What are companies doing with regards to 'My Team'

One thing the senior management team have done this year is give employees a real chance to give their personal view about what sort of place they want to work in over the next five years. Employee responses are really shaping what the charity will look and feel like in the future. They are creating new Mission, Vision and Values for the charity; they wanted them to be real world, and not marketing jargon. So the people with the best views were the staff and customers. The first stage of engagement was to ask staff what they thought of their current Vision and Values. This was done by a brand consultancy. This feedback was taken to their staff conferences, where they created a memorable, interactive process asking staff to share their opinions on potential new Values. Everyone from the charity had their say about the sort of organisation they wanted to work for in the future. The session concluded with each employee voting for the ten words or phrases that best described the Trust. 500 votes later and the exercise in employee engagement resulted in new Values for Papworth Trust. The result was an honest picture of what employees thought.

Their staff and management conferences this year have produced really good feedback from employees about how they can improve culture and customer service. Of their total headcount, they had 350+ employees attend one of the three staff conferences. The afternoon session in all three conferences, including the management conference, enabled employees to discuss with colleagues what should be on their agenda for improving customer service and how they work together to achieve it. The ideas that employees came up with were collated and a report sent to the Leadership Team for agreement on short and long term actions. Their communications with employees following the conferences have kept them informed of progress as they requested. A full report of the events will be uploaded onto the intranet.

Palletforce have recently introduced health benefits through Paycare which includes an employee assistance program. The company also have an onsite gym and a personal trainer who comes in once a week, employees can take an hour out of work time to attend the gym with the trainer.

Palletforce launched its Employee Recognition Scheme in 2011, which aims to get all employees involved in recognising each other for the work staff do either at Palletforce or outside of work. Employees can nominate each other and are recognised by the company's CEO and their achievements are published in internal newsletters and on Palletforce's intranet. The company also launched their long service awards which see employees awarded for milestones starting at 10 years.

Their managers encourage a mentoring relationship outside of their own relationship with an employee. Their managers always make sure that they set aside time for regular, individual catch ups with each of their team members. They also have methods in place to regularly feedback any information from departmental meetings to their employees. Their managers place a strong emphasis on focus groups and encourage all employees to get involved in order to share their ideas for improvement.

Ogilvy place a great emphasis on providing the best training and see nurturing the knowledge and development of their people as a priority. An example of this is their overall approach to the company's Learning and Development programme. This is designed to support company objectives as set out in their business plans, and incorporates the relevant training that supports the competencies and professional skills they value. A core feature of their approach to Learning and Development is that they place the onus on the individual to take primary responsibility for their own development, and then to support this through a clear learning path. The learning path is there to aid career development and succession planning and they underpin this by offering a breadth of opportunities available in an agile way so that everyone, no matter what level or department they work in, has access to some key development that meets their individual needs.

All Management participate in training courses provided by the Learning and Development function where the importance of caring and understanding team members needs is explored. How to deal with difficult conversations and the understanding of the company policies and procedures. Managers will conduct after every occasion of absence a ‘return to work meeting' in which a conversations about the individuals wellbeing takes place for the manager to understand what, if any reasonable adjustments need to take place. Managers are integrally involved in Flexible working meetings and make decisions based on fact as to whether this can be accommodated or not.

Employees have bespoke training programmes devised for their specific job role requirements; these are in various formats however they all follow the ethos of career and personal development. Top Talent is a programme for Consultants to apply for, who wish to be promoted to the next level up. This programme allows them to gain experience, on the job training and be mentored by colleagues within the organisation to experience what the reality of Branch Managers role is. This development programme is a course to enhance the knowledge and skills of Consultants who based on their current experience and achievements, are provided guidance and enrichment in their current role whether this leads to promotion to Branch Manager or elsewhere within the Company. In the past year they have promoted around 12% of consultants to either Senior or Principal Consultant. Career Development is a continuous priority in the organisation and they are always looking to improve on the methods used to inspire and develop their employees. The Company also operates a Leadership Development Programme to ensure that Senior Managers also benefit from on-going development and support. All employees have access to a concept called the education zone and Learning Portal which with over 7000 learning modules is available to colleagues to choose how they want to be developed and in what area to enhance their own performance, grow and achieve.

Their senior team have revised their communications strategy over the last 12 months and this has had a significant impact on employee engagement. Firstly they have reformatted the way they run team meetings. These do not operate on status bases principles but are a a lively and interactive session between all team members. Team meetings take place each month and each senior team member gives an operational update on their area of the business. Meetings are held at each of their sites and at different times of the day to enable maximum attendance. Meetings have also been recorded and made available on television screens in our breakout rooms and on the intranet for team members who have not been able to attend sessions. The senior team also introduced daily operational updates for the business throughout their peak period. These business updates have been made available via email and on the intranet and have opened up communication channels across the business.

Two of their software developers are supporting their nominated charity with the creation of a website for them. On its completion their MD has promised to donate £500 to the charity.

Investing in leadership remains a key priority to ensure the delivery of high quality, safe and effective integrated services, with improved patient experience and outcomes. In a changing NHS landscape with increasing financial constraints, the organisation must remain in a strong position to respond to the challenges ahead. By motivating and engaging current leaders, and identifying and developing future leaders, this can be achieved. The Trust have held a series of five vibrant and thought provoking events. These included organisational development, understanding roles in achieving, maintaining and measuring success, and creating high performing teams with effective appraisals and motivated staff. They focused on ensuring patient safety and recovery remain at the heart of all they do and their individual and collective responsibility to ensure quality across services. They also equipped staff with the tools and techniques to ensure workforce resilience and well-being. The programme has provided an invaluable opportunity to build networks, share learning and gain an insight into the experiences of colleagues, service users, carers and partner organisations.

553 people attended the best ever Trust AGM and Annual Members' Meeting on 24 July. The day was attended by staff, service users and carers, trust members and partner organisations, who were all eager to find out how the Trust had performed over the past 12 months and its plans for the coming year. Focusing on partnership working, the event illustrated the range and depth of achievement across mental health, physical health and integrated health. An interactive showcase opened the day, highlighting how involvement really does change services, culture and lives; something they are incredibly proud of at Nottinghamshire Healthcare. Over 80 exhibition stands demonstrated the way their services and partners are working together to develop and improve, to provide the very best care to their patients and service users. Five engaging and moving films showcased how they are doing this. This is the reality of working at Nottinghamshire Healthcare; staff do all they can, every day, to live up to the inspiring and memorable words in the NHS Constitution.

Nissan's management team always use feedback employees provide them with to review the organisation and identify opportunities to make Nissan GB a better place to work. Bespoke actions plans are then developed and the management team work closer with HR and functional Directors to implement these in the business.

Nissan has a Career Development Programme for high potential people in the company. The company also operates a Graduate Development Scheme and a Management Development Scheme for employees.