attractorconsulting.com

According to research from Knox D’Arcy, public sector organisations are falling behind the private sector because of less effective management. The research suggests local authorities are around 27% less effective in their staff utilisation than the average private sector business.

With these findings published, there has been predictable reaction from many quarters – with the some unsurprising “public sector bashing”… simply making people work more effectively will solve the financial crisis facing public services … though some voices offier stout defence of public sector institutions against private sector bias.

This has been balanced out by a range of “messenger shooting” incidents. Public sector union UNISON has said the study is “misleading, unrepresentative and unhelpful”.

While it’s difficult to come to certain conclusions from what has been published, the findings are certainly worth some exploration. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo: Oude School, Flickr

The HR blogsite, KnowHR recently drew attention to an interview with UCLA Business Professor, Samual Culbert, reported on the NPR  website.Culbert’s ideas were set out in an article in The Wall Street Journal and in a recent book “Get Rid of the Performance Review!”.

He calls the Performance Review a ”corporate sham is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities.”

He suggests periodic reviews help neither employee nor employer as they fail to promote candid discussions about problems and solutions. Instead workers talk about successes and bosses retrospectively write reports which justify the level of pay award they want to pay.

In reality Culbert’s message tells us more about how managers’ behaviour impacts on the workforce, instilling fear through intimidation and deliberately manipulating performance reviews to preserve personal authority and domination in relationships.

Such organisations certainly exist, but Attractor keeps a very wide berth from them – instead working with teams which are, at the very least far “less malign”.

In describing managers’ behaviour, Culbert highlights the point few managers obtain their role due to “their keen understanding of people”, instead basing action “on self-serving logic and clumsy attempts at control”.

Culbert’s suggests removing performance reviews would facilitate a more straight-talking relationship involving a “performance preview” in which managers “just tell the employee what he or she needs to do to become more effective”. In reality then, the “performance preview” is really an effective appraisal and development review – underpinned by a positive working relationship, good leadership and management.

Top-performing leaders build working relationships which foster trust, engagement and respect within the workplace – horizontally and vertically. While the boss might have to make final decisions, there is plenty to learn from the skills, experience and perspectives of team members at all levels.

Encouraging interaction, sharing diverse and contrary views requires stout-hearted speaking and listening which – Culbert is right to point out – is not as common in the workplace as it should be. Read the rest of this entry →

Photo:Darrren Hester, Flickr

Christine Buss makes raises doubts about how useful HR Scorecards are for most Senior Managers.

Nevertheless, producing such data is commonplace, despite the difficulties in drawing meaningful conclusions from any set of numbers.

Identifying areas for focused attention and improvement action is far simpler when measuring the delivery of HR services.

Yet, working with NHS client organisations, Attractor often finds HR and payroll departments are not routinely measuring their own business performance. The NHS appears to have less of a measurement culture for back office functions than UK local authorities. Read the rest of this entry →

The Work Foundation report “Exceeding Expectations”, published in January 2010, distinguishes the behaviour of “Outstanding Leaders” from those who are just”Good Leaders”.

The research suggests, in difficult times, organisations look for powerful leaders, with a controlling, target-driven approach.

Their findings suggest this instinct may be counter-productive as it is people-centric leaders who understand how to motivate the workforce and are consistently higher achieving. Read the rest of this entry →

Too many organisations respond to emerging challenges by re-organising departments, teams and jobs – hoping this will improve performance.

It can be hard to recognise when problems relate to deep systemic issues though easier to spot poor employee performance.

Changing structures seems, for some, an easier option than exploring and addressing business process change, which can be complex, or tackling known individual performance issues, which is often personally challenging. Read the rest of this entry →

Attractor provides an independent and affordable HR and Payroll benchmarking service for subscribing NHS organisations.

Over recent years the NHS has seen many debates about the challenges and benefits of practice change in HR and Payroll operations.

It has been difficult to source reliable, independent and trusted evidence on the impact of policy and practice change for organisational performance and costs.

Attractor has worked with NHS organisations for many years – and now offers wider access to its experience measuring efficiency and effectiveness for NHS human resources and payroll functions.

Attractor’s independent, affordable benchmarking solution enables subscribing NHS organisations to gather and report on data covering all value for money audit benchmarks. The toolkit also allows far more detailed and advanced benchmarking measures to be used for many areas of HR and Payroll practice.

Using the solution, managers can measure and evaluate local performance and compare performance with data from subscribing organisations across the country. Users also have access to a number of external benchmark data items so they can compare NHS organisations with wider public sector and private sector organisations.

As well as live interrogation of the database and the ability to generate dynamic charts in a dashboard tool, subscribing organisations receive will receive analytical reports and updates on emerging industry trends.

Please download our short information booklet, Attractor Benchmarking Solution – Information Sheet – May 2010 which describes the toolkit or Attractor Benchmarking – Frequently Asked Questions, which explores how benchmarking can be used and some issues to consider in deciding your approach.

If you think your organisation would benefit from using our affordable benchmarking solution and want to know more, contact us at enquiries@attractorconsulting.com for further information.

Attractor can now offer a cost effective, independent, web-enabled, benchmarking service to NHS clients.

Using this new toolkit, and growing a dependable evidence-base, NHS Trusts can make robust decisions about the actions needed to improve service quality and value for money. Read the rest of this entry →

Attractor has developed a reputation for building long-term effective working relationships with Directors and Senior Team members, based on strong subject matter expertise and industry experience.

Attractor’s effective consulting work will always support local strategy and direction with well-targeted, light-touch, expertise. Customers always retain control over what support they need and use.

Aiming to minimise dependence, Attractor’s interventions are complete as soon as the client team has matters back under local control and grow effective solutions confidently.

Attractor’s work generally comes through personal recommendations and referral so business relationships are important to us. Conversation often continues for months or years, between assignments this ongoing interaction is welcome.

Consulting work has generally focused on change and efficiency in back office functions – with structural and functional change linked to deploying new business models and workforce management solutions. Attractor has supported clients to –

• Clarify their vision for back-office functions and both front-line and support service workforce management arrangements – shaping and guiding service improvement, productivity, efficiency and organisational effectiveness,
• Convert a “vision” for Service Transformation into a tangible plan with transition activities, benefits delivery and tracking to ensure delivery towards strategic objectives,
• Re-design and reshape departments, teams and roles, optimising added value, making best use of workforce management systems, reducing back-office costs,
• Engage and communicate strategy and actions to key stakeholders, securing support and political influence supporting change and benefits actions, supporting work to embed new ways of working and deliver benefits,
• Create and monitor plans which address corporate and organisation-wide change – resourcing, skills and capability, plus redeployment and exit strategies – technical, risk and assurance issues for organisation-wide change programmes and smaller technical projects,
• Change management and facilitation for complex projects, with workshops and other activities to support business change and improvement.

Consulting work commonly builds on a formal proposal responding to client needs, and often involves basic fact-finding, strategy, options identification and appraisal, recommendations and, where needed, implementation support.