Our ambition is to, ‘…work together with our partners and communities to be an enterprising council, delivering value for money and enabling local people and places to thrive.’
As we achieve this, we'll develop the culture and create the conditions for our colleagues to feel committed, motivated, engaged, empowered, challenged, valued, and energised.
Our collective aim is to make sure that we're all clear on how our individual roles contribute to the Council Plan and our strategic aims. In this way everyone will know what they need to do and, importantly, how they need to do it.
We want all our colleagues to:
- feel supported through regular one-to-one conversations with their line manager - that are open and honest to share feedback and check-in
- understand how they contribute to our success, and the link between their individual goals and the work that they do to our council and service plans
- know what 'great' looks like and what is expected of us: what we need to do and how we need to do it
- understand how performance is measured and what we'll do to support and coach our teams to achieve high performance and address under-performance
- drive their own development, creating a high-performing environment where everyone realises their potential career aspiration
This framework applies to all of our employees but doesn't include employees working in schools.
The different approaches to PDR
We're a diverse organisation and it's important to recognise that one approach doesn't fit all job roles, so we're introducing slightly different approaches for different employee groups.
Grade 14 and above senior leaders
Following the success of the PDR pilot, senior leaders will continue to use this tried and tested PDR approach, using the digital PDR tool.
This will define clear goals, a competency framework, career aspirations, development needs, and performance and potential ratings which will be reviewed at the annual talent reviews. One-to-one regular conversations will also be an essential part of the PDR approach.
Line manager grade 13 and below
The PDR approach is similar to the senior leaders grade 14+. It includes goal setting, applying a competency framework, and discussing career aspirations and development needs. One-to-one regular conversations are an essential part of the PDR approach.
There are 2 main differences for grade 13 and below:
- 'Performance and potential' ratings won't be used and therefore won't form part of the talent review process
- This will be an off-line version of the PDR process, as the PDR app doesn't have the capability to scale up to this volume of users - a Word version of the PDR is attached to this page
All other PDR users
This PDR approach is for anyone who has been using My Plan previously but who doesn't manage a team. It includes goal setting, and discussing career aspirations and development needs. One-to-one regular conversations will also be an essential part of the PDR approach.
There are 3 main differences for current My Plan users:
- 'performance and potential' ratings won't be used and therefore won't form part of the talent review process
- this will be an off-line version of the PDR process, as the PDR App doesn't have the capability to scale up to this volume of users - a Word version of the PDR is attached to this page
- the competency framework is not part of the process
All non-PDR users
We're introducing one-to-ones for all colleagues across the council - and this includes anyone who doesn’t use My Plan.
This group of people, however, will not be required to follow all the other aspects of the PDR approach. Regular one-to-one meetings throughout the year are an important part of the process and it’s suggested that these take place every month.
The aim is to maintain focus and support for individual wellbeing, discuss work and help needed, while being able to provide feedback on a regular basis.
It’s an opportunity to address under-performance in the early days and provide support to improve performance.
The focus should be on the quality of the conversation.
A suggested structure for this conversation includes the following elements:
- wellbeing
- tasks and workload
- any support required including development needs
- actions agreed, and anything else
One-to-one forms will not be saved centrally, but line managers should keep a record for their reference and store them securely and confidentially. The normal protocols should be followed to protect the identification of any individual, for example when discussing casework.
The one-to-one template for non-PDR users is attached to this page.
The PDR cycle
A good performance management approach follows an annual cycle of activity, starting with goal setting, discussing performance on a regular basis, and reviewing what was achieved at the end of the year.
This performance cycle is supported by the essential element of regular one-to-one conversations focused on wellbeing, goal priorities, ongoing development and support required to achieve success.
Start of year review
Planning and goal-setting:
- prepare - review council and department plans and competency framework
- discuss expectations for the new year - leaders to share their own goals to ensure alignment
- agree SMART goals - the 'what'
- agree which behaviours help achieve those goals - the 'how'
- discuss career aspirations
- agree any support needed and create a personal development plan
Mid-year review
Enable and manage individual performance:
- discuss progress of goals ('what' and 'how') and continuing development
- ongoing 2-way feedback
- coach to support wellbeing and performance
- address and support under performance
End of year review
Review and recognise individual performance and potential:
- joint review of achievements and feedback
- discuss career aspirations
- colleague completes the form
- line manager approves
Organisational talent reviews (senior leaders only):
- agree provisional performance and potential ratings
- validating manager has overview
- calibration of performance and potential
- review data against workforce plan
- update succession plans
- understand learning needs and budget
- ratings confirmed to colleague