HR Directorate Team

HR Directorate at The State Hospital – Our Story

Background

The HR Directorate at The State Hospital has witnessed several changes and developments over the past few years – change of director, staff retirals, new staff, role changes …. So we felt it would be helpful to us to consider how we are delivering the best service during these changes and also how others perceive this service.  We decided to start by looking at our iMatter report and see what it was telling us.

iMatter Report

The directorate story board states that we are doing well in the following areas:

 Work provides a sense of achievement.  Clearly defined duties and responsibilities.  Shared ambitions for our service.

 And this is followed by a number of actions, one of which is:

Improving our Visibility

The HR Directorate consists of three parts – L&D (Learning & Development), HR and OD (Organisational Development).  Until recently, we have worked both together and apart.  Where we have worked together has been through our directorate meetings where we exchange information and catch up with what is new in the directorate and nationally.    However, our space on the intranet is spread over three different areas and we are not generally thought of as one department. 

            What we did:

• We organised a team development process over the following months to allow us to get to know each other better so that we can be more consistent in our approach. We have already worked on our priorities, strengths and opportunities as a directorate.  We will also spend some time later this year using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to help us get to know each other better.
• We have put some group photos of the team on the intranet. Up until now, the focus has been mainly on the HR section of the team.  We are now working at extending this focus and describing the roles of the various team members (L&D, HR and OD).   

Engaging with the Service

We know we need to speak with one voice.  So we are working on our team branding.   

• The front page on the intranet is being changed to include a structure chart (along with our photos) clearly showing the three strands of the HR Directorate.
• We have merged our three areas on the intranet through the use of hyperlinks, making it easier for staff to access everything from one place. In October, HR Connect will go live for all of the National Boards.  This is a new online platform and will feature as a main item on our HR Directorate portal.  It connects OD, L&D, Occupational Health, Payroll and HR.  This will bring together our various colleagues in the directorate as well as those who are closely associated with us.
• We have adopted a standard format for our emails with a standard message at the bottom. This gives a consistency to our written communications. 
• We plan to issue a staff bulletin telling people about our directorate and pointing them in the direction of the revised site on the intranet.

In summary …

Over the past year, we have definitely come together more closely as a directorate.  We have identified our priorities and the direction we wish to travel.  We have also come together more closely as team members and colleagues and iMatter has been part of this.  It has provided us with a platform to start discussions around what is important to us as individuals, as team members and as members of an organisation