Talent Solutions

Building for the future

Background

A large federal government agency had embarked on a strategic realignment taking a traditional top-down approach.  Eighteen months into this initiative it became readily apparent that the pace of change was stalling at the senior executive level.  Key communication messages were being distorted or simply not getting through to Director Level and below.  In addition, there was considerable mistrust of senior leadership and strong resistance to change.

Solution

Talent Solutions was engaged to help the senior executive better align their leadership teams with the strategic direction of the organisation.  For many, this was a considerable departure from where the organisation had come from and required a significant shift in attitudes, behaviours and responsibilities.

This was no simple task and took a multifaceted approach to leadership alignment, development and cultural change.  We began by consulting with resource heads and delivering customised leadership alignment workshops at the SES level across the nation.  

A ‘cascading’ approach then followed as a series of facilitated workshops were delivered within resource centre leadership teams down to Executive Level 1 teams.  These workshops focused primarily on the strategic direction of the organisation, individual roles and responsibilities, performance alignment and leadership development.

At the same time a national 360-degree feedback project was launched to support leadership development at the executive level.  Over 350 executive level leaders participated in facilitated 360-degree feedback based on the APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS).  Executive coaching was offered and many pursued this option to address development areas highlighted by the feedback process.

Results

The results of this large-scale initiative are still being assessed throughout the organisation.  Some resource centres have reported significant improvement in staff understanding and commitment to the future direction of the organisation.  A recent all-staff climate survey demonstrated clear evidence to support the active involvement of executive leaders and the positive impact this has had on their staff.  

We have now been engaged to further embed strategic alignment by helping the organisation implement a talent management program specifically targeting the accelerated development of executive level leaders.


Towards a flexible workforce

Background

An underground mine operated by a global resources giant was facing unacceptably high lost time injuries and inconsistent production output.  The workforce was disengaged and the mine management team inexperienced and under considerable pressure to improve performance.

Solution

Talent Solutions was engaged to implement a program of cultural change targeting 400 staff over a six-month period.  Our initial consultation revealed a workforce that was largely hostile and resistant to change and a management team looking for an externally facilitated ‘one-off’ solution.

We worked with the mine management team to implement an experiential approach to team development with managers playing a large part in delivering components of the program.  A two-day off-site provided the forum as staff solved various team-based problems that simulated the challenges they faced everyday on site.  These activities provided the ‘data’ for teams to generate their own set of performance standards and a three month plan for making improvements on their shift.

The management team was initially skeptical of such an approach and it took some convincing through piloting the concept (with them!) and an initial half-day session with supervisors.  The half-day session was used successfully to prepare managers for their role on the day and to set the benchmark for team performance.

Results

The mine site significantly improved their safety and production performance.  They went from the worst to best safety record when benchmarked against three other mine sites in the group.  And they continue to lead their peers across a range of performance measures today.

The success of this program was recognised by other mine sites and has resulted in Talent Solutions being engaged to implement similar approaches at sites throughout the group.  In addition, the original site has engaged us to implement a revamped program to maintain the results achieved from the original off-sites.  

On a final note, our main point of coordination at the mine won an innovation award for the successful impact this program made.