Action Planning WebinarSeptember 12th 2013

Your speaker today

Matt Roddan

Director, Employee Research

ORC International

Communicating with us

Outline for today’s session• Action planning: key success factors• Developing an action planning approach• Identifying key focus areas• Developing action plans• Maintaining momentum• Next steps and support

Key success factors • Gaining active buy-in and commitment from senior

managers/leaders/survey champions• Ensuring survey results are made available to staff• Ensuring survey results are easy to interpret at all levels of

the organisation• Involving staff and seeking input for workplace improvement

initiatives• Linking any actions taken relating to workplace improvement

to the Working for Queensland Employee Opinion Survey (where possible)

• Ongoing communication through team meetings e.g. as a standing / regular agenda item and or other media or forums including newsletters

Developing an action planning approach

Developing your action focused strategy

Communicate initial

outcomes

Further investigation/ involvement

Collection of feedback

Defining final actions

Communicate final plan

Measure and communicate

progress

A corporate and local approachSuccess requires action both at the Agency and Local level:

Divisions/ branches

Agency level

Divisions/ branches

Divisions/ branches

In order to be successful, priorities should be focused and consistent, with flexibility to address local issues

Developing your action focused strategy

Agency action plan

Division 1 action plan

Branch 1 actio

n plan

Branch 2 actio

n plan

Branch 3 actio

n plan

Branch 4 actio

n plan

Division 2 action plan

Division 3 action plan

Developing your action focused strategy

Agency action plan

Division 1 action plan

Branch 1 actio

n plan

Branch 2 actio

n plan

Branch 3 actio

n plan

Branch 4 actio

n plan

Division 2 action plan

Division 3 action plan

Identifying key focus areas

Getting the most from your data

Step 1: Put Results into Perspective Step 2: Understand the Underlying Issues

Once the key focus areas have been identified, we need to understand how to improve or maintain engagement

Analyse

•Analyse available data:

•Areas to celebrate/investigate/improve

•Key Driver Analysis

•Internal benchmarks

Contextuali

se

•Factor in the Agency Context:•Consider possible reasons for the results•Will taking action on the identified issues have a positive impact on our performance?•What else do we need to consider from a business perspective?

Consolidate

•Consider:•Where we can consolidate action/incorporate with existing initiatives

•Which are organisation-wide and which are localised issues

Plan your Actio

n

•Remember:•Effective and sustainable change results from careful planning and clear understanding of the key business and people issues

•Consider Quick Wins vs Big Impact

Understanding the data

•Understand the Workplace Outcomes and drivers

Take a deepe

r look...

•Identify engagement trends by critical demographic groups / divisional groups

Contextualis

e

•Question the impact these trends will be having and generate a ‘call to action’

Creating key focus areas

Celebrate

xxxx

xxxx

xxxx

Improve

xxxx

xxxx

xxxx

Investigate further

xxxx

xxxx

xxxx

• Your results may show areas where you perform better than the agency average or where a large proportion of your team are positive.

• Ensure you celebrate your strengths and learn from positive aspects of working in your team

• How do we ensure we continue to build on success?

• How can you record what you do well and possibly lead to share this with other parts of the business?

• Focus on a few issues and do them well rather than try to tackle everything of concern.

• Think about what the data is telling you and think about key questions to ask to explore the results further with your team.

• Begin to think up ideas and solutions to take action and share these with your team.

• You can also begin thinking about who the best champion might be to drive particular actions forward and to keep momentum.

• There might be some issues in the results which strike you as surprising or as ones that may or may not be a key area to improve

• How can further discussions within your team help you understand these issues?

• What other methods can you use to understand these issues? Employee forums and focus groups. Brainstorming?

Prioritising action areas: top tips• Focus on 2 to 3 things that you can do, and do them well

Avoid writing a long laundry list of action areas, you can’t solve everything!

• Focus on the key driversThese are the issues that will have the biggest impact on workplace outcomes (agency engagement, job engagement, intent to leave)

• But allow some flexibility for local issuesThe results are likely to highlight some agency, division or branch-specific issues to be addressed. Don’t ignore them, but see the first bullet above!

• Think about longer term actions and quick wins Ideally you want a mix of both – a few big impact actions and a number of quick wins to really make a difference

• Be aware of effort vs. impactThink about how much time, effort or resources an action might require vs. the return you are likely to get. Avoid actions that are a waste of time or a lost cause!

Developing action plans

So, these are my results – what’s next?

1. Share the results with the team2. Form an approach within the workgroup i.e. focus group3. Explore and understand what the results are saying. Identify

what actions you and the team will take to address the feedback

4. Develop a draft action plan 5. Check in with the team, seek feedback on suggested actions6. Take action and make sustainable changes that are reflective

of what our employees are saying. Be sure to keep the team involved and up to date on the progress of your action plan

Be SMART when developing plans

Specific

Measureable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

• Clearly defined action that outlines exactly what we plan to doe.g. NOT “we plan to communicate more”

• Does it address the… Who, When, Why, What?

• What’s the expected outcome for the action? • Give your action a success measure… could be the next survey results but

equally could be other targets/ measures

• Is the action realistic and achievable?• What other constraints do we need to consider?• E.g. organizational change, time, resources, business location?

• Does it address the issue? Will it have an impact for employees?• Or, are we developing a lost cause/ waste of time?

• Actions need a deadline and an owner• Even if we can’t set out the full action at this point, tell employees the

timescales for action plan development and implementation

Action Planning Template

Maintaining momentum

You said… we did…?

Collate, review and track action• Consider a method to collate action plans centrally

• Spreadsheets? Database? Existing processes/ structures? What works well for collating other types of information across the organisation?

• This will help you to:• Keep a record of action being taken across the organisation• Ensure plans are SMART• Provide support where managers may be struggling• ‘Buddy up’ managers who are working on the same area to share expertise• Track progress• Communicate successes and learn from failures• Adjust plans over time

Note: collating action plans can be an overwhelming task if not managed effectively.

The importance of a strong communications strategy

Effective action

Successf

ul outcome

from survey

The communication of actions can often be where successful action planning can fall apart. It is important to have a plan in place to communicate your actions so that employees are aware of the work which is underway.

.

Effective communication

Next steps, resources and support

Next StepsTask/ item TimingHighlights reports and online tool available Now!

Executive management team (EMT) briefings Sept – Oct 2013

Staff briefings ASAP after EMT briefings

ACTION PLAN DEVELOPMENT By Nov 2013Develop agency action plan strategy

Prioritise areas for action

Formulate action planning workgroups

Further investigation (as required)

Develop action plans (agency and sub-organisational level)

Communicate actions From Nov

Implement action plans From Nov

Track and communicate actions From Nov

Available Resources

Highlights reports• Available in accesspoint• For the agency overall and by sub-groups

Online reporting tool• Available via accesspoint• Further investigate results, export your own reports

Action planning materials• Available for download in accesspoint• Tips on communicating results• Action plan templates• Ideas for action• Tips for managing action sessions

This webinar• Slides available to download in accesspoint• Recording of the webinar

Need more help?

• Contact the Working for Queensland team• workingforqldeos@psc.qld.gov.au• Philippa Sutton: 07 3003 2876

Questions?