Planning a project to Enhance Capacity

ContentsIntroduction....................................................................................................................................2

Timings...........................................................................................................................................2

Creating the plan............................................................................................................................3

Principles for carrying out this work...........................................................................................3

1. Involve people....................................................................................................................3

2. Keep people informed........................................................................................................4

3. Create outcomes that are relevant....................................................................................4

Scoping the work........................................................................................................................4

Should you start with a pilot project?.....................................................................................4

What range of roles/jobs will the project’s outcomes cover?................................................5

How many people do you need to collect information from?................................................5

Do you need to collect information from outside the organisation?......................................7

How much resource is it likely to take to gather all this information?....................................7

How long is it likely to take overall?........................................................................................7

What size team do you need?.................................................................................................8

Do you need external support?..............................................................................................8

Who do you need to involve internally?.................................................................................8

What will the implementation look like?................................................................................9

Are there deadlines that needs to be met?............................................................................9

Assemble the Project Team..................................................................................................11

Identify Who the Key Stakeholders Are................................................................................13

Identifying people you will collect information from............................................................15

Budget..................................................................................................................................15

Administration and Materials...............................................................................................15

Other Considerations................................................................................................................15

Business case................................................................................................................................16

Communications...........................................................................................................................17

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IntroductionThe information provided here, is intended to help enhance capacity as a single ‘pump priming’ project. This approach has proven to be the most popular and effective way to start improving performance in organisations using PACE.

The information in this tool can also be scaled down to cover a department, function or project. Time invested in planning can save a significant amount of time during the project work and avoid unnecessary complications or problems.

This tool includes:

principle for guiding the project scoping the work required getting buy-in to the work planning communications

This tool does not provide detail for each of the four steps for enhancing capacity. Details are provided in the tools for each of these steps, i.e. Tools 1 to 4a on the PACE website.

TimingsThe following timings are based on average elapsed times from more than a decade of enhancing capacity projects. Actual times for each step can be significantly less or more depending on local factors including resources available to complete the work.

Creating a plan A few days or weeks depending on scope and who needs to be involved Step 1 Clarify ‘What Needs To Be Achieved’ (WNTBA) 2 - 4 days Step 2 Identifying work conditions that limit WNTBA 2 – 4 weeks

(this includes gathering data for step 4a)

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Step 3 Addressing work conditions that limit WNTBATiming depends on the changes that need to be made

If changes are only made to expectations this can take a day or two Changes to work conditions may require a separate project

Step 4a Producing performance indicators for delivery 1 – 2 weeks

Total elapsed time for a typical project can be as little as six weeks and needs to be kept as short as possible to maintain momentum and interest in the purpose and outcomes of the project. Access to key people for decisions and agreements and access to documents and people from which to gather work conditions and behaviour information are the most common delaying factors and should be considered carefully when creating the plan.

Creating the planIt may seem more logical that getting buy-in to the work should come before project planning. The position taken here is that creating, or at least drafting, a project plan will provide a more objective view of what people are being asked to buy into and so planning is presented here before the section on creating a business case.

The plan needs to consider all resources (people, time, money, space, materials etc.) that will be needed. Worksheets are provided below to help estimate and record these resources prior to putting together your plan.

Where possible, involve the project team in the planning process to increase their understanding and buy-in to the work.

Any project must have a plan to ensure that

potential obstacles are identified and their effects minimised or eliminated communication is focused on inclusion, progress and achievements possible delays are identified and options are in place to deal with them.

Principles for carrying out this work If outputs from this work are to be owned and used, three principles must be followed. These principles also help to ensure the resulting behaviours and processes are fit for purpose.

1. Involve the people who will be affected by the project and its outcomes.2. Keep people informed about what is happening and why.3. Create outcomes that are relevant to all who will be affected by them, including the

organisation’s needs and intended applications.

1. Involve peopleThe views of potential users of the project’s outcomes will influence their enthusiasm for the work. Involve potential users to ensure their views can be accounted for.

You cannot involve every potential user in every stage. At least try to include individuals from different areas of the organisation who might champion the work and involve potential critics and individuals who could create resistance to successful implementation. Advice on when and how to involve people during the project is provided later.

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2. Keep people informedEverybody who will be affected by or will use the project’s outcomes – whether or not they are yet aware of this – must be kept informed about:

why the outcomes are being produced how they will be produced how they will be used.

Good communication removes possible obstacles and reduces or eliminates difficulties at implementation. For example, this work requires collecting job information from job-holders. Gaining the co-operation of job-holders is easier when they know why information is being collected and what their role is in providing it. When people are asked to provide something without knowing why it is needed, they tend to produce their own explanations, often assuming the worst. It is hard to collect objective information if job-holders believe their performance is being assessed or that, as yet, unannounced changes may result from the information being collected.

3. Create outcomes that are relevantTo ensure the project’s outcomes are relevant for all intended users (i.e. all actual and potential job holders covered by the scope of the project), information must be collected about the full range of jobs and job holders and cover possible differences, e.g. work location, sex, disabilities, age or race. Relevance also applies to work conditions and the behavioural criteria.

Scoping the workBuy-in should be based on a clear understanding of the true nature of the work for which commitment is being sought. Develop an outline of the work required – including a brief outline of work required for implementation and work required to support users. Guidance and forms are included below help you summarise the scope.

The buy-in and commitment of key stakeholders is likely to depend on a wide range of issues. The following guideline helps ensure you cover the key issues.

Here is a list of questions and each question is followed by guidance and prompts to help with your answers. Use the form on page 10 to collate your answers. Add your own questions to the list if needed.

Should you start with a pilot project?Consider a pilot if your organisation is very large and/or there is an immediate need to enhance capacity in one area of the organisation. In these situations, you may not need to invest all the time and expense in one go to cover the whole organisation. Lessons learned from a pilot could then be used to enhance capacity across the organisation. It can be useful for a pilot to be carried out with just the senior management population as it sends positive messages to other staff about managerial commitment to the project.

Capacity in one part of an organisation may be limited because of work conditions in another part of the organisation. Provided adequate sampling of views about work conditions are gathered from staff in the pilot area this should not prevent the cause from being identified.

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What range of roles/jobs will the project’s outcomes cover?Maximum benefit is gained if all jobs in an organisation can be included. If a pilot is to be implemented, ensure that every level of job is included in the pilot area, e.g. do not exclude senior management or service delivery or any other group of staff.

How many people do you need to collect information from?To clarify what needs to be achieved (step1), run one or two workshops involving a cross section of stakeholders, including:

senior managers responsible for setting strategy and direction for the organisation other key stakeholders (identified later in this tool) that need to be involved external stakeholders (see the next question in this checklist).

When collecting behaviour and work conditions statements (in step 2) it is essential to get a representative sample of people and jobs that will be covered by the project’s outcomes. For example:

a sample of jobs should be analysed from each service area or function and a sample of jobs should be analysed across all roles (e.g. service delivery,

administration, operational management, technical and strategic management).

The number of job-holders to involve in information gathering in step 2 depends on how different or similar jobs are across the organisation. The more differences within and between jobs, the greater the number of people needed, e.g. an organisation with a wide range of different services might need to involve a large sample of service staff to ensure that each service is represented. An organisation with a large number of people in a few key departments might only need a small sample of staff. Also, account for other differences that could affect how work is carried out, e.g. locations and work patterns.

Identify how many people you need from each group or function in the organisation. An example of how this would look is given below.

Sampling for gathering information on Work Conditions and Behaviours

Function

Roles

PlanningCommunity services

Children & Education

Housing Admin HR & OD Finance

Senior managers 1 2 2 2

Middle managers 2 3 1

Junior managers 1 3 2 3 3

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Team leaders 1 2 1 4 2

Admin. staff 3 2 4 1 1

Service staff 1 1 3 1

You may also need to collect information from the managers of the jobs being analysed. This provides another perspective on jobs e.g. how managers perceive ways in which good and less effective job holders differ. Add these in to your table using ‘M’ to denote managers being interviewed about jobs in their team (rather than about their own jobs). The table would then look like this:

Sampling for gathering information on Work Conditions and Behaviours

Function

Roles

PlanningCommunity services

Children & Education

Housing Admin HR & OD Finance Total no.

Senior managers

1 M1 2 M2 2 M1 211

Middle managers

M1 2 M2 3+M1 M2 1 M113

Junior managers

1+M1 M1 3+M1 2+M2 3 M1 318

Team leaders

1 2+M1 1 4+M1 M2 2+M1 M116

Admin. staff

3 2 4 1 111

Service staff

1 1 3 16

It is impossible to state ‘typical’ sample sizes. Make sure that key differences (job type, location, work patterns etc.) are accounted for. In small, diverse organisations a sample may exceed 25 per cent and in large organisations, with little diversity in terms of the work conditions and behavioural demands of jobs, samples are often 1 or 2 per cent.

A blank form is provided later to help you estimate numbers for your sample.

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Do you need to collect information from outside the organisation?Customers/service users, suppliers and partners can have useful and important views about what works well and not so well when they interact with the organisation. This is an ideal opportunity to collect their views and to use it to influence their future experiences of with organisation.

How much resource is it likely to take to gather all this information?Where appropriate, use a mix of information gathering techniques to ensure you get information from different sources. Use your estimate of the number of people to collect information from to estimate the number of interviews and workshops needed.

For workshops to clarify what needs to be achieved (step 1), allow up to three hours per workshop and up to 20 participants per workshop.

For workshops to collect behaviours and operating conditions statements (step 2), allow up to two hours per workshop and up to 16 participants.

If you have more than 15 people to collect information from in any one role in step 2, interview up to a fifth of them and run workshops with the remainder. For example, if you had 20 middle managers to collect data from about their own jobs, interview four and run a workshop with the remaining 16. Collect information from managers about jobs they manage using interviews.

Allow one interview per person and about two hours per interview.

Analysis of work conditions information and report writing can take three or four days.

Analysis of behaviour statements and producing a first draft behavioural framework usually requires a two-day workshop plus a further two to five days to get the draft ready for further consultation.

Allow an additional one and two days to revise the draft framework based on feedback from further consultation.

How long is it likely to take overall?Allow a maximum of four interviews per day and up to three workshops per day. Add an additional day to prepare the information for analysis.

Remember to account for the time required to co-ordinate interviews, workshops and gathering feedback on the draft. Add in contingency time for re-scheduling interviews and for delays in getting users’ feedback on the draft framework.

Collate your answers to the questions about information gathering on the following form.

Activity Total number of people involved

Total number of interviews/workshops

Total number of days

E.g. Clarifying expectations (WNTBA)

e.g. 20 e.g. 2 e.g. 1

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Clarifying expectations (WNTBA)

Job analysis interviews

Job analysis workshops

Manager interviews

Drafting the framework

Co-ordination

What size project team do you need?You need skilled interviewers and skilled facilitators. Workshops with 16 to 20 participants are easier to manage with two facilitators. Interviews are time consuming and tiring so it is best to share interviews across three or more interviewers.

Keep the team size manageable, e.g. six to ten people. Larger teams can be used if information gathering needs to be done quickly but avoid this if possible as drafting the behaviour framework can be more challenging if all the people who collected the information cannot take part in the analysis.

Do you need external support?Organisations cannot afford the negative effects of a conditions report or behavioural framework that is compromised and not fully fit for purpose. Many projects use a mix of internal and external team members. If you decide to use external people make sure they can provide the support you need – do not accept assurances, only accept relevant evidence. For guidance on selecting external experts, see ‘Using external expertise’ on page 12.

Who do you need to involve internally?Consider who will be affected by the project’s outcomes, who might welcome them and who might resist them. Are these people involved in the project? Those who might welcome the project’s outcomes could be useful champions. Those who might resist them could derail the project. Involving them could reduce resistance and help educate them about the benefits. Consider where and how you could involve these people.

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What will the implementation look like?Jot down your thoughts about how the behavioural framework will be used in the various people management processes. First think of priorities; for which process is there the highest need to be behaviours based, which next and so on. Performance management is by far the most frequently chosen priority.

For each process, consider whether implementation can be phased in, e.g. through one or more pilot implementations.

Use your thoughts to estimate the timeframe over which the implementation needs to be spread.

Are there deadlines that needs to be met?Consider whether a start or launch date needs to be set now and explore whether any impending activities depend on the project’s outcomes. Involve stakeholders by asking for their views on timescales.

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Collate responses from questions about scope onto the form below.

Issue considered Resource requirements (if any) Notes

Should we run a pilot?

What is the range of roles/jobs the framework will cover?

How many people do we need to collect information from?

Do we need to collect information from outside the organisation?

How much resource is it likely to take to gather all this information?

How long is it likely to take overall?

What is the size of project team?

Do we need external support?

Who needs to be involved internally?

What will the implementation look like?

What are the key deadlines?

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Assemble the Project TeamThe project team will help:

define or clarify the organisation’s aspirations, what needs to be achieved (WNTBA) collect work conditions and behavioural information produce a work conditions report draft and refine the behavioural framework.

Team members should have the attitudes, skills and experience necessary to deliver the required outcomes. Where there are shortfalls in attitudes, skills and/or experience within the organisation, training and/or external expertise may be needed and this can be provided by the LGA PACE project lead consultant.

The project team should consist of

individuals with the necessary attitudes, skills and experience (see below) people representing the diversity of the organisation and its service users enough people to complete the project work within an acceptable timeframe

Essential attitudes, skills and experience The following checklists will help select members for the project team.

Rate potentials team members on the following (1 = low, 3 = acceptable and 5 = high).

1 2 3 4 5

Ability to follow procedures

Ability to deal with ambiguity in language

Ability to deal with conflict constructively

Ability to interact effectively with people at most levels

Ability to work alone

Committed to the project’s purpose and outcomes

Structured interviewing skills and experience

Repertory grid technique training and experience

Critical incidents technique training and experience

Verbal reasoning skills

Workshop facilitation skills training and experience

Commitment to the organisation’s purpose

Make sure the team represents the diversity of people in the organisation and the community it serves. Aim to include people from a wide range of jobs and functions to gain a broad view from your team as well as from those you collect information from. Some potential team members

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may have been identified when seeking buy-in for the project. If possible do not limit the team to the OD, HR or L&D functions.

DiversityThe following table can be developed and used as a checklist. Make sure you comply with your organisation’s confidentiality, diversity and data protection policies when collecting, using and storing this information.

Diversity

Sex

Ethnic grouping

Grade

Age

Job

Department/function

Location

Team SizeEffective team size depends on the diversity of roles in, and the size and diversity of, the organisation and its service users. Try to limit the team to between six and ten members.

Using External ExpertiseCombining internal staff with external experts can be very productive but avoid relying solely only on external people as this can reduce the ownership users feel for the project’s outcomes.

External experts can be very helpful for several reasons:

People may be more open with external experts (e.g. when information is collected from sensitive areas or from senior managers or board members)

They can provide skills and experience lacking in the organisation (e.g. specific job analysis skills, expertise in designing behavioural frameworks).

Experts from outside the organisation can bring a breadth of new experience (e.g. from different sectors and/or other similar organisations).

When selecting someone from outside the organisation to join the team, do not assume they have the necessary attitudes, skills or experience. Their work affects your organisation’s future, always check credentials and references. Speak to past clients and review examples of similar work that they have personally been involved in.

Ask to see an example of a behavioural framework designed by the external expert. Check it against the following criteria (1 = low, 3 = acceptable and 5 = high).

No Yes

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Are the statements unambiguous?

Are the statements written in simple, jargon free language?

Does each statement describe a single observable behaviour?

Does each statement provide context for the behaviour?

Is each statement unique in the framework?

Does the approach used by the expert fit the approach you will be using?

Check

References

Testimonials

Check that the external experts shares your understanding of performance, behavioural frameworks and what you are trying to achieve. Ensure that the people you are checking out will actually be doing the work (i.e. don’t only check the credentials of the lead consultant if it is their team who will be doing the bulk of the work).

If you need to supplement the team with external consultants only pick those with proven relevant knowledge, skills and experience. Apply the checklist on page 11.

Once you have selected the team, the main planning challenges will be around their availability and availability of the people from whom information is to be gathered. Get the team involved in the planning of workshops and interviews to ensure that team members commitments and needs are accounted for.

Identify Who the Key Stakeholders AreIdentify who the stakeholders are and the aspects of the work they have a stake in. Remember that getting buy-in to enhancing capacity also means getting buy-in to implementing the project’s outcomes and to supporting users, so key stakeholders for these phases should also be identified. Use the following worksheet to help identify the key stakeholders for your project.

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Key stakeholders

Use the questions below to identify people likely to have an influence on the project and implementation of the project’s outcomes. Jot down the names and/or job titles of key people in each stakeholder group who need to buy into the project’s outcomes and/or their implementation. NOTE – it is OK to include people/job titles in more than one box.

Investors

Who will provide the funding and other resources (e.g. staff for the project team)?

Showstoppers

Who are the people that can say no and stop the project?

Kill joys

Who are the people most likely to be negative and can undermine the project?

Gatekeepers

Who are the people that own processes that will be affected by the project’s outcomes, e.g. selection and appraisal?

Groups and representatives

Which groups could influence or resist the project, e.g. unions and special interest groups?

Champions

Who could become supporters and make the project easier? Are there people that can help you get the buy-in of others?

The consumers

Who would best represent the interests or needs of people who will be most affected by the project’s outcomes?

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Identifying people you will collect information fromComplete this section of the plan using the summary of scope that you produced earlier. You can involve more job-holders and managers later in the production, e.g. when getting feedback on the draft framework.

Decide on the techniques you will use to gather information and use your summary of scope to draw up a list of actual people you would like to gather information from. You may need to amend this list as you go through the planning process.

When drawing up your list, consider the following questions.

What is the availability of people needed for the information gathering interviews and workshops?

Do any aspects of the jobs to be analysed influence the choice of methods, e.g. attitudes of job holders?

Does the sample of job-holders for information gathering represent the diversity of people that do or could occupy jobs in the organisation by, for example, age, sex, disability or ethnic group? Where this is not possible, supplement the job analysis information with views from appropriate experts.

Is the context in which the job is performed an important consideration for selecting techniques, e.g. location, danger, sensitivity of information?

Do resources (e.g. budgets, timescales, room availability and staff availability) have implications for choice of techniques?

Are there political or strategic considerations to take into account?

Interviewers/facilitators may need to be matched to interviewees or particular workshop participants.

Budget Your plan needs to take account of cost considerations such as:

use of external experts use of facilities and materials that need to be paid for any internal cross charging (e.g. for project team members).

Administration and MaterialsConsider the following points and account for them in your plan.

What rooms need to be arranged for interviews and workshops? What administrative support is needed (e.g. to arrange interviews, to prepare

information for analysis)? What is the availability of key people if needed to sign off key activities?

Other ConsiderationsWhen putting together your plan:

build in flexibility for rearranging interviews, etc. refer to the intended purpose for the project’s outcomes

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consider longer term issues such as who you will invite to review the project’s outputs (e.g. the work conditions report, behavioural criteria and role profiles) and how these will be kept up to date.

Business caseOne way of getting buy-in for this work is to set the scene with a business case. This case can be based on generic benefits and needs to include specific and individual benefits for key stakeholders.

Word arguments in terms of meeting organisational needs and the benefits the project’s outcomes will bring. Ensure your ‘pitch’ addresses the specific needs and interests of key stakeholders. Use the worksheet below to sketch out the case for each key stakeholder group.

An important argument, and one that needs careful positioning, is that enhancing capacity does not necessarily, or even often, mean getting people to do more. It more often means reducing wasted effort while increasing productive effort. In many organisations a great deal of effort is wasted tackling the symptoms of ‘self-inflicted’ problems that divert effort and resources away from fulfilling the main purpose of the organisation. This project can not only address the symptoms of problems that need addressing but also help identify their causes so that those problems do not re-occur.

People whose buy-in you need

People likely to have an influence on production or implementation

What’s in it for them?

Jot down your thoughts about what each of these stakeholder groups would get from the production and/or implementation.

Investors

People who will provide the funding and other resources (e.g. staff for the project team) to produce and implement the framework.

Showstoppers

People who can say no and stop the production.

Kill joys

People who are likely to be negative and can undermine the production or any part of the implementation.

Gatekeepers

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People who own processes that will be affected by implementation of the framework, e.g. selection and appraisal.

Groups and representatives

Groups that could influence or resist the development or implementation, e.g. unions and special interest groups.

Champions

People likely to support and make the production process easier and people that may help you get the buy-in of others.

The consumers

People who best represent the interests or needs of those who will be most affected by the framework.

Communications Ensure buy-in is maintained with stakeholders through regular communication and ensure that, as the work progresses, further buy-in is achieved with those who will use or be affected by the project’s outcomes.

Communication is key to the success of any project. You need to consider:

what needs to be communicated who needs to be communicated to when to communicate the best media for communicating different types of messages lead times for the production and distribution of communication material how to time and stage the rolling out of information, e.g. regarding progress with

collecting information and towards implementation.

People who are, or will be, affected by the framework need to know:

what will happen – i.e. key activities such as information gathering interviews, meetings, feedback on the draft framework

why these activities are necessary how information will be collected and how information will be used – let people know

about this before collecting it when key activities will take place

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what is expected of different people and why what individuals’ roles in the production process will be, including project team

members and consultants if used why individuals have been asked to contribute, e.g. to a workshop why individuals may not have been asked to contribute how the framework will be introduced how the framework will be kept up to date (the updating process must be

communicated carefully – the process should not be interpreted as an excuse for launching a poor framework, nor should it suggest that the framework is never quite finished)

who to contact for further information.

Keep key stakeholders up to date and ensure the messages highlight how you are meeting, or working towards meeting, their needs. Refer to the stakeholder checklists.

Finally, take account of the degree of involvement an individual is to have in the project and how that might influence how much that person may need or want to know.

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