1. Main Title
Subtitle
Public Sector Strategic HR Conference
Hotel Realm, Canberra
13 March 2013
LORRAINE SALLOUM
NSW Treasury

2. What we will explore
 What the latest research tells us about a high performing culture,
organisation, employees and the APS
 The concept of organisational and individual capability
 The implications for defining critical capabilities and human
resource practice
 Using the NSW Treasury experience to illustrate ways to drive
consistency and engagement in performance management using
collaborative top-down and bottom-up approaches

3. Driving a High Performance Culture
 Performance improvement is driven by combination of right-fit
talent and direct and indirect performance enablers
 Employee performance is hindered by manager and organisational
barriers
 Engagement established across time leads to better discretionary
effort and retention, which organisations can leverage to improve
organisational outcomes
 Rather than focusing on the manager, diversify your approach and
use multiple agents
 Many top drivers of engagement are most impactful when delivered
through peers
From CLC Human Resources www.clc.executiveboard.com

4. Ten Imperatives for Driving a High
Performance Culture
1. Hire for right fit
2. Greater clarity between roles and objectives
3. Clarify the link between pay and performance
4. Help managers provide constructive feedback
5. Provide high impact on-the-job learning opportunities
6. Empower employees to impact the organisation
7. Build connections to allow employees better execute work
activities
8. Align employee interests to on-the-job opportunities
9. Remove organisational barriers to manager effectiveness
and impact
10. Redirect leader behaviour to meet changing business needs
From CLC Human Resources www.clc.executiveboard.com

5. High Performing Workplaces Index
Published by the Society for Knowledge Economics in
October 2011
 People management is a key priority
 Involve people in decision making processes
 More responsive to customer and stakeholder needs
 Encourage a high degree of responsiveness to change
and learning
 Enable their staff to fully use their skills and abilities at
work

6. The new work environment and the
high performance employee*
 Frequent organisational change
 More interdependent work
 Knowledge work
High Performing Employee
 Adapts to change
 Works collaboratively
 Applies judgement
*CEB, Breakthrough Performance in the New Work Environment
Identifying and Enabling the New High Performer, 2013
CEB analysed the drivers and
performance of more than 20,000
employees across more than 40
organisations globally
10 competencies exhibited together set
high performers apart:
1. Ability to prioritise
2. Works well in teams
3. Organisational awareness
4. Effective Problem Solving
5. Self-awareness
6. Proactivity
7. Ability to inflence
8. Effective Decision Making
9. Learning Agility
10. Technical Savvey

7. CEB’s model for high performance
in the new work environment
Individual task performance (employees effectiveness at
achieving individual tasks and assignments)
PLUS
Network Performance (employee effectiveness at improving
performance of others broadly across the organisation)
=
Enterprise Contribution (An employees effectiveness of
meeting his or her performance goals and contributing to the
roles of others)

8. Developing High Performance in the
APS
Crawford School Working Paper No.12-09:
*Attention to system wide architecture, organisation and individual and dynamic interaction between
them.
Better understanding of the role of capabilities and need for organisation-level strategy for performance
management
Guiding principles to inform performance management approaches
1. Adaptability to context – ability for org/ind to anticipate, respond and
adapt to changing circumstances
2. Mutuality – employees/mgrs mutually responsible/accountable
3. Understanding the important role of organisational competences
and dynamic capabilities for high performance – organisation level
requirements and inter-related role of competencies and capabilities
4. Performance management capacity – ability of all managers
employees to undertake perf management effectively

9. What does this all mean?
Implications for:
 Recruitment
 Employee engagement and the development and implementation of initiatives
 Employee support and development
 Performance management systems
Thinking beyond the traditional models to ensure we focus
on the critical “new world” capabilities
Developing a strategy to building critical competencies
and capabilities, at the individual and organisational level.

10. Some practical considerations from
the „new work‟ environment*
 Redefine roles – connector, contributor, consumer
 Build complimentary teams made up of core teams and
additions, keeping the core teams that work
 Emphasise network management alongside knowledge
management (document key work processes and key
relationships to enable transfer network knowledge over
time)
 Encourage and enable collaboration with external
partners

11. Implications for HR Practice
 Critical capabilities form the foundation of a performance
improvement strategy.
 Capability framework is the basis of HR initiatives.
 Recruitment focus and development spend will produce better
organisational results if they focus on critical capabilities at the
individual and organisational level.
 Performance management system should measure the achievement
of objectives and goals and how capabilities have been demonstrated.
 Inform cross organisation performance objectives and standards and
capability requirements.

12. Focusing your efforts
Individual Organisational
Technical An individual’s
functional
competence
Organisational
core competence
Social An individuals
leadership
ability
Organisational
capabilities
Adapted from ‘Capitalizing on Capabilities’ Harvard Business Review, Dave Ulrich and Norm
Smallwood

13. Defining Critical Capabilities – the key
questions and considerations
 What are the capabilities that differentiate high performers?
 Benchmark to establish the differentiators for high performance in
individuals functional (technical) competence and capability.
 What is the performance expectation/standard that you want as a
minimum?
 The tipping point between a person being competent and being a high
performer?
 If you want to increase organisational performance aim for a high
performance standard
 Include the “new world” capabilities for high performance (Adapts to
change, Works collaboratively, Applies judgement)

14. Background – NSW Treasury
 NSW Treasury was established in April 1824 and is the oldest continuing
Government agency in Australia.
 Key role to advise the Treasurer and the NSW Government on state financial
management policy and reporting, and on economic conditions and issues.
 Approximately 400 staff (increased to approx 550 with IR/LSC in late 2012)
predominantly with a mix of economics, policy and finance backgrounds
 High level of engagement and dedication, and low turnover
 Largely intrinsically motivated ‘Want to make a difference to the State of NSW’
 Small HR Team (Manager & 5 FTE staff) with payroll and recruitment outsourced

15. The People Strategy 2012-15
• Outward looking people strategy (not for HR but for the
business)
• Used the „Investors in People‟ international standard as
foundation for discussion and development
• Not developed by HR professionals only but input from
across the organisation
• 4 key areas with a overarching goal, the key initiatives
and activities to meet that goal
 Striving for Excellence and Living Our Values
 Build Leadership Capacity
 Optimising Workforce Mix and Structure
 Strengthening Workforce Capability
 Set up reference groups with representatives from across
the business for each stream
VALUES - LEADERSHIP - SYSTEMS - CAPABILITY

16. 16
An opportunity to improve..
• Improve the PAR process – structure, practical,
relevant
• More clearly articulated performance criteria
• Clear and regular manager communication and
informal feedback (performance strengths and
weaknesses)
• Guidance for skills development and career
progression
• Better alignment between reward and recognition
and performance
• Dealing with poor performance
October 2011 Performance Management Survey

17. The First Step - Designing the NSW
Treasury Capability Framework
 Clarified requirements with the business and key criteria to meet needs
 Looked nationally/internationally for a framework we could use as a
skeleton and short-listed the NZ Treasury framework, NSW Public
Sector Capability Framework & UK HM Treasury Capability Framework
 Tested against requirements and found the UK HM Treasury
capability framework best met requirements for use as skeleton
 Agreed to build a core capability framework that all staff must meet,
then overlay that with a technical competence framework for each
specialty area
 Extensive consultation and workshopping to build the core capability
framework – One quarter of organisation involved and 27 versions! 17

18. 18
The NSW Treasury Capability Framework

19. 19
The NSW Treasury Capability Framework

20. 20
Core Capabilities apply to everyone

21. 21
But how they are demonstrated is different
at each level

22. Effective / ineffective descriptors
22

23. Applying critical capabilities to
Recruitment.. Not every capability
Identify the critical capabilities
for high performance in the role
and include in Position
Description and adverts.
Design rigorous selection tools
that focus on providing
evidence about critical
capabilities.
Set a high benchmark /
standard that has to be met to
be offered a position.
Leave positions unfilled in
people do not meet that
standard.

24. 24
NSW Treasury Development Pathways

25. 25
A set of principles to guide design of the
Performance Management System
Key Principles
Differentiating the way that people are performance managed
 Systematic approach in place for solid performers
 Identification and treatment of poor performers
 Supporting exceptional talent
Successful implementation
Integration of
 Process
 Metrics
 Managerial Capability
 Reward and Recognition architecture

26. 26
The Performance Excellence Framework

27. The Performance System & Link to
Capabilities
 Performance Excellence Framework
► The system components
 Performance Excellence Program
► The process and templates
 The support tools
► Manager and staff toolkits
► Capability Framework
► Development Pathway
 The training and support
► Performance Conversations
► Action Learning Program
► Process Briefings
► One-on-one coaching and support
27

28. 28
The Policies and the Programs that come
together to establish the framework

29. 29
Painting the picture…The importance of
messaging to get buy-in

30. 30
• Introduces a focus on
performance objectives
PO = R + M + C + T
where
PO = Performance Objective
R = A single, specific result
M = A measure of the single, specific result
C = Conditions under which the performance must occur
T = A time limit

31. 31
• A systematic approach to L&D
• Supported by Learning and
Development Policy and
Development Pathways tool
• Increases clarity between
development and individual /
organisational benefit
• Recognises informal learning
• Supports managers approval
process

32. 32
What next?
• The introduction of a ‘Treasury
Capability Framework’ in the
review process
• Focus on continuous
improvement
• Ensures balanced feedback
and guides conversation

33. 33
• Encourages transfer of
learning to the workplace
by introducing status rating
to measure impact
• Status rating includes
development undertaken,
applied in the workplace or
positive business impact
• Articulates and recognises
the impact of informal
learning

34. Driving consistency & engagement
Problem Solving Appreciative inquiry
Felt need, identification of problem(s)
Appreciating, valuing the Best of What
Is
Analysis of Causes Envisioning what might be
Analysis of possible solutions
Engaging in dialogue about what
should be
Action Planning (treatment) Innovating, what will be
Use 2 alternative approaches with staff and managers –
throughout design and implementation
Questions answered collectively included:
• What are common performance objectives?
• What are the performance standards across areas?
• What does the rating scale really mean?

35. 35
The Typical Rating Scale.. A breeding
ground for inconsistency

36. 36
What does the rating scale mean?
Developing
Unsatisfactory
Capable Impressive
• What drives rating decisions?
• What is it that your managers and executive value?
• Are there any inconsistencies between groups?
• Encourage conversations so performance becomes a focus.
• Document the common themes and distribute to staff and managers

37. Partnering and giving ownership to the
business
37

38. NSW Treasury Experience to Date
 Completion rates doubled from 44% in 2011 to over 90% end of 2012.
 Quality audit found marked improvement.
 A positive correlation between quality plans in a branch and areas where the
manager consistently attended learning activities or sought support for
performance management.
 Promising signs … average performance has increased.
 The table below shows the case management outcomes for identified
underperformers in 2012

39. Next steps
 2 year implementation plan with evaluation and
improvements at every stage
 Staged implementation – getting the basics right and
strong first
 Adding components as implementation progresses
1. Get the planning right
2. Promote consistency in rating
3. Introduce new evidence sources including 360 mechanism
4. Incorporate network performance

40. Lessons Learned
 Get focused on performance and align all HR initiatives (organisation / team /
individual), & clarify-support-evaluate
 Recognise the interdependence of individual and organisational capabilities
 Learn from the best (tailor best practice to what suits your organisation)
 Create a virtuous cycle of assessment and investment
 Compare capability perceptions and match capability with delivery
 Avoid underinvestment in organisational intangibles
 Don’t just develop and announce, stage implementation and partner for the
best results and buy-in

41. Questions
Qustion