Background
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service was first accredited as an Investor in People in 1996. We have been through subsequent assessment three times. We were most recently successful in being re-accredited in November 2006. We shall present ourselves for review next in November 2009. COPFS remains committed to Investors in People (IiP) as a tool towards ensuring best practice in continuous organisational development within a framework for planning, action and review.
There is, in respect of the latest version of the IiP standard, launched in November 2004, more attention to cultural change and an emphasis on strong leadership throughout the management tiers of the organisation.
Aim
COPFS' high level aim is to use the new IIP standard to provide a catalyst and a framework which will help COPFS significantly improve performance through effective training and development of all COPFS people to meet COPFS' business objectives.
The new standard is based on three principles. These principles are "plan, do and review". By "planning", throughout the organisation from the departmental strategic objectives to local business plans there is a clearly identifiable link between the strategic goals of the organisation and how they are developed by enhancing individual skills as well as the team approach through Areas and thence to Districts. Once the plans are in place the "doing" phase is development and use of these skills in a well-defined and continuing programme. The "reviewing" is a measurable progression towards business goals and how COPFS consider what value has been added so that future needs can be assessed.
Business planning is at the heart of the process.
It includes staff development as one of the elemental priorities. Reference is made to organisational targets, but active consideration is also given to ensuring that the appropriate systems are in place to deliver the targets. It is important to define how it is anticipated that people will contribute to the overall business plan and to ensure that there is in place a method, whereby skill gaps are identified and development plans are taken forward. A clear reference to how it is anticipated cultural change will be facilitated is an essential and this is achieved by developing leadership skills, particularly in middle managers. All areas in COPFS prepare annual business plans, based on the departmental strategy agreed with Scottish ministers, and which form the basis for defining how the core business of COPFS will be processed. The Area business plans are prepared in full consultation with staff at all levels within COPFS and include the identification of training and development needs.
Strategy
"An Investor in People develops effective strategies to improve the performance of the organisation through its people".
There are three principal strands to the new IiP strategy broken into separate criteria.
The first of these strands is "developing strategies to improve the performance of the organisation". An Investor in People should develop effective strategies to improve the performance of the organisation through its people. How this should be done is broken into four separate criteria.
- The first of these is that there should be a defined strategy for improving the performance of the organisation. This should be clearly understood throughout the organisation. From top managers with a clear purpose and vision, with measurable performance objectives and constructive relationships with representative groups, who are consulted when the organisation's business planning process is underway, through managers who can describe how they involve people when developing the organisation's business plan and when agreeing team and individual objectives, down to people who are members of the representative groups and can confirm that top managers ensure there are constructive relationships within the groups who are consulted during the process.
- The second criteria is that learning and development is planned to achieve the organisation's objectives. Again this spans the role of top managers who can explain the organisation's learning and development needs, the plans and resources in place to meet them, how these link to achieving specific objectives and how the impact will be evaluated. Managers can react appropriately in the context of their team's involvement and members of the team can describe how they identify their learning and development needs and activities as well as their expectation of what their activities should achieve for them, the team and the organisation. Induction is key. A new induction package for all staff in the department was launched in 2005. There is also a new performance management package, "The Learning Academy", has been developed and is being refined. It employs a competency based framework to identify development needs at all levels within the organisation. The competencies were identified by focus groups at all levels from within COPFS
- The third criteria relates to strategies for managing people which are designed to promote equality of opportunity in the development of the organisation's people. Again this is pitched at the strategic role of top managers in creating an appropriate environment to stimulate and encourage ideas while recognising the different needs of people throughout the organisation, allowing for equality of opportunity throughout the organisation, through managers who performed the same function in relation to their team and individuals who are expected to have confidence in the managers responsible for them.
- The fourth criteria is to ensure that managers have the capability to lead, manage and develop people effectively and their capabilities are clearly defined and understood. Similarly evidence requirements relate from the top managers through middle management grades to staff in general. Departmental "Management Development" and "Leadership Development" programmes were introduced in 2003 and 2005 respectively.
"An Investor in People takes effective action to improve the performance of the organisation through its people".
The second principle is "taking actions to improve the performance of the organisation". There are four criteria to this.
- The first is that managers are effective in leading, managing and developing people.
- the second is to ensure that people's contribution to the organisation is recognised and valued, the third is that people are encouraged to take ownership and responsibility by being involved in decision making and the fourth is that people learn and develop effectively. Again Induction is a key starter with management and leadership development also being relevant. This principle is targeted more at the operational managers and their staff within the organisation. It focuses on leadership. COPFS is to introduce a new induction package and a leadership development programme to supplement the management development programme during 2005.
"An Investor in People can demonstrate the impact of its investment in people on the performance of the organisation".
The third principle is "evaluating impact on the performance of the organisation". There are two criteria relevant to this:-
- investment in people improves the performance of the organisation and improvements are continually made to the way people are managed and developed.
- The evidence requirements under this heading revert back to the top managers down and are primarily aimed at evaluating training.
In COPFS we are now several years into major cultural change.
There is an increasing awareness of all the various initiatives which have been started over and continuity is apparent. The departmental strategy is well developed as are area business plans to reflect the strategy. COPFS has developed a new training strategy, there are well-established Management Development and Leadership Development Programmes. A new performance appraisal system has also been developed. It is competency based and is measurable against the new IiP standard. In addition to that COPFS and the TUS have introduced a programme of commitment to lifelong learning.
The Way Forward
As a Department we need to keep building on our successes in achieving recognition against the IiP standard. We shall take on board and respond to the development areas in our learning and development processes which were highlighted in our last Review. We regard the IiP standard as being key to the proper development of all our staff.