1. THE CHANGING ROLE FOR
HR IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR
Stephen Moir
Deputy Chief Executive
Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

2. Is this the type of people management
capability in your organisation?

3. Public Sector Context
• The comprehensive spending review (CSR) set the tone for an era of austerity with
at least 25% plus less resources over the next 4 years
• This will create pressures for further integration of local public services and a
stronger drive towards shared services
• The “State” will be rolled back and the remaining elements of the state will be doing
much less, as well as more for less
• Public Servants will be doing things differently and doing different things to achieve
different outcomes
• Different organisational models will be needed with new and different management
structures and approaches
• This will fundamentally require new mindsets, behaviours, approaches , leading to a
different dynamic with service users, citizens and communities
….however around 70% of change management programmes fail

5. Boards, Councils and politicians require
HR that can:
• Help to encourage and facilitate „radical‟ long term
thinking
• Support leadership development for the new context
• Be involved early in planning changes:
• Involve in strategic decisions
• Warn about significant potential issues
• Offer safeguards, reassurances and arrangements for
accountability
• Help to play appropriate role in leading the required cultural
change

6. Senior managers require HR than can:
Achieve successful organisational transformation, through:
• Clear, compelling, united and positive vision of the future
• Ensuring that the capacity and capability for change exists
• Getting middle managers and other key stakeholders on board
• Identifying and using catalysts for change
• Sustaining employee engagement in turbulent times
• Delivering the „promise‟ of cultural change
• Keeping up the pace
• Being bold, taking more risks.

7. Service users and communities require
HR than can:
• Changing attitudes and norms internally
• Linking internal and external consultation and
involvement – including „co-production‟
• Using lean/systems thinking and insight driven
approaches to achieve better outcomes, e.g.
customer journey mapping.

8. The Public Sector HR/OD role now includes:
• Supporting the leaders, including personally
• Promoting radical thinking ‘spaces’
• Bringing in fresh ideas
• Cultural change support
• Developing leadership skills for new context – at all levels
• Developing own/others new skills e.g. organisational redesign
• Asking questions– helping to leaders to clarify
• Future vision
• Intended outcomes/benefits
• Business case
• Risk management
• Impact of change

9. HR/OD role continued
• Promoting the importance of the process and creating
meaning for people to achieve sustainable change
• Enabling employee engagement and involvement
• Developing and supporting transformation catalysts
• Keeping up the pace – firm timetables
• Focus upon wellbeing, organisational and individual health
• Highlighting issues, constraints, risks…

10. HR role modelling….
• Starts with you as an individual and needs to be underpinned by clarity of
purpose and personal humility.
• Needs to be clarified and reinforced by
systems, structures, processes, values and personal behaviour.
• In my organisation and previous ones, the „role modelling‟ for the people
function has been about „three simple rules‟ for the last 5 years:
- People/Customer Focus,
- Teamwork,
- Communication.
• Importantly, these three „rules‟ have been applied equally to me as a leader
within the function and I‟m equally held to account by the team.

11. HR role modelling…
• In practice, start with the basics and build from the ground up, if you can‟t
deliver hygiene/housekeeping tasks effectively, forget a strategic role.
• Demonstrate an ability to understand the needs and priorities of the
business as a whole and to offer a commentary on what‟s going on internally
and relate that to your external environment.
• Ensure you do the things you expect from the line yourself – e.g. self
service, process compliance, managing HR talent, developing
yourself, understanding resource and performance issues, delivering
operational excellence, etc.
• Be open to new ideas and learning.
• Being visible, being accessible.
• Fundamentally though, it‟s not just what you do, but how you do it.

12. The journey for HR…
Service Process Insight
Driven Driven Driven
From The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Research
Report: Next Generation HR, 2010

13. The circle of good HR practice?
©CIPD

14. Conditions and behaviours for success
Being insight driven is part of the approach HR needs to apply. To deliver such
a whole systems change to the organisation and beyond, the climate and
conditions for success are key. The following points are descriptors of how
some public sector bodies are tackling this:
• Focus – overhaul of strategy, structure, culture, systems/process, behaviour
and mindset.
• People orientated process of change.
• Outcomes emerge through continuous review and corrections to
direction, as needed.
• Approach – conscious process design, facilitation, high involvement
approach, and emergent process.
• Freedom to innovate, create and conjure.

15. Foundations of Business Savvy HR
Understanding the
Generating insight through
business model and
evidence & data
drivers
Connecting with Leading with
curiosity, purpose and integrity, compassion and
impact challenge
©CIPD

16. Issues to keep in mind include…
• The sheer scale and complexity of the challenges - need for
exceptional leadership
• Need for investment up front (perhaps in people management
and in HR itself)
• The necessity of getting middle managers and professionals on
board
• Dealing with your own turmoil and anxiety, both in HR and
personally

17. Some closing thoughts….
• Quality people management and development approaches are
critical to sustain organisational performance and success for
the future.
• HR capability can be a significant enabler of change – it can
equally act as a huge barrier if it‟s delivered poorly. It must be
supported by the right behaviours, attitudes and the insight of
HR people themselves.
• HR does not equal good people management. Good line
management equals good people management, good HR
should be about making line managers even better.
• Organisations get the HR people and function that they
deserve.

18. The people dimension for public services in
the future is not about this……

19. HAPPEN