Earlier this week the IDeA and PPMA ran a conference on the topical issue of organisational design, at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Birmingham. At the conference delegates heard from a number of organisations on the approaches they had taken to redesigning their organisations in a bid to create sustainable structure and efficiency savings.

The conference topic was obviously contemporary, as the event was sold out. Further events are now planned across the region and a follow-up online conference is being held. Further details can be found on the IDeA website.

Interviews with some of the key speakers were recorded at the event and in this first clip, Gillian Hibberd, describes the approach taken in Buckinghamshire County Council as part of their wider transformation programme.

Here are the other video interviews from the event.

I’ve had a hectic week covering both Bucks CC work and PPMA work, so I’m relieved that the week is now over and I can go home to relax (with a glass of wine!).

On Tuesday, I attended a Solace/Alace seminar on the proposed changes to senior officers’ pensions taxation. The consultation paper on the changes makes radical proposals that will impact heavily on senior officers.

My suggestions for those who haven’t yet picked this up are to bring it to the attention of your senior team, suggest that anyone concerned obtains actuarial valuations of their pensions, arrange a seminar on the changes via your pensions administrator and if possible enable senior officers to get access to independent financial advice.

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the annual Association of County Chief Executives (ACCE) dinner in my capacity as President of PPMA. The dinner was held at The Grove (infamous for the leaked England Football Team tapes last week) which also happens to be a couple of miles from my home in Hertfordshire so also very convenient for me. It was a great networking event and I was able to speak to Rob Whiteman the incoming Chief Executive of the IDeA.

I have arranged to set up a meeting with him before he starts his new role in May to talk through PPMA priorities and how we work with the IDeA. I also saw Mike Burton from The MJ who tells me that the PPMA Focus is just about to go to the printers for the conference edition.

So, only 2 weeks to go before I hand over the reigns to Dean and counting down from here!

Have a great weekend.

Gill

It’s been a busy couple of weeks on the PPMA front. A flurry of media activity have resulted in me commenting on a range of issues from pay restraint to the minimum wage for young people to flexible working to the trend in new job titles for senior staff in the public sector.

I’ve also been out and about representing PPMA. Monday saw me back in my old stomping ground of the North West region where I gave a presentation on the role of HR. Big thanks go to Alison and Lisa for making me so welcome. Its great to see the region thriving and developing. I’m also grateful to our friends and colleagues at The MJ, Dave Lawrence and Heather Jameson, for their sponsorship at the meeting.

Today I’ve been to Birmingham to speak at a national Organisational Development programme run by the IDeA and Stanton Marris. I spoke on the topic of organisational design and there was a lot of interest from participants who are about to start their own restructure programmes. The whole issue of transformation, cost cutting and organisational design will be covered in a number of skills sessions at the PPMA Conference so if you haven’t yet booked your place please take a look and reserve your spot!

Best wishes

Gill

Not a lot to say this week or last week really (makes a change I know!) Lots of energy and attention still going on behind the scenes to prepare for the PPMA conference - have you booked your place yet?

On the PPMA front, I’ve been fairly low key in the last couple of weeks, simply due to the needs of Cambridgeshire County Council. However, yesterday I attended the IDeA Board meeting (via PPMA I get a seat on the Board as a non-executive director). Whilst performing this role on behalf of the IDeA, I still ensure that issues relating to HR/people management are kept in the minds of the Board. With the current situation at the LGA and Lucy De Groot due to leave the IDeA at the end of March, HR issues featured heavily on the Board agenda - watch the local government trade press to find out more in the coming weeks.

Other than this, today has seen me do some ‘hands-on’ HR work within my authority, dealing with a particular issue - it’s nice to know that I can still actually do operational things and I still get a bit of a buzz from this….note to my team, no don’t worry I won’t make a habit of this!

Anyway, have a good weekend - sure to have some more news for you next week.

Best wishes

Stephen

Morning all - don’t know about where you all are, but sunny Suffolk wasn’t sunny this morning but instead looked more like the inside of a fridge/freezer.

I’m sat on a train writing this (keeping up the trend from last year) heading for London to chair the LGjobs steering group for the IDeA. If you’ve not taken up the free jobs posting service for your council, I suggest you take a look at this.

Scanning the trade press, I notice that HR Magazine is seeking nominations for the 2009 Most Influential list - for the categories of Most Influential HR practitioner and Most Influential H R thinker. The public sector and the PPMA had a great showing at the top end of the list last year - it would be great if we could improve on this for 2009. Nominations can be e-mailed to: mostinfluential@hrmagazine.co.uk

Not to many other things to report this week, but a couple of asides before finishing:

- Coventry City Council is looking for a new Head of HR. This is a great job for someone, working with the wonderful Bev Messinger, Director of Customer and Workforce Services and currently Joint Acting Chief Exec - great stuff Bev!

- I’m writing a piece for People Management on the what I see the conflict between Equality and Diversity to be - thoughts welcome via e-mail or comments on the blog. Many thanks to PPMA’s Diversity lead Janice Joannou for some great thoughts already.

Have a good and safe weekend in the winter wonderland and spare a thought for the public servants who have to work outside in the cold and keep the roads safe for us to use.

Best wishes

Stephen