Meeting the needs of business

While NVQs, too, are still predominantly targeted towards managerial and supervisory grades,⁷ they increasingly offer previously disadvantaged groups of employees, such as women, the opportunity to study for a nationally-recognised qualification, even if it is commonly at NVQ level 2.⁸ The Skill Needs in Britain 1996 survey found that just over a quarter of the 46% of employers offering NVQs made them available to all employees.⁹

Providing staff with learning opportunities demonstrates that the organisation recognises their contribution and adds some substance to employers' declarations that "our staff are our most prized assets".

LINKING INDIVIDUAL GOALS WITH CORPORATE OBJECTIVES

If human resource development (HRD) is to play an integral part in developing business strategy it must ensure that individual needs are successfully linked with corporate objectives (figure 4.1, below, illustrates how this might work in practice). The organisation will need to identify where it is; where it wants to be; how it will get there, and what is required to achieve its objectives. HRD's role is to analyse the current situation to help identify the gaps and deficiencies in staff skills and knowledge as between the longer-term vision and the present situation. Learning strategies can then be designed to fill these gaps.

Figure 4.1: HRD - virtuous circle

According to one report, the majority of organisations (78%) regularly assess the skills and training needs of individual employees.¹⁰ Generally, this is achieved through continuous assessment (used by 27%), while annual appraisals are used by one in five (20%). However, a further study claims that only 40% of personnel and training managers believe that their organisations effectively evaluate employee development needs.¹¹

Figure 4.2: A framework for aligning individual objectives with business needs

Source: Harrison R (1997), Employee development (Institute of Personnel and Development, London), p.41.

Performance management systems are one way in which learning activities can be developed to support the corporate mission, objectives and critical success factors (see the framework contained in figure 4.2 above). One study found that training needs were one of the three most common reasons given by employers for establishing a performance management system - the others being to improve efficiency and to enhance customer service.¹² Performance management provides all the necessary mechanisms to analyse performance, deficiencies and skills gaps, and to ascertain a person's own goals and aspirations. The ongoing progress review and the annual appraisal arrangements that are commonly found in contemporary performance management systems are designed to assess an employee's strengths and weaknesses, agree objectives and expectations, and identify future needs, such as training and development, within the overall requirements of the business.

A performance management system contains three important features:

These closely resemble aspects of the IiP national standard. Specifically:

"Every employer should have a written but flexible plan which sets out business goals and targets, considers how employees will contribute to achieving the plan and specifies how development needs in particular will be assessed and met"; and

"management should develop and communicate to all employees a vision of where the organisation is going and the contribution employees will make to its success, involving employee representatives as appropriate."¹⁴

In the performance management process, corporate objectives are generally cascaded down to lower-level staff via middle and line managers. At the Public Record Office the organisation's corporate and business plans inform departmental objectives. They are then cascaded down throughout the organisation, being translated into individual objectives by means of performance agreements.¹⁵

However, a previous Management Review study found that it is difficult in practice to integrate corporate and individual objectives.¹⁶ Indeed, of the organisations involved that could evaluate whether or not integration had been successfully achieved, the majority found it easier to accomplish for managerial grades than for lower-level employees.

INTEGRATING LEARNING WITH BROADER HR ISSUES

It was noted earlier that learning activities designed to meet corporate objectives can also support broader HR activities. In-house competency frameworks, for example, are increasingly seen as playing an effective and integrating HR role. The use of such schemes is no longer confined to recruitment and selection, but has spread to encompass other HR activities, such as performance management and reward. The 1996 annual Competency survey concluded that:

"We have noted in previous surveys the wider use of competencies across various HR activities: this trend is now well established as a significant number of organisations are placing competencies at the heart of their HR strategies."¹⁷

In terms of linking competencies to reward, the 1997 annual Pay and Benefits Bulletin survey recorded a "significant increase in the proportion of survey respondents who use a competency-based approach to managing pay - rising from a tenth of those surveyed in 1996 to almost one in five" in 1997.¹⁸ Moreover, the competency approach fits well with other reward initiatives, such as broadbanding, which rely on continuous development. (Broadbanding and competency-based pay were examined in Management Review 3 - Rewarding employees in the 1990s.)

IiP, too, also supports wider human resource practices. Although an appraisal system is not obligatory for IiP, the standard nonetheless requires a systematic and consistent process through which to analyse, assess and agree the performance of individual employees. Areas that will need analysis and agreement include an individual's current performance in the job; the development they will need in the short term; the development required to address changes in business objectives; how can these development needs can best be achieved, and how outcomes will be measured.¹⁹ This suggests that the IiP process may provide a more consistent approach to staff appraisal and a better evaluation of training needs than other methods.

NVQs can also impact on broader HR issues. NVQs entail the breaking down of each job or occupation into its constituent parts so that every operation/task and the principles involved (underpinning knowledge, transferable knowledge and safe working) are identified. The demands of a job are thus revealed, enabling employers to integrate the qualifications with other HR processes.²⁰ Employers can use NVQs to prepare training plans, to analyse training needs, devise job profiles and specifications and establish organisation-wide skills audits.²¹

NVQs have also been used to boost employee morale, as at Bhs after an organisational review had resulted in a number of job losses.²² In addition, some organisations have used NVQs as a feature of their reward strategy. For example, Gala Clubs, the Bass Leisure subsidiary that operates 125 bingo clubs nationwide, has linked NVQ acquisition to pay progression for its 4,300 staff.²³ Similarly, Portsmouth Water introduced a link between pay and the acquisition of NVQs for 126 manual employees in its mains/service gangs in a move towards multiskilling in 1993.²⁴

LEARNING TO SUPPORT BUSINESS NEEDS

The extent to which competencies, Investors in People and NVQs are being used by organisations in the UK is explored in more detail below. This is accompanied by some examples of organisations' experience of these schemes and a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each initiative. The latter are summarised in figure 4.3.

Competencies

Competencies are the personal characteristics that make an individual effective in a given job or role. They include behavioural attributes, such as a person's ability as a decision maker or team member or their capacity for creative and innovative thought, together with specific job-related skills. As with other learning opportunities, it is becoming increasingly common for organisations to aim their competency programmes at the whole workforce rather than specific groups of staff, such as managers and graduate recruits, and to use them as a "strategic tool to reinforce corporate goals and objectives."²⁵

However, practice differs, and Abbey Life Assurance, part of the Lloyds TSB Group, has developed two competency frameworks, one for clerical and secretarial jobs, and one for managerial and technical occupations. There are eight generic clerical and secretarial competencies, including efficiency and effectiveness, assertiveness and interpersonal understanding, and 20 general managerial and technical competencies, such as efficiency and results orientation, relationship building and analytical thinking.²⁶

The third most popular reason given by participants to the 1996 annual Competency survey for establishing a competency framework was to improve training and development ("particularly in respect of its relevance and cost-effectiveness").²⁷ Cornhill Insurance's Life Division decided that an in-house competencies-based approach to training and development was the best way of ensuring that the standards of its life insurance sales staff met the requirements of the industry's regulatory body.²⁸ Likewise, British Aerospace Military Aircraft Division (BAe MAD) first adopted competencies to support the training and development needs of a cultural change programme.²⁹

Competency frameworks are used typically when "there is a need to develop clearly-defined standards of performance relating to one or more occupational groups".³⁰ The original research conducted for this issue of Management Review found that 68% of respondents use competencies as part of their approach to employee learning (see figure 2.4).

Private sector companies are more likely to develop their own in-house behaviourally-driven competencies, whereas public sector organisations tend to rely on off-the-shelf competency frameworks based on NVQs or MCI standards that are essentially task-based.³¹ This is because public sector bodies are more intent on establishing national standards, while their private sector counterparts are looking for competencies that will provide a source of competitive advantage. For example, King's Lynn and Wisbech Hospitals NHS Trust has adapted the four key roles in the MCI standards - managing services, managing people, managing finance and managing information - for its competence framework for managers.³² In contrast, finance company Axa Equity and Law Life Assurance has developed its own managerial and sales competencies, including energy and drive, motivating others and innovating.³³

Competencies are usually adopted after exhaustive research, consultation and the involvement of relevant staff. Adams Childrenswear began developing its system in 1994, but did not implement it until 12 months later.³⁴ Using staff focus groups and the repertory grid technique to build a picture of what the competencies should look like and how they should be used in the company, Adams eventually chose seven key competencies that apply to all staff. The development of generic performance standards or competencies at Midland Bank followed the same lengthy development process.³⁵ (Box 4.1, contains an example from Blue Circle of how the competency approach works in practice.)

Advantages and disadvantages

The use of competencies as a learning strategy produces two overriding benefits for business - "their in-built link to corporate objectives and values; and the overall consistency and common approach that they afford to the management of human resources."³⁶ As far as employees are concerned the competency approach "helps them to map out a career path and understand how they can develop".³⁷ Competencies can also provide staff with important transferable skills in areas such as communication, customer focus, teamwork and leadership. In addition, the development of core competencies may facilitate lateral career progression - an important consideration when businesses are generally becoming flatter, and vertical career options are limited.

Competencies can bring significant problems, however. For example, they may give rise to equality issues. A study of performance-related pay by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) found that managers of both sexes tended to make gender distinctions between different behaviours, such as intelligence and dynamism (male) and organisation and honesty (female).³⁸ If there is bias in the design, interpretation or assessment of competencies, then organisations run the risk of:

Other problems include the amount of time it takes line managers to assess and document each individual's competency levels. For example, although competencies are proving useful in stimulating development activities and improved performance at Blue Circle Cement, some managers have complained about the time they take up and they are a distraction from "the real job". Such managers have tended to set non-stretching targets and to hold only the minimum number of meetings - one a year for each member of staff. Other managers have "over-promised" on training and have then been unable to release staff from their day-to-day commitments to undertake it, leading to disillusionment among employees.⁴⁰

The advantages and disadvantages of using competencies as part of a learning strategy are summarised in figure 4.3.

Figure 4.3: Pros and cons associated with competencies, IiP and NVQs

Investors in People

Investors in People was launched in 1990 and is a quality standard for employee training and development policies and practices that are aligned to business objectives and whose effectiveness is regularly evaluated. In February 1997, 29% of the UK's workforce were employed in organisations that were either recognised as Investors in People or were committed to achieving the standard.⁴¹ The 1996 review of the performance of the Civil Service reported that 13% of civil servants worked in an IiP accredited organisation.⁴²

The National Training Target for IiP penetration by the year 2000 is 70% of all organisations with 200 or more employees and 35% of smaller organisations. Achieving this target may prove difficult, however. The Skills Needs in Britain 1996 survey reported that while 78% of employers were "aware of" IiP, only 36% had been involved in the initiative during the preceding 12 months.⁴³ Moreover, a further report claimed that at the end of 1995, "no more than half of the 18,000 employers which have committed themselves to the standard had any serious intention of achieving it."⁴⁴

Nonetheless, a diverse range of employers have achieved, or are pursuing, the standard. The survey conducted for this issue of Management Review found that 34% of respondents had achieved IiP accreditation, while a further 29% said that the standard formed part of their organisation's strategy for the training and development of their employees. Investors in People include building company Kvaerner Construction, and engineers, Bonas Machine Company, GEC Avery and Messier-Dowty, and such public sector organisations as Mulberry NHS Trust and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. In size, they range from the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with 145 employees, to West Sussex County Council, which employs around 25,000.

One survey found that there were two overriding reasons why accredited organisations chose to pursue the IiP standard. These were:

International Distillers and Vintners UK achieved the standard in 1991. It decided to pursue recognition because the standards described under the scheme were "good benchmarks for good human resources practice".⁴⁶ The attraction of IiP accreditation for Wycombe District Council was twofold: it would show how the council's existing training and development activities measured up to a national benchmark; and it would also be recognition for the work the council had already done in these areas.⁴⁷ TNT Express (UK), the parcels business, adopted the IiP standard to help it to achieve a cultural shift.⁴⁸

Advantages and disadvantages

Evidence suggests that IiP recognition promotes greater learning opportunities in the companies involved compared with what is available in organisations that do not possess the standard. The research carried out for this issue of Management Review found that there were significant differences between organisations which had IiP accreditation and those which do not (see figure 4.4). For example, 97% of IiP employers said that personal development plans were part of their training and development strategy, but the same applies to only 73% of non-IiP respondents. Similar findings were recorded for other learning initiatives:

Figure 4.4: Learning initiatives in IiP and non-IiP organisations

Other research has highlighted the benefits that can be derived from IiP accreditation. A further IRS survey found that two stood out: better evaluation of training and training that is more closely linked to business needs.⁴⁹ A survey by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) reported the following gains from IiP accreditation:

"better training systems - including improved identification of training needs, introduction to training audits;

A further study claims that when it comes to financial performance, IiP companies have a 192% higher return on sales than the all-company median, a 97% higher return on capital employed and a 106% higher level of turnover per employee.⁵¹

On the downside, achieving IiP accreditation is a time-consuming exercise; it takes, on average, between one and two years to attain the accolade (it will depend on how much work the organisation needs to do to meet the standard).⁵² The IES study also identified the following difficulties: lack of effective external support (Sheffield City Council also highlighted problems with the external advice it was given (see case study two); the length of time it takes to achieve IiP influences the level of internal commitment, and internal changes means that IiP is often put on to the "back burner".⁵³ An earlier IES report showed that employees' views of IiP are less glowing than those of employers. Nearly 57% of employees said that they did not perceive any IiP-related effects or there was a neutral impact on their working lives.⁵⁴

The pros and cons of adopting Investors in People are summarised in figure 4.3.

NVQs

NVQs are a "statement of competence confirming that the individual can perform to a specified standard at one of five levels in a range of work-related activities, and has the related skills, knowledge and understanding that make the performance possible in a work setting."⁵⁵ Entrants are generally assessed in the workplace and NVQs are based on the outcomes of learning rather than the processes involved.⁵⁶ The former official NVQ body, the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (replaced in September 1997 by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), claimed that one in four of all UK employees are in workplaces where such qualifications are made available by employers.⁵⁷ Precise levels of employer involvement in NVQs are hard to establish, however, and estimates vary from 7% of all employers in England and Wales, to 40% of UK workplaces with more than 25 employees.⁵⁸ The research conducted for this issue of Management Review found that 80% of surveyed organisations use NVQs. The National Training Target for NVQ penetration of the UK workforce by the year 2000 is 60% at level three and 30% at level four or above.

According to one survey, the most common NVQs are in management and supervisory qualifications, and in administration.⁶⁰ Customer service and qualifications in care, engineering, and training and development were also popular. In addition, "generic" NVQs in areas such as information technology, and industry-specific qualifications in food and drink manufacturing, water operations, rail transport and banking are used widely. The same survey also found that the level 3 qualification was that most frequently offered.

A wide range of organisations have chosen to offer their staff NVQs, although their popularity is highest in sectors that previously had limited occupational qualifications, such as retailing.⁶¹ For example, Halfords has a career development programme for up to 6,000 sales staff based on the NVQ in retailing, with City and Guilds accreditation.⁶² The company had previously developed an in-house scheme based on levels 1 and 2 of the qualification. In 1996, Scottish and Newcastle Retail, the pub company, announced that it would spend £1.5 million on training staff and managers to levels 2 and 3 in customer service NVQs.⁶³

NVQ assessment is carried out by qualified internal or external verifiers. Internal assessors are invariably supervisors, training specialists or line managers.⁶⁴ Sheffield City Council uses internal verifiers wherever possible and several departments, including childcare and education, occupational health and safety and social care, have become accredited NVQ assessment centres in their own right or through partnership agreements. Research suggests that, in descending order, the four most effective means of assessment are: direct observation, finished products, verbal questioning and portfolios.⁶⁵

Advantages and disadvantages

One report has suggested that an overwhelming majority of employers are satisfied with NVQs.⁶⁶ Indeed, NVQs are specifically designed to meet the needs of business. A major benefit is that NVQs link an organisation's in-house training to nationally recognised qualifications, so that, at the individual level, too, gaining a national qualification tends to improve staff morale and commitment.⁶⁷ Gaining an NVQ has other benefits too. An IES study found that 28% of NVQ qualified staff consequently received a pay increase, while 16% were promoted.⁶⁸

But much criticism has been levelled against the effectiveness of NVQs, particularly for failing to meet the needs of small and medium-size businesses. One report concluded that NVQs and MCI standards do little "to meet the needs of flexibly-structured, flat, often matrix-managed small firms",⁶⁹ while the CBI found that "employers still have insufficient knowledge of and a real concern about the accessibility of NVQs, excessive administration, bureaucracy and costs."⁷⁰ Indeed, a study commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland reported that less than a quarter (23.9%) of organisations fully understood the NVQ system.⁷¹ Also, NVQ assessment - qualified internal or external verifiers can assess candidates - has attracted considerable criticism and led the 1996 Beaumont report to recommend that:

Some organisations that initially favoured NVQs have since stopped using them. For example, Bhs abandoned the use of the retailing NVQs in 1994 in favour of its own 18-module system.⁷³ Likewise, accountancy body the ACCA withdrew from NVQs and returned to its own written examinations after some employers had expressed dissatisfaction with the time taken to administer the qualifications,⁷⁴ while budgetary considerations forced the prison service to shelve plans for a custodial NVQ.⁷⁵

The advantages and disadvantages of using NVQs are summarised in figure 4.3.

CASE STUDY 2
Encouraging a learning culture at Sheffield City Council

Local government has experienced radical change over the past decade or so. The implementation of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT), local management of schools and years of budgetary constraints have all had a significant impact on the way local authorities function. As a result, most councils have reduced the size of their workforces, while still trying to maintain both the quality and the level of the services that they provide. Sheffield City Council (SCC) has not escaped the consequences of this sea-change. The council has shed more than 5,000 people from its direct labour force since 1992.

Creating a learning culture under such circumstances has proved difficult. The situation has been exacerbated by the diverse nature of the organisation, which employs accountants, cleaners, home helps, librarians, social workers and teachers, among others. Nonetheless, council staff are pursuing a wide variety of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and using national occupational standards in areas such as social care, security guarding, management and the cleaning of buildings. The council was one of the first to achieve the customer service NVQs and is also involved in piloting a number of learning initiatives, including a programme to identify prior learning/experience in conjunction with Sheffield College. Moreover, several departments - including childcare and education, occupational health and safety, and social care - have become accredited NVQ assessment centres in their own right or through partnership agreements. In addition, Sheffield is committed to achieving Investors in People (IiP) accreditation across the entire organisation by 31 March 2000.

Sheffield's support for the creation of a learning environment - in which staff are given the opportunity to achieve recognised qualifications and encouraged to participate in broader learning activities - stems from the council's need to meet the challenges posed by having to continually achieve savings in its £415 million annual net budget. The future of the council is largely dependent on its ability to develop the staff that remain in post, ensuring that employees accept that they, too, must change. Indeed, national occupational standards and NVQs were promoted under the title of "Training for change". In addition, the council's approach to learning includes greater management ownership of training and a university-accredited development programme aimed at minority staff groups.

A COMMITMENT FROM THE TOP

The council's commitment to staff learning starts at the top. This was illustrated by Bob Kerslake, SCC's chief executive, in his speech to staff attending the 1997 annual NVQs award ceremony - a Celebration of achievement:

"To be successful, organisations need clear direction and purpose. They also need to invest in the people who will deliver those aims, namely staff. I am particularly pleased to support this programme of celebration, as it embodies much of what I think is most important to good management in the council:

Councillors, too, broadly support the aims of a learning culture. Sheffield's elected members are particularly interested in how the council, as the region's biggest employer, can contribute to the achievement of the National Training Targets. This political commitment is considered very important.

A corporate-driven focus

Bob Kerslake's appointment in early 1997 has been followed by a reassessment of the council's approach to learning. Previously, Sheffield's learning agenda was driven by departments rather than by the centre. In practice, this meant that despite a verbal commitment to pursue IiP accreditation, for example, it was left to individual departments to implement the necessary procedures. As a result, some departments are close to IiP assessment, while others made little progress. Now the agenda is corporate-driven and the council will shortly sign a written commitment to achieve IiP by the specified date. In terms of NVQs, the approach has shifted from encouraging those who were enthusiastic about achieving the qualifications to a strategic focus that promotes their use throughout the council.

IiP - THE PROCESS NOT THE BADGE

SCC believes that establishing the IiP process - shifting responsibility for training from trainers to managers - is far more important than the actual achievement of the IiP badge, says David Miller, training consultant at the council. The move away from the departmental pursuit of IiP is designed to establish best practice across the entire organisation so that the staff appraisal process, the communication of corporate objectives and service plans, and the commitment to training and development are universally applied by all managers. It was also felt that getting these processes right will also raise awareness of NVQs, and other learning opportunities, so that more staff are exposed to the possibilities and benefits of achieving nationally recognised qualifications.

Specifically, the council considers that IiP accreditation will be beneficial in the following areas:

Accreditation - easier said than done

The pursuit of IiP accreditation has not been without its problems, however. Sheffield has encountered a number of difficulties since the council made a verbal commitment in 1995 to achieve it. As was mentioned earlier, initially the council left it to individual departments to establish the necessary IiP procedures and processes. Although some departments, such as housing, have made substantial progress towards achieving the standard, other areas have been less successful. The new "incorporatisation" of the council's approach to IiP is partly a result of this differing level of success throughout SCC. It also reflects the fact that Sheffield has found it difficult to apply the standard in such a large and diverse organisation that continually operates under severe budgetary constraints.

Diversity

Diversity is a major issue in SCC's attempts to achieve IiP. Most commercial businesses do not employ the range of occupational groups that are commonly found in local government. Moreover, staff in the private sector tend to operate within the company's overall business objectives. This is less easy in a local authority environment, where whole departments, and functions within departments, will have their own priorities. Therefore, training and development needs differ vastly. In addition, a common system of staff appraisal that can be consistently applied across the organisation is incompatible with such an extensive range of occupations.

IiP or street lamps?

The other major constraint on SCC's ability to progress smoothly to IiP accreditation is the cost associated with assessment, particularly the final evaluation. Sheffield is "hard pressed for every penny", says Miller. Consequently, all expenditure must be justified and money wisely spent. As Miller points out, "faced with the choice between IiP and street lamps", the council will obviously choose the latter. The council has therefore been exploring alternative means of furthering its IiP bid.

Solutions involve more self-assessment, rather than relying on the external validation process. However, IiP UK is reluctant to relinquish control over assessment because of the possibility of "cross-contamination", where one department evaluates another but fails to evaluate effectively because of the internal relationship. Sheffield accepts that external verification is required for quality control, but is still conscious of the costs involved.

Conflicting advice

Sheffield has also suffered from conflicting external advice. The local TEC has been supportive of the council's IiP bid but its experience has generally been confined to advising small and medium-sized businesses rather than large and diverse organisations, says Miller. He also claims that the advice offered by consultants other than the TEC has been "confusing and different to that given to other local authorities".

A corporate framework

Sheffield's new approach to the achievement of IiP is based on the development of a corporate framework that will provide the basis for accreditation. The corporate strategy provides a clear demonstration that Sheffield is committed to achieving IiP. Moreover, it also establishes a direct link between the council's strategic objectives and the processes required to reach the standard.

The council's policy is modelled on the Local Government Management Board's (LGMB's) pre-assessment process - the Internal Facilitation model - which allows organisations to much of their own evaluation. Under the Internal Facilitation model a corporate strategic plan provides a framework:

"for constituent parts of the corporate whole, and including targets for the contributions of operating divisions and departments."⁷⁶

The procedure has six steps, including the development of departmental and unit business process plans. Internal facilitation is part of the procedure and "enables authorities to drive their own IiP processes, without the need to engage expensive external consultants", according to the LGMB.⁷⁷ Sheffield is currently developing its own in-house corporate consultancy to facilitate IiP accreditation across the organisation. A corporate consultancy has the additional attraction of reaping "economies of scale", says Miller.

Sheffield City Council consists of five directorates, each of which contains five separate service blocks. For example, the social services directorate includes the strategy, resources, children, community care, and purchasing and providing service blocks. The corporate framework requires IiP assessment to be carried out at a minimum of the service block level. Only when all 25 service blocks have been successfully evaluated will the council implement a corporate-wide assessment.

GETTING A QUALIFICATION

Initially much of Sheffield's interest in NVQs was focused on white-collar staff. More than 100 managers are pursuing management qualifications and around 50 have received joint management NVQs and the Institute of Management's certificate or diploma awards. More recently, with the support of Bob Kerslake, the council has sought to widen staff involvement in NVQs to include groups of employees who had previously received little or no recognition (see Cleaning NVQs below). The move to provide NVQ opportunities for a more varied group of council employees also furthers Sheffield's aim of supporting learning for all. But, the shifting emphasis also reflects the fact that some services must submit competitive tenders (the result of CCT) for the work they perform and that success is more likely if they can demonstrate a skilled workforce that is focused on quality.

SCC acknowledges that in the absence of a corporate appraisal process it is often difficult to identify and respond to training needs, says Alan Clow, training consultant at the council. Nonetheless, some managers are good at identifying individual training requirements and providing staff with information about the various training routes available, as well as the benefits to be gained from achieving a nationally-recognised qualification. Ensuring that all managers do the same is a key aim of Sheffield's attempts to promote NVQ usage across the organisation.

Examples of the range and the spread of NVQ participation throughout the council include:

SCC uses internal NVQ assessors wherever possible. For example, NVQs in occupational health and safety are delivered by the health and safety division of the council's personnel department. The council has also entered into a number of innovative partnerships with external bodies. These include the NVQ in heritage care and visitor services, which is assessed by the council's arts and museums department in conjunction with Rotherham and Doncaster councils, and the NVQ in childcare, which is assessed via the in-house education training section and Sheffield College.

Cleaning NVQs

One example of the spread of NVQ participation at SCC involves the cleaning of buildings direct services organisation (DSO) which is part of the council's Cleansing Services department. The DSO employs nearly 1,200 people (mainly part-time women) and provides cleaning services in council buildings throughout Sheffield. NVQs in cleaning were introduced as a means of improving the overall competence of the workforce so that it would be in a better position to meet the challenges posed by constant change and specifically those presented by CCT, plus the greater demands being placed on the service by its customers.

The project was piloted among staff employed cleaning Sheffield's comprehensive schools. This involved around 120 cleaning operatives and 10 supervisors, who would provide support and assessment. A partnership was formed with Sheffield College because it was felt that its resources and experience would fill any gaps left by the council's in-house team. The 12-month pilot was coordinated by a manager working in the area and a supervisor/trainer, acting as an internal verifier, while the council's corporate training section provided support.

NVQ involvement is usually voluntary. The council has found that, where NVQ participation has been imposed, it has initially been "very hard work", says Clow. Nonetheless, both the trade unions and the senior management team agreed that the full participation of staff was essential to the long-term success of the department.

By July 1997, 74 cleaners had achieved units towards the NVQ in cleaning building interiors level 1.

The pilot project has identified a number of problems, including:

OTHER LEARNING INITIATIVES

SCC has also encouraged its managers to take responsibility for their own development. This has occurred for two main reasons: first, budgetary constraints have reduced the number of in-house trainers, and, second, change within the council is now so rapid that managers need to develop specific skills very quickly. Hence, the council has invested heavily in self-development programmes aimed at fostering a range of core managerial competencies, such as problem-solving capabilities and interpersonal skills, which will enable managers to identify areas for improvement and enhance their relationships with subordinates.

In a further initiative aimed at promoting learning across the whole workforce, the council has also developed a development programme aimed at minority groups, including black, low-paid and women employees. The programme - a Celebration of Difference - is university-accredited and designed to help individuals to develop "underpinning" competencies, such as time management, presentation skills and creative thinking. Participants decide what they want to achieve and develop an action plan that aims to overcome self-identified weaknesses.

Individuals have ownership of their own development and a mentor is assigned to support and facilitate the process. At the end of the process, participants must provide evidence that they have successfully attained the desired goal. This process is repeated four times.

WHERE NOW?

Sheffield City Council has had limited success in securing IiP accreditation at departmental level and rather more in promoting NVQ participation among managerial and white-collar staff. The relaunch of both programmes based on the new corporate strategy should ensure that the pursuit of IiP accreditation is put back on track and that NVQ involvement spreads to other employee groups.

Box 4.1: Competencies and employee development at Blue Circle