Complaint Review - Staff Management - Major Change

The Client

A local government organisation.

The Brief

After a major re-structure, the Chief Executive Officer received formal complaints about the management style and behaviour of a senior manager. This followed other issues that the Chief Executive Officer was already aware of, such as high staff turn over, high rates of sick leave, reports of high stress and low staff morale.

To respond effectively to the formal complaints and the wider concerns, the Chief Executive Officer engaged HR Advantage to objectively assess the situation and recommend improvements.

Our Response

We collected information about the issues raised by reviewing staff records and interviewing key people. By analysing this information we identified the major issues and provided confidential feedback without identifying individual comments. We presented our findings along with suggestions for addressing the issues raised.

Through discussion with key people we reached agreement on the strategies to be implemented to resolve the concerns. This included securing commitment and support from key people to make it work.

Finally, we provided a written report documenting the process followed, issues arising and key implementation strategies. The report focussed on a practical action plan for the way forward.

The Results

Specific actions to address the deficiencies were agreed and implemented. These covered:

• improving communication and consultation between staff and managers
• clarifying and agreeing roles and responsibilities
• clarifying and agreeing priorities in each functional area
• better defining the leadership role of managers
• stating expectations of managers as change leaders, bringing staff along with change
• encouraging, recognising and supporting staff
• establishing clear and achievable performance targets at all levels
• strengthening compliance with good management practice, legislation and Council's Code of Conduct

These issues were addressed by the client, underpinned by a support process to facilitate, monitor and evaluate implementation and improvements.