success of Sense. From
induction through to continuous personal development, a learning
culture will deliver flexible, competent and motivated staff. We will:
 Provide flexible and innovative training and development
solutions that meet organizational and individual needs.
 Expect people to be engaged and proactive in identifying and
meeting their own and others training and development needs.
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 Develop a ’commercial’ external training proposition that shares
our expertise, enhances our reputation and generates income.
 Create leadership, talent management, coaching/mentoring and
succession planning schemes that will support organisational
excellence.
Performance Management
Effective performance management and personal responsibility
underpins the success of the organization, as it supports people to
perform to the best of their abilities. We will:
 Be clear on what is expected of our people coaching them to
work as independently as they can, to the best of their ability.
 Expect individuals to take responsibility for their own
performance and development, adopting a culture of
continuous improvement.
 Develop a critical friend culture that includes giving and
receiving constructive 360 feedback on their performance.
 Empower managers to take accountability for managing the
performance, capability and development of their people.
Our Future
This People Strategy sets out how we can help make our corporate
strategy ‘Growing Stronger Together’ a reality. By developing a
sense of pride, trust, fairness and opportunity in our people and by
working together, we can make Sense an employer of choice and ‘a
great place to do great things’.
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