Our work – Two Little Birds

Here are some of the ways we have partnered with other organisations to assist them with their people development projects under our key focus areas of Team, Talent and Leadership development.

We’ve had great opportunities to partner and deliver organisational development solutions with some interesting organisations. These have ranged from implementing leadership programmes, developing diversity and inclusion strategies and plans, capability pathways, performance framework re-designs, management of engagement and onboarding surveys, project managing large scale culture change programmes, and facilitating Team Management profiling sessions and individual coaching.

We’ve facilitated workshops, carried out interviews, developed design principles, written policies and guidelines, developed templates, documented an HR strategy, supported a change process and developed a talent management approach with supporting guidelines…and much more.

Team

Diversity and Inclusion strategy and implementation plan

We worked with a Crown-Owned Entity to develop a Diversity and Inclusion strategy, as well as a series of recommended initiatives they could implement over a three-year period.

Our approach was to conduct multiple workshops and individual interviews so that we could gain insights into the current state, identify the desired future state and requirements, and understand the organisational culture.

Following on from this discovery phase, we provided a current state report, and aspirational objectives which were designed to underpin all future initiatives and had these signed off at Executive level. We then collaborated with the internal D&I working group and identified the key initiatives that needed to be implemented immediately. This fed into the development of a D&I strategy and three- year plan.

Team Management Profiling and Culture Amp Engagement Survey

We were approached by a professional services organisation who were looking to develop their people and build a high performing team. We started with Team Management Profiling for all staff to help individuals be aware of their own working styles and that of their team. This was followed by a workshop with all staff, then targeted coaching in small groups and one on ones.

The next stage was to carry out an Engagement Survey to ensure future initiatives were targeted towards what was important to the staff. We recommended the Culture Amp engagement survey as it was important for the Directors to understand the specific engagement drivers for their organisation. We managed the rollout of the survey, including ensuring it was tailored for the organisation. We also carried out the analysis of the data, presented this to the senior leadership team and worked with them on action plans.

Team Management Profiling: Small business

We’ve worked with a team of ‘tradies’ who were looking to understand each other’s working styles and develop a strong team culture. We’ve carried out Team Management Profiling for all staff, facilitated a workshop and followed up with individual coaching for the leaders. We’ve also supported the Managing Director to deliver targeted workshops on business challenges, using team members from specific segments of the TMI wheel to utilise their strengths.

Leadership

Performance Framework Review: Government Agency

We completed a review of a performance framework for the leaders and specialists in a large government agency. We conducted stakeholder interviews, developed design principles and a revised framework for presentation to senior leaders. Following this we tested the design with staff, then moved into policy, template and toolkit design.

Culture change programme: Crown-owned entity

We are Associates of an Auckland-based culture change consultancy. They asked us to work with them as the Wellington based delivery partners on a large-scale culture change programme. Our role was to project manage the different components, as well as provide input into the design and development of the programme, prepare Executive briefing papers and manage the relationship with the client.

We’ve continued this relationship over 18 months and we are able to dive in and provide support to the client with planning, development and facilitation as required.

Leadership programme: Utility provider

We are working with this organisation on a number of projects, and the development of a leadership programme for their management team seemed a natural fit. They were looking for some simple leadership workshops, with a leadership framework co-designed specifically for their organisation as an output of the workshops.

These five workshops have been scheduled to occur over a 5-month period and focus on three types of conversations leaders need to have with their people (Connection, Coaching and Courageous). We’re also designing a leadership framework (using some of the workshop outputs) which describes the expectations of their leaders. The final workshop introduced their leadership framework, plus provided the leaders with a self-assessment tool so that individual development needs could be identified along with group trends.

Leader and Specialist induction

We’ve been working with a State-Owned Enterprise to refine their recently introduced two-day Leader and Specialist induction programme. This is a high-profile event with over 80 attendees, and attendance to coordinate with the senior leadership team, guest speakers, and a formal dinner to organise. This has involved managing the development of the entire programme, including working with their senior leadership team and business leaders to agree key messaging, design presentations, and support the delivery of the two days in Auckland.

Intranet page update

A large government agency provides a self-service HR model to the business however managers were struggling to find the content they needed to support them on the intranet. This project has a focus on the simplification of HR content, and we have written nine sections that follow the employee life-cycle for their managers to access, using their existing material as our base content.

Talent

Learning pathway and learning material (large government agency)

We were approached by a business unit within a large government agency who were looking to ensure their approach to learning was sustainable and best practice. They also wanted to understand what their people needed to know at each point of their career journey.

We carried out a significant discovery phase which included interviews with the leadership team, key stakeholders and staff. We surveyed all staff for their views and attended and observed the current learning programme. We then developed a detailed learning pathway for all roles within the unit and made recommendations on enhancements to the learning material. We completed the project by developing session plans and resources for 24 topics.

Learning pathway (large government agency)

We were approached by a business unit within a large government agency who, because of upcoming legislative changes, needs to ensure that all learning requirements were documented.

We carried out a discovery phase which included interviews with the project team, and review and analysis of all existing training material. Again, we developed a detailed learning pathway for all roles within the unit and made recommendations on enhancements to the learning material.

Performance Framework Review: Non-governmental Organisation (NGO)

We carried out a review of a performance framework for a small organisation who were looking for a more contemporary practice. We carried out interviews with the senior leadership team and ran workshops for staff to gain their input into the design. Their perspective was tested against local and international research and assessed for viability for their organisation. Once design principles were agreed, we moved into design of the framework and development of a policy and toolkit to support the new framework.

Talent management strategy, integrated with a review of the performance framework: small government agency

We worked with a small Government Agency to deliver a revised approach to talent management and a review of the current performance framework. We carried out interviews with the Executive team, senior leaders and frontline staff. Based on these interviews, we developed design principles and recommended an integrated approach which we presented to the Executive team for approval. To support this, we also developed new policies, templates and user guides.

Capability review: Utility provider

We were approached by an organisation who were about to implement a transformation programme. They wanted to ensure they were building the right capability to ensure they could deliver the goals of the transformation. We carried out stakeholder interviews with the Executive team and facilitated workshops with business groups affected by the change. We provided the Executive team with a report on the capability development requirements and a series of recommendations to build the capability that will support a successful change process.

We continue to work with this organisation and have since carried out team management profiling and workshops.

Talent Exchange

The Exchange programme is an initiative we are delivering in partnership with INSIDE Recruitment. The purpose of the Exchange programme is to provide participants with a three-day tailored development experience at an organisation we identify as being ideally matched to support the achievement of their identified objectives. We are delighted that so far, we have had two participants go through the programme, and have organisations such as Simpson Grierson, PHARMAC, BNZ, MIT and NZ Police supporting us. You can find out more at www.insiderecruitment.co.nz/talent-exchange.

Orientation Review: Health
We were approached by a large organisation who had a number of different entities. They had a requirement to streamline their orientation material to ensure it was consistent and in plain, easy to read language. We carried out workshops with key stakeholders to agree the content, then reviewed and refreshed all of the existing material.