Delivering impact through partnership: the MOJ HR Technical Consultancy and MatchFit story

Background

David Wade, Head of HR Technical Consultancy Service at – MOJ Civil Service HR Casework, talks about the partnership with MatchFit over the last five years, and how this has helped his department deliver a more holistic service to clients.

“I’m responsible for a team that delivers HR services to a large number of government departments and agencies,” said David. “The partnership with MatchFit was born out of a number of challenges the HR Casework team had observed, and it helped to fill what was a gap in the wider HR Offer to the Civil Service departments we work with.”

Civil Service HR Casework often worked with departments to support and build capability of line management through what he describes as generic leadership programmes and training. However, there were limitations to what was readily offered to address issues in a very targeted way, particularly around people management and employee relations. And it was from this need that the partnership came about.

From an HR Casework perspective, there was an increasing need for a partner that could bring a slightly different perspective; the ability to build leadership and line management capability.

“MatchFit have offered a point of difference for us, that independent voice able to offer another perspective and help us engage with clients in a slightly different way,” continued David. “And it’s been particularly successful. The mix of HR, employment law experience and Civil Service knowledge from our side coupled with leadership consultants with experience from different industries allows us to provide a tailored service for each client, which is really beneficial.”

Throughout the partnership, MatchFit spent time understanding the environment they are working in. This is particularly important from David’s perspective, especially as many Civil Service organisations they are working with—including the Prison Service, Cabinet Office and DEFRA—have unique environments and want to work with people that understand them.

“That’s something we pride ourselves on as a Casework team, and it’s also naturally important to MatchFit. They spend lots of time building client relationships and understanding the environment and the people to ensure they get the best out of the programmes. And that, I think, ultimately is one of the reasons why the MatchFit service is so positively received,” said David.

A positive and tangible impact on clients

“The feeling from both the Civil Service HR Casework team and MatchFit is that the joint approach is hugely valued,” said David. “And the work generates high levels of engagement from individuals and teams, including leadership teams who traditionally may not always engage in that type of activity so positively.”

Having the Casework side of the partnership also offer a more detailed insight into the workings of Civil Service departments allows the partnership to tailor its approach even further.

“The approach gives individuals a voice that they might not have felt they had previously, especially with the Civil Service often considered quite process-driven and procedural in its nature. And that opens up a new way of thinking with participants challenging themselves more than they had been doing previously,” continued David.

The MatchFit Consultants have worked across many different industries, whether in the Civil Service or the private sector and have been able to bring different experience and ways of thinking to the leadership teams across the Civil Service.

“One thing MatchFit does really well is identify the right consultant for the right group of leaders,” said David. “It’s definitely not a case of one size fits all. It’s very much about trying to tailor the approach that we offer, and that extends through the whole partnership for both Casework and MatchFit. That is hugely important.”

Impact in numbers

A significant focus of the partnership is measuring the impact of the work at every stage so that the impact is clear to every stakeholder.

In all, the partnership has worked with 12 Government Departments and 69 Business Areas.

60 CLIMB programmes with senior leadership teams and 600+ management workshops have been delivered.

Across all departments, the impact has been significant:

• 99% of survey respondents reported that the management workshops are a positive experience
• 97% would recommend the management workshops to a colleague
• 85% of survey respondents increased in confidence following the management workshops by an average of 34%

Across HM Prison and Probation Service, the results have been even stronger:

• 97% of survey respondents would recommend the CLIMB Programme to a colleague
• 96% felt the CLIMB Programme has had a positive impact
• 100% felt that MatchFit Consultant understood the business areas unique challenges.

On average and over the course of the HR Technical Consultancy Service the business areas worked with reported an:

• 8% positive increase in their perception of Culture
• 2% positive increase in their perception of My Manager
• 6% positive increase in their perception of My Team
• 6% positive increase in their perception of Senior Leadership
• 6% positive increase in their perception of HR Management

“One of the observations at the very start, pre the work with MatchFit, was that interventions of this nature were often not measured,” said David. “There would be an issue, we would deploy a solution but there was no real measurement against the impact of that solution, both in the immediate aftermath and also over a sustained period of time.”

That was something the team were acutely aware of and wanted to address – to measure the impact of the service they deliver on both managers and leadership teams they work with.

“We want to assess the reaction to the work we are doing – the behaviour change, the learning and ultimately the result. Having a tangible, quite simple, evaluation model really lends itself to that,” David continued.

Installing a measurement process means the team can continue to challenge itself and help the clients hold themselves to account. It is now possible to understand the progress groups are making and engaged in, and that could be used to keep them engaged and motivated.

“That’s important, because often you do this type of work and focus on the next day and the day after that but lose sight of the overall progress that’s being made,” said David. “And measurement allowed us to look at that progress.”

Measurement also helps the partnership to demonstrate a return on investment in the work that that clients are ultimately funding.

The team utilises quantitative metrics to understand progress. Surveys are undertaken both at the start and end of programmes to see the shift in team leadership culture and HR people management within the groups. This provides a helpful metric to understand progress, but also gaps that still need to be addressed. Metrics are collected around issues such as how confidence has increased and average working days lost  to understand how individuals, managers and leaders, were engaging with the HR aspects of their role.

“We are able to track these over a sustained period of time, even beyond the conclusion of the programme,” David said. “So we get a feel for how the work we do has a sustained impact beyond just the time we spend with clients. And we’ve seen really positive results across the board in regards to that sustained impact for the departments.”

Clients are provided with structured reporting packs, both at the initial Analysis Stage, throughout and post programme. The means that senior leaders receive dashboards following every intervention delivered to their management team, and also following each client group session with their senior leadership team.

“So over the course of the programme, they receive tangible output that they could utilise day to day. And then at the end of the programme, they receive a report that shows them where they started, what they’ve done and where they are going,” said David. “It’s as much about outlining the successes as it is highlighting the focus areas for clients. So yes, the programmes are both tailored and very well structured in terms of delivery and evaluation, which means that all parties really know where they stand.”

“Overall it’s been a great partnership that has strongly benefitted the a range of departments and agencies within the Civil Service,” concluded David.