The document discusses the role of HR in supporting organizational transformation through engaging leadership. It provides examples of how employee ownership can strengthen transformation by shifting to a more decentralized structure with empowered employees and a flexible, no-blame culture. Effective leadership, communication, and organizational development programs are needed to embed transformation and develop employees. Case studies demonstrate some of the cultural and process challenges of transitioning to employee ownership.

1. Engaging Leadership – the role HR in
supporting transformation
Annette Rowe
www.baxipartnership.co.uk
annette.rowe@baxipartnership.co.uk
07913681778
April 2012

2. Who are Baxi Partnership?
• an employee-owned company;
• specialists in mutual and employee ownership in both the private and public sectors;
• 12 years experience supporting over 35 organisations through full transition and working
with dozens more;
• Cabinet Office mentors to three of the Government’s Mutual Pathfinders;
• part of a consortium of specialist providers who won the contract to deliver to the Cabinet
Office’s re-launched Mutuals Information Service providing triage support to the Mutuals
Support Programme;
• provide transition support to organisations looking to become mutual or employee owned
through both the technical and cultural challenges involved;
• Over 12 years successful experience of employee and customer engagement
programmes;
• support creation of mutual culture, driving strong, effective employee ownership that
promotes high levels of motivation, employee engagement, innovation, productivity and
overall performance;
• support access to capital through expert advice, our own capital investment fund and
network of social investment partners.

3. Cultural challenges
Being an employee owner should feel different to working in a traditionally
structured organisation in a number of ways, and there are challenges to both
management and employees to make it work:
 Two-step culture change – to a more commercial mindset and to
thinking like an employee owner
 Management leads on behalf of everyone in the organisation
 Encourage participation without anarchy or paralysis
 Foster a more innovative and entrepreneurial approach
 Greater transparency is critical to drive a sense of ownership and a
culture of informed innovation
 Peer support and challenge and thinking like a single organisation
to sustain a culture of continuous productivity
 Employee representation and engagement mechanisms

4. Capturing the Spirit of
Ownership
‘Can you achieve the
benefits of employee
ownership and
strengthen
transformation?’

5. Leadership in Transformation - responses to good
management
Traditional Employee Ownership
• Manager • Leader
• Systems • Initiative
• Centralised structure • Decentralised autonomous units
• Bureaucracy • Loose-Tight structure
• Be efficient • Have fun
• Task centred • People centred
• Rigid • Flexible, adaptable
• Clear boundaries • empowered, no blame culture
• Follow the rules • Find solutions
• Do what you are told • Make people's day
• Follow procedures • Go the extra mile

6. What People Want from their Leaders
Of 1000 people surveyed the most common qualities people
wanted in a leader were:
• Integrity
• Honesty
• Fairness
• Vision
• Humility
• Trustworthiness
Source: ‘Inside Out – How to have authentic relationships with everyone in your life’ by Sarah Abell
6

7. Supporting and Embedding Transformation
Leadership
• Clear direction clarifies purpose and engage
employees
Communication
• Clear communication enables employees participation
Organisational Development
• Aligned organisational development programmes
enables strong leadership
© 2011 Cultural Chemistry, LLC All right reserved

8. Leadership Communication Development
Leadership
• Defines a clear mission, vision, goals & strategies
• Communicates the vision clearly and keeps it in front
of the employees
• Role clarity is everything
• Communicate with all layers
• Moves away from assigning a task
• Communicate success

9. Case study: Pathfinders
Official learnings: • Innovation and efficiency
• Customer engagement
• Staff engagement
• More responsive
• Passion & leadership
Hands on learnings: • The scale of the procurement challenge
• Lack of manager / commissioner understanding
• Sometimes leadership isn’t enough
• Need to bake in employee involvement early
• Need to be realistic about future tenders

10. Effective channels of
internal communication

11. • What will staff need to know in order to do our jobs?
• What will staff need to know in order to feel and act
as ‘owners’?
• What would staff expect to know or hear about first
in order to feel part of the organisation?

12. Leadership Communication Development
Organisational Development
• Job descriptions are aligned to organisational goals and explain
purpose of the role, skills needed and expected output of the
role
• Career ladders are publicly available
• Employee has a development plan
focused on increasing their knowledge
and aligned to organizational purpose
• Measurement of HR ROI is in place
• Success is celebrated frequently
© 2011 Cultural Chemistry, LLC All right reserved

13. Recruitment and Selection -
4 Keys of Great Leaders
1. Select the • Select for TALENT AND OWNERSHIP
Person • Not simply experience, intelligence or determination
• Define the right OUTCOMES
2. Set Expectations • Not the right steps
3. Motivate the • Focus on STRENGTHS
Person • Not on weaknesses
4. Develop the • Find the RIGHT FIT
Person • Not simply the next rung on the ladder

14. Induction
To Include? :
• What you are about,
• and responsibilities of being an
employee, customer/user service,
• business performance and strategy,
• who is who,
• values and
• how we do things.
Staff get the right messages on what we are about
and what is expected from first day

15. The art of performance management
Keep the routine SIMPLE
Meet FREQUENTLY: minimum once a quarter
Focus on the FUTURE
Ask employee to keep track of their OWN performance and learnings

16. Listening to Staff and Customers
How do you measure?.....
• employee engagement
• leadership performance in terms of
ownership and engagement ?
• the core elements needed to attract, focus
and keep the most talented employees?
• the impact of rewards?
• customer engagement
• Stakeholder loyalty and reputation

17. Measuring strength of Work Place
How do you measure the core elements needed to
attract, focus and keep the most talented
employees?
“Business Units were measurably more
productive when employees answered positively
to engagement questions.”
Gallup
Analysis of performance data from over 2,500 business units and over
105,000 employees

18. Case study: MyCSP
Ownership model: Presented by Cabinet Office as first of central
Government spin outs. New organisation will have
tripartite ownership split between
employees, Government and yet tbc private sector JV
partner.
Spin out process: Not so much spun out as shoved out by Cabinet
Office, who have driven the process including Crown
Commercial Representative Stephen Kelly Chairing
Shadow Board. Costs funded by Centre and new JV.
Employee buy-in: Though management claim they have consulted from
the start, there is no doubt many employees felt this
was being done to them. More effective engagement
is taking place now, but there is still significant staff
resentment at the process.

19. Learning and Development

20. People Development
• Aligned with performance development
• Leadership Development
• 1st Line Leadership
• Team Development
• Preparing Employees for a new way of doing
things
• Performance Management
• Foundation Training

21. Case study: Kensington & Chelsea Youth Services
Ownership model: Employee-led social enterprise. Wholly owned by
employees. User involvement in governance
arrangements. Still deciding final arrangements
around Trust versus employee share scheme.
Spin out process: Supported to go by Local Authority. Up front costs of
transition paid for. Aim is for Authority to provide dowry
contract for 5 years – still in negotiation. Aim to be live
by September 2012.
Employee buy-in: Employees have been consulted significantly from the
start. Held all staff vote to ensure a mandate exists.
Shadow governance arrangements are already
involving employees directly. Specialist support
provided to support employees in driving new culture.

22. Reward and recognition
• Recognise
• Celebrate
• Involve

23. FUN
?

24. And finally……….

25. Cardiologist and Motorcycle Mechanic
– a parable

26. 'Try doing it with
the
engine running!'

27. Simple concept……..
• Needs: And all
– Right Leadership
– Right people with the
– Skilled implementation
– Inspired communication engine
– Commitment to excellence
running!!
– Desire to delight customers
– Willingness to have fun