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ARCHIVED - RPP 2006-2007
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Section IV: Our Management Priorities

4.1 Our management principles

The effective establishment of a new HR management regime requires more than new legislation and management infrastructure. It also requires a cultural change accompanied by a new way of doing business and a new model for the relationship between the Agency and all its partners.

In doing so, the Agency is guided in its day-to-day business by key management principles.

In particular, it aims to be recognized as a central agency that is:

  • leading by example: establishing the vision, objectives, and principles of modern HR management and demonstrating the benefits of the new HR management regime in its own organization—including the integration of HR planning with business planning;
  • a strategic partner: aligning HR and business strategy—leading government-wide approaches to HR planning and strategies, delivering integrated results-based HR policies and programs, and working in partnership with departments and agencies to ensure public service renewal;
  • a champion for HR management excellence: providing single-window access to HR policy expertise and leading-edge practices for the public service, developing effective working relationships with partners, listening to and enabling departments and agencies, andensuring effective oversight and accountability; and
  • an agent of change: facilitating transformations through innovative and responsive leadership—practising simplicity and clarity, clarifying HR management roles and responsibilities, and demonstrating clear linkages between all HR management disciplines and higher-level government objectives, such as having the first sustainable development strategy related to human capital.

4.2 Integrated HR planning and business planning

Starting in 2006–07, departments and agencies (including central agencies) are asked to ensure that their respective reports on plans and priorities include an overview on how they integrate HR planning into business planning, identifying main challenges, risks, and actions to be taken in this area.

Indeed, integrated HR and business planning is the foundation for assessing and understanding the current and future needs of departments and agencies so that they can deliver on their business plans and priorities. This is essential not only to promote healthy organizations that retain competent, committed, and engaged employees, but also to mitigate management risks associated with an ageing workforce, tight labour markets, and technological changes.

In addition, effective HR planning is a fundamental prerequisite to the successful application of the new principle of merit resulting from the Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA)—see also section 2.3, "The new HR management regime and challenges ahead."

With the PSMA, the new principle of merit moves away from the rules-based concept of "best qualified" to a values-based approach that allows managers to hire, more efficiently, the right fit for the organization by considering the current and future skills needed within the entire organization—not just for the job.

As a result, managers now have greater flexibility and discretion in assessing candidates and making staffing decisions. However, managers are also held accountable for their decisions, which must be based on sound HR planning linked to business planning, so that they know what skills, qualifications, and organizational requirements are needed, now and in the future.

In doing so, one of the Agency's first steps in reinforcing integrated HR planning with business planning was the creation of the Senior Management Committee (SMC) to provide strategic guidance and direction in this area in a focussed and dedicated manner.

Each member of the Agency's senior management team is part of the SMC. This Committee is regularly kept informed of progress in all disciplines, including official languages, workforce renewal, and employment equity. It also makes use of the data gathered from various sources to support proper planning of current and future needs, as well as to make any required adjustments or course corrections, including influencing decisions about staffing and recruitment. For instance, all EX resourcing is discussed at the SMC before positions are created or staffing actions initiated. This ensures consistency and transparency.

Moreover, as part of the Agency's action plan in reinforcing integrated HR planning with business planning, a comprehensive survey on workplace well-being was conducted to provide a solid base for providing essential research insights into the drivers of workplace well-being and enabling it to adopt results-based approaches to organizational improvements.

To prepare specifically for the 2006–07 planning cycle, the Committee also held an HR planning retreat at the end of June 2005. Although HR has been an integral component of past business planning sessions, it was the first time that a retreat focussed exclusively on identifying areas where HR support is required to ensure the organization is capable of addressing its business needs for the current and foreseeable future. Equally important was the emphasis placed on developing strategies to guide how people are managed within the organization. During this planning process, members of the SMC were asked to identify the most important HR issues for their branches and the organization as a whole. Considerations included the risks associated with the various issues in relation to the Agency's current and future business; whether an issue applied to more than one branch; whether strategies to address the issue fell within the Agency's control; and whether there were measurable benefits to addressing the issue.

Six priorities have been identified as they relate to HR management in the Agency. For each priority, a series of objectives, activities, or strategies has been or will be developed to assist the Agency in achieving the desired outcomes.

These priorities are as follows:

  • policy capacity is renewed;
  • administrative capacities are increased;
  • leadership capacities are strengthened;
  • efficiency and effectiveness are optimized;
  • corporate knowledge retention and transfer are addressed; and
  • 2005 Workplace Well-being Survey and the Public Service Employee Survey results are acted upon.

While these challenges cross-cut the Agency's program activities, they are particularly important for the modernization of HR management, including the implementation and long-term support of the PSMA; the modernization of the job classification system; and the establishment of effective HR planning and accountability systems.

One of the Agency's key responsibilities is policy development and implementation. The Agency's ongoing capacity to deliver and support quality, innovative, and comprehensive HR policy is critical, particularly given the new HR management regime. However, the Agency's strategic policy capacity is severely at risk. In particular, there is a significant shortfall of policy analysts and there is a large number of the existing pool of policy experts that are eligible for retirement within the next two to five years. As a result, strengthening policy capacity is a top priority for the Agency over the planning horizon.

Similarly, the greater use of technology, expenditure reviews, and a greater emphasis on knowledgeable workers led to sharp decreases across the public service in its administrative staff. This is true for the Agency as well. The administrative capacity is a key ingredient to improved accountability, transparency, and probity. With fewer administrative and support staff, or where there is instability, there is a greater likelihood of errors in key areas such as contracting, records management, purchasing, and even HR administration. It also impacts negatively on the workload of managers and employees. This shortfall of administrative capacity appears at different levels across the Agency and, as such, is another priority for the organization.

Past practice in many public service organizations has been to select or promote future leaders based on knowledge or technical expertise rather than on competencies and ability to lead and manage change. A consequence of this is that organizations are less able to adapt, particularly in periods of rapid change or growth. The Agency is experiencing such a period of change and growth. With an ageing workforce and with certain sunset programs winding down, as much as one third of the Agency's Executive Group could leave in the next two years. At the same time, other programs and responsibilities are on the upswing, including learning, policy renewal, shared services, performance monitoring, and reporting. As a result, a third priority for the Agency will be to attract and hire high-performing leaders, while developing the ones in place so that there is an adequate pool of leaders with the right competencies to manage the workforce.

As a direct result of the staff shortages mentioned above, there is also a necessity to move to more effective and efficient approaches to reduce the volume of internal competitions, as well as to facilitate and improve the Agency's hiring and staff retention processes. For instance, it is not unusual to have managers competing—often unknowingly—for scarce resources to fill their vacancies, thereby contributing to frustration and delays, not to mention dissatisfaction. As a result, managers and HR staff within the Agency must work more closely together, including exploring the possibilities of re-engineering internal processes and systems; reviewing the organization and classification structure; developing a top-down and bottom-up HR planning process; and working collaboratively to meet their current and future needs in common priority areas.

A fifth challenge is corporate knowledge retention and transfer, particularly in the context of theanticipated departures caused by retirements, promotions, deployments, and resignations. There are currently no structures or processes in place to ensure knowledge retention and transfer, nor has succession planning been carried out. There is also a lack of standardization in approaches, and new employees do not receive consistent or comprehensive orientation to the organization, its business, or its management principles. All of these can weaken the Agency's capacity to meet its strategic objectives.

Finally, in 2006–07 and beyond, the Agencyhas a priority to act upon the Workplace Well-being Survey and the 2005 Public Service Employee Survey results. The survey "Building a Better Workplace" was a pilot project launched by the Agency to identify the right workplace conditions to generate high levels of employee engagement. It involves not only assessing current organizational performance but also acting to improve upon it. Results from this survey were shared with management, employees, and their representatives last fall. A series of drivers were identified and, of these, the report highlighted five in particular as requiring increased attention. These were:

  • enhancing management effectiveness;
  • opening channels of communication between staff and executives;
  • focussing on employees' career progress;
  • reducing barriers to productivity; and
  • ensuring fair and transparent staffing processes.

It was also recommended that the Agency make workplace well-being a top priority; involve staff in developing solutions; celebrate successes; establish targets and hold managers accountable; and assess progress annually. A series of initiatives have been developed (or some are under development) to address issues raised in the most recent Public Service Employee Survey.

A change management and organizational development team has also been established within the Agency to assist each branch in coping with all the aforementioned challenges and implementing changes, both internally to the Agency and externally, on initiatives related to departments and agencies.

4.3 Other management challenges

In addition to the HR challenges presented in section 4.2 above, the Agency will pursue further progress in the following key areas:

  • the integration of HR planning with business planning;
  • the refinement of the organization's results structure and related performance indicators;
  • the improvement of internal and external communications; and
  • the strengthening of the corporate policy and strategic planning functions.

2006–07 will, indeed, be the first year for departments and agencies in integrating HR planning with business planning in a systematic manner. This new discipline will require several iterations before it reaches maturity. The challenge for the Agency will be to lead by example by improving how it integrates HR planning with business planning in its own organization, setting the path for other departments and agencies, and succession planning for critical mission priorities.

Similarly, another challenge will be to lead by example by making further progress as it relates to the Agency's results structure. While the Agency established a comprehensive strategic planning and results framework (including mandate, strategic outcome, program activities, and key results areas), our performance measures must be further developed and/or refined.

Communications is a third challenge for the Agency. Its mandate, strategic positioning, priorities, and targeted results must be better understood both internally and externally.

Another challenge for the Agency is to continue to build up expertise in strategic functions, including communications, finance, internal audit, strategic planning, and HR management. This includes a better integration and co-ordination between these areas, particularly as it relates to the corporate policy and strategic planning functions.