GCS Internal Comms ExcellenceSetting Leadership ExpectationsWorkstream lead Sharon McKoy-Beckett, BIS

Project team Dominic Kingaby & Rachel Longstaff (BIS) Joanna MacDonald (DWP) Ann Crago (Skills Funding Agency) Sofia Nikolau (CO)

Project sponsor Russell Grossman, Director of Communications, BIS

Research support for business-unit leader interviews Accent Marketing & Research Ltd

A guide for leaders

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Engaging and motivating your team – why it matters

‘There is a firm correlation between employee engagement and high organisational productivity and performance across all sectors of the economy.’

The Evidence – Bruce Rayton, University of Bath School of Management 2012

A guide for leaders

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Our aimTo identify common leadership behaviours and culture which drive high team engagement.

The Evidence

A guide for leaders

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What we did

• Analysis of People Survey 2013 scores for 8,570 business units* in government organisations, focusing on leadership behaviours

• Analysis of People Survey 2013 scores for 4,430 main Department units, focusing on culture

• Compared leadership-related behaviours for the 100 highest teams in terms of ‘engagement index’ with the 100 lowest

• Leadership behaviours chosen to analyse reflect the Engage for Success enablers of employee engagement

• Interviewed private sector CEOs from Sunday Times ‘Top 100 Companies to work for’

The Evidence

A guide for leaders

*Business units = Directorates, Divisions, Branches

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What we did

• Interviewed civil service leaders of the highest and lowest scoring teams for engagement to identify common behaviours and challenges

• Reviewed the SCS competencies which specifically relate to engagement and communication

• Worked with CSL to match these competencies to the CSL learning offer

• Identified the need for a specific development tool to aid SCS leaders in improving their communications and engagement capabilities

The Evidence

A guide for leaders

5

The four enablers of employee engagement

Engaging for Success: Enhancing performance through employee engagement – MacLeod/Clarke Report 2009

Visible and empowering leadership, providing a strong strategic narrative about the organisation, where it’s come from and where it’s goingEngaging managers who give their people clarity, scope and stretchEmployee voice – employees have the opportunity to air their viewsOrganisational integrity – values on the wall are reflected in everyday behaviours

A guide for leaders

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What we found

• There is a clear correlation between leadership behaviours, the culture they create and team engagement

• Leaders who consistently apply the enablers of engagement, achieve high team engagement

• Leaders who inconsistently apply the enablers of engagement achieve lower team engagement

• This correlation is most evident around the themes of leaders enabling employees to have a voice and demonstrating integrity in their teams

The Evidence

Analysis of 8,570 business units in the Civil Service People Survey 2013

A guide for leaders

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Civil Service Top 50 and Lowest Performing 50 teams by engagement

A guide for leaders

What did we discover?Top 50: Good practice is consistent across the enablers of engagement.Lowest Perfoming 50: Practice in the enablers of engagement is wildly erratic.

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Strong narrative plays a partSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: My manager helps me understand how I contribute to the organisation’s objectives +20% correlation

Series 3: In my job, I am clear about what’s expected of me +18% correlation

Top 50 teams by engagement

Teams are more engaged when they are clear on their role in achieving the organisation’s goals although this has less impact on engagement than the other three Engaging for Success enablers of engagement.

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Strong narrative plays a partSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: My manager helps me understand how I contribute to the organisation’s objectives +6% correlation

Series 3: In my job, I am clear about what’s expected of me +38% correlation

Lowest performing 50 teams by engagement

Team engagement is low even when leaders score relatively well on communicating corporate goals and setting expectations. Scores are again wildly erratic (9% to 82% and 20% to 100% respectively).

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Engaging managers set the toneSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: I feel involved in the decisions that affect me +31.2% correlation

Series 3: My manager is open to my ideas -18.2% correlation

Top 50 teams by engagement

Higher engagement is evident in teams where managers keep their teams informed and involved although this has less impact than employees having a voice and managers living the values.

Series 4: Organisation keeps me informed about matters that affect me +36.7% correlation

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Engaging managers inform teamsSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: I feel involved in the decisions that affect me +5.9% correlation

Series 3: My manager is open to my ideas +15.1% correlation

Lowest performing 50 teams by engagement

Low engagement goes hand in hand in lowest-scoring units with a failure to keep staff informed. Practice in being open to ideas is relatively high but wildy erratic (22% to 91% range).

Series 4: Organisation keeps me informed about matters that affect me +44% correlation

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Employees must be heardSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: I have the opportunity to contribute my views +34.2% correlation

Series 3: I think it’s safe to challenge the way things are done +38.2% correlation

Top 50 teams by engagement

Giving your teams the chance to have their say scores highest of the four Engaging for Success drivers in the most engaged units of all.

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Employees want to be heardSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: I have the opportunity to contribute my views +22.3% correlation

Series 3: I think it’s safe to challenge the way things are done +30.7% correlation

Lowest performing 50 teams by engagement

In the lowest-scoring teams, lack of voice shows once more its close relationship with engagement, with not only correlations of the trend reasonably strong but the numeric values too.

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Integrity really mattersSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: I believe the actions of senior managers are consistent with our values +34.6% correlation

Series 3: Have you been bullied or harassed in last 12 months -18.3% correlation

Top 50 teams by engagement

Managers living the values score 2nd highest of the four Engaging for Success drivers in the most engaged units of all. The score is strongly inversely proportional to incidents of bullying and harassment.

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Integrity really mattersSeries 1: engagement index

Series 2: I believe the actions of senior managers are consistent with our values +37.8% correlation

Series 3: Have you been bullied or harassed in last 12 months -14.6% correlation

Lowest performing 50 teams by engagement

Values and behaviours have the most significant impact on engagement in the lowest scoring teams with the highest incidence of bullying harassment all occurring in the 15 units with the very weakest engagement rating.

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Environment is a factor

• 71% of units with the highest engagement scores are from FCO (49%) and DFID (22%).• FCO and DFID account for only 9.3% of the 4,430 total of main department units (6.9% and 2.4% respectively).• 56% of the highest-engaged units are based overseas or engaged in overseas work. This figure falls to 0% in the lowest-engaged 100. (Note: not all FCO and DFID units are overseas or directly engaged in overseas work)

Overseas/overseas related 56%

Professions/corporate services/Private Office 22%

Customer-facing/frontline 16%

Policy 5%

Other 1%

Business area types in top 100 main Department units in engagement index list

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Environment is a factor

• 64% of units with the lowest engagement scores are in HMRC.• HMRC accounts for 18.7% of the 4,430 total of main department units.• 48% of the lowest-engaged units are customer facing/frontline compared with just 16% in the highest. 22% of lowest-engaged units are ‘other’ (e.g. redeployment pool) compared with just 1% of the highest.

Overseas/overseas related 0%

Professions/corporate services/Private Office 23%

Customer-facing/frontline 48%

Policy 7%

Other 22%

Business area types in 100 main Department units with lowest engagement indices

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What CS business unit leaders say – Employee Voice*

Every 3 months I will speak to everybody in my organisation … I am there to be challenged and there to be spoken to.”

Every month we shut the centre and I communicate with all the staff… anyone can come at any point during the day to talk to me. I take everything on board.”

We mean it when we say we’ll listen to frontline people… If people have got something that doesn’t work, they know they can get it changed.”

Virtually every change that is made is driven by the frontline.”

Sometimes you think, I’d like to talk to them about that, but all these other things come up…”

Although openness and challenge are asked for, in reality challenge is punished at annual assessment time.”

(HMRC, top 50)

A guide for leaders

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*SCS and G6/G7 team leaders

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What the business unit leaders say – Engaging Managers

People were allowed to innovate and do something different… they felt a sense of autonomy and ownership.”

My job is to help you lot perform… You are serving them most of the time, rather than the other way round.”

It’s very much about developing each individual member of the team, building competence and building confidence from that.”

I think it’s really important that managers are visible and there with the team. If you’re sitting with the team, you’re constantly communicating.”

In reality, senior staff are completely invisible.”

It’s quite a diverse workforce across the UK so physically seeing staff is quite tricky.”

(DWP, top 50)

A guide for leaders

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If you’re in one of our smaller offices you may never see anybody from the exec team… I struggle to get out of London with all the commitments I have here.”

(HMRC, bottom 50)

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What the business unit leaders say – Strong Narrative

Clarity of purpose is very empowering for everybody.”

We do have a clear sense of mission, so that I think is really, really important.”

We keep it simple, keep it clear, reinforce the key messages in what we’re doing, why and how.”

We’ve been running these DWP story events… Senior staff talk about their vision for the department.”

Team members get to show other team members what it is they’ve been building… We do that to make sure they get a sense of identity.”

There isn’t that strong sense of being the Department for Education that there once was. The individual directorates all operate a little bit differently.”

(DWP, top 50)

A guide for leaders

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Staff are very committed to their work, but are they committed to the department objectives and values? Scores are a lot lower on that.” (DfT, bottom 50)

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What the business unit leaders say – Integrity

If you blog then you must blog every week if you say you’re going to blog every week.”

The thing that I was vulnerable to is people saying ‘It’s not the same for you, if you cock up there’s no consequences’… so when I’ve been speaking to people about learning and development I have talked about my own development, about things which I didn’t used to be, which I wasn’t good at, which I got some feedback and which I’ve tried to do better.”

(HMRC, top 50)

A guide for leaders

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(HMRC, top 50)

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How do the best of the private sector do it?

A guide for leaders

Heads of leading private sector organisations go on film with their views about how to engage people.

William Rogers CEO UKRDNigel Wilson CEO Legal & GeneralDarren Childs CEO UKTVJustin King CEO Sainsbury’sStuart Fletcher CEO BUPAIan Powell CEO PWCDido Harding CEO TalkTalk

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William Rogers ceo ukrd

A guide for leaders

Sunday Times ‘Best Leader’ of a mid-sized company in 2012, 2013 and 2014

Put people firstCreate the right cultureLet innovation flourishBe accessible

People are the single most important asset you have…your policy should focus on your people first.”

You have to have a sense of culture in your organisation… management has to be the walking, talking embodiment of your culture and values.”

The talent in every organisation is extraordinary… you have to take the lid off and be prepared to support people when they make mistakes.”

Every single person in our business is encouraged to communicate with me at any time.”

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Nigel Wilson ceo legal & general

A guide for leaders

2014 Sunday Times Top 100 Companies award for Innovation in Staff Engagement

Engaged staff bring successShare a simple visionSet clear standardsKeep your door open

If our staff are great advocates of Legal & General as a company, that will lead us to be a very successful business… we spend half of our time on internal comms… that’s one of the reasons why we’re successful.”

Our vision is communicated in every building and every medium. It’s simple, easy to remember and consistent.”

We are one firm, one set of values, one set of behaviours and I expect all of our senior people to have the same behaviour.”

I have an open door policy… anybody who has a good idea can engage with me.”

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Darren Childs ceo uktv

A guide for leaders

Best Companies award in 2013 for high staff engagement and positive working culture

Build your vision togetherEncourage questionsChallenge your teamCreate space for talking

We allowed the entire company to build its own vision of the future. So everyone bought into it from day one.”

If you create an engaged workforce and give them permission to question, better ways of doing things will come forward.”

Inspire your team by demanding huge things of them and you’ll be surprised, because most of the time they will rise to the challenge.”

We built our office with a large communal area in the middle to get the whole company congregating, talking and communicating together.”

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Justin King ceo sainsbury’s

A guide for leaders

Oversaw a £9.5billion increase in sales and nearly trebled underlying profits

Share your valuesListen to your peopleCelebrate excellent workBe yourself, be visible

People need something bigger to march towards than financial targets… It’s important how you share the values and it’s important that leaders are prepared to be measured by them.”

One in ten of the 65,000 ideas received from Sainsbury’s ‘Tell Justin’ scheme has led to real change.”

Soft recognition is massively powerful… The value of getting an award and having somebody realise your contribution is much greater than the financial value.”

You should be visible, accessible and the human being that you are outside of work, in work.”

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Stuart Fletcher ceo bupa

A guide for leaders

CEO of BUPA since 2012 and previously President, Diageo International

Create a clear visionBe clear about leadership expectationsFind ways to connectMeasure your progress

We’ve created a rich description of what BUPA will look like in 2020… So our people are able to see how it relates to them and what they do.”

We created BUPA leaders Ask which describes what we expect of BUPA leaders… but it is just a statement until it’s brought to life visibly in the leadership in the organisation.”

We have a fantastic internal social networking site… There’s rarely a day when I don’t make a comment or respond to something that’s on there.”

We don’t just leave it to trust that it’s going to happen… We measure individual leaders, teams and business units. It’s very visible and transparent.”

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Watch the video

Ian Powell pwc

A guide for leaders

Chairman and Senior Partner

Engaged staff = satisfied customersKeep the message simplePractise what you preachMake your comms two way

It surprised us how linear that relationship is between our people engagement and our client engagement… we are a better business when our people are well engaged.”

We try to keep our overall ambition as simple as possible … The more people that you’re trying to influence, the simpler the message has got to be.”

I saw a great quote from another chief executive that said that every day I communicate the behaviours that I expect in the organisation and sometimes I even use the words.”

People always talk about a cascade. Cascade only goes one way. It’s far more important for it to come the other way.”

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Watch the video

Dido Harding ceo talktalk

A guide for leaders

CEO of TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC

Be authentic.Stick to a simple vision.See engagement as your day job.Tap into knowledge.

The most effective leaders are authentic: they’re not afraid to be who they are and be open about what’s on their mind.”

The secret of communicating a vision is keeping going at it and not allowing the business to try to tweak it.”

A lot of leaders think that communication and engagement is something they do in addition to their job. I think it is my job.”

Sometimes you feel like you ought to have all the answers, but leadership is about getting people to do things that even you don’t know are possible, because they’ve got the knowledge and you haven’t.”

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Watch the video

We matched SCS engagement competencies to the CSL learning offer.

SCS engagement competencies

A guide for leaders

Leading and Communicating

Foundation Intermediary Advanced

Competency Level - At Level 5 we need leaders who influence within complex stakeholder dynamics and engage and inspire people around the Department’s vision and goals.

Leading to Inspire CSL F2F

Presenting to Large Audiences CSL F2F

Visible Leadership CSL F2F

Involve and support the team to operative effectively in a complex and challenging environment

Securing Employee Engagement CSL F2F

Be The Leader You Can Be: An Introduction To The Future-engage-deliver CSL F2F

Engaged: Unleashing your organization’s potential through employee engagement Ash

Identify and manage a mix of diverse skills and talent to build high-performing teams

Leading Extraordinary Groups GP

Not bosses but leaders Ash

Deputy Director Windsor Leadership Programme WIG F2F

Set a clear direction, communicating and motivating the team to achieve the Department’s and ministers’ vision and goals

Motivating people learning guide Ash

Visible Leadership CSL F2F

Powerful, persuasive, presenting WIG seminar http://www.wig.co.uk/what-we-do/leadership-programmes-development-seminars

Promote the successes of your people and the Department

How to be a Communications Leader GP

Public relations learning guide Ash

Advanced Communication Skills: Handling the Media CSL F2F

Act as a champion for diversity and equality of opportunity

Creating a fairer and more equal society

How B&Q Got Older and Wiser GP

The value of difference: Eliminating bias in organisations

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Rate yourself with profiling tool

A guide for leaders

We identified the need for an engagement development tool.

The Culture Builders Profiling Tool is a system that specifically details how individual managers and leaders engage others.

It measures five core areas that are needed to create empowered, motivated teams.

Based on a self-serve online system, the tool works on a pay-per-use basis.

Access the tool.

Supported by a 90 day development programme.

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