Letter to Branches
No: 516/14 / Ref: / 12th August 2014To: All Branches with Postal Members
Dear Colleague
Together for Growth (TFG) update:
Further to the LTB 266/14 set out below is an update on the deployment of the TFG Deployment plan.
The Programme
The TFG programme consists of three one day events (3 Modules).
Every effort will be made to ensure that managers and Representatives attend all three Modules together.
· Module 1 & 2: will consist of 16 participants (8 managers and 8 representatives) all from the same function.
· Module 3: will consist of 40/50 participants (managers and representatives in pairs) from all functions.
The TFG Programme has been designed and will be delivered by an independent external training provider. Branches will wish to know that the CWU has been fully involved in the design, field testing and deployment of the programme.
Representatives attending the TFG Programme will experience a new approach to training. The training Modules are designed to develop new skills and create a fairer and different culture throughout Royal Mail.
Together for Growth Deployment Plan
The deployment plan was launched nationally on 11 June 2014. The TGF Programme is made up of two phases:
· Phase 1: Regional management team to attend with CWU Divisional Representatives and DSMs, MCMs, Logistics managers and relevant CWU Area Representatives.
Phase 1 is aimed at Regional management & CWU Divisional Representatives and MCMs, DSMs & CWU Area Representatives. Module 1 of Phase 1 has already been completed. The intention is to commence the deployment of Module 2 (day 2) of the phase 1 in early September and Module 3 (day 3) of the phase 1 is scheduled at the end of September.
· Phase 2: All CWU local Representatives to attend with their relevant manager.
Phase 2 of the TFG will commence in October and will continue for approximately 12 months, which is aimed at all frontline managers and CWU Representatives.
There will be a pause in the training programme in December 2014 and August 2015.
Venues
The Union is currently working with Royal Mail on drawing up a list of venues for all 3 TFG Modules. This exercise is being carried out to ensure that there are a sufficient number of venues across the country. The aim of this exercise is to avoid unnecessary travelling time for CWU Representatives and Royal Mail managers.
To assist in the deployment of the TFG Programme CWU Divisional Representatives (one per Division) have been appointed to work with Royal Mail managers to oversee, facilitate and manage the deployment of the TFG Training Programme.
Finally, we have also attached for your information a copy of the Together for Growth Training Programme report provided to the Postal Executive.
Any enquiries on the above LTB should be directed to the DGSP Department.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
Together for Growth Training Programme
Introduction
Further to previous reports this email provides the Postal Executive with a comprehensive update on the planning, scale, design and content of the ‘Together for Growth’ training programme in advance of the PEC presentation on the 20th May.
Purpose of the Training Programme
This programme arises from the commitment made by the company to undertake a major investment in joint training that supports the principles and objectives of the Agenda for Growth Agreement.
Essentially, its key focus will be on the following:
· What can we jointly do to improve working relationships?
· What can managers and representatives do differently to support culture change across the organisation and in our workplaces?
· Raising awareness of the competitive landscape and the context the business now operates within.
How the Programme has been developed
This programme has been worked up jointly between representatives of an external training provider, Royal Mail, CWU and Unite, utilising the Project Board approach.
From a CWU perspective Mahmood Ali has been leading with support from Paul Kennedy, John Simpkins, Trish Lavelle and myself as appropriate. Through the design stage the programme has also taken input from focus groups and field testing.
Scale and Scope of the Programme
This is the biggest ever deployment of joint Royal Mail/CWU training undertaken within the company and the Union.
It will ultimately involve approximately 7,300 people participating in three full days training each over the next 12 months.
On a weekly basis it will mean up to a maximum of 690 people being released each week, although the programme will be paused during known periods of significant operational pressure.
It is expected that all Royal Mail managers and CWU Representatives will participate fully in this training programme. At a recent meeting the company committed that it would even include the senior directors on the Ops Exec team and they will be expecting CWU to do likewise with the Postal Executive.
An imperative will be to ensure that those Royal Mail/CWU managers and representatives who interface with each other on a regular basis are trained together at each session. As you can imagine this requires a significant amount of detailed planning to pull together the various phases of the programme, who is due to attend at what time and the procurement of appropriate venues. As such, this training will be a priority commitment for all Royal Mail managers and CWU representatives. Although there will be some scope for rescheduling, without a clear commitment from both parties and all participants, it will never work.
A national launch event is being finalised for the end of May/June and the afternoon session of this event will be utilised to support the cascade of the training programme through the various regions. This event in itself has taken some time to put together and it will be crucial for the positioning and buy-in of the overall training programme that senior Royal Mail managers and senior CWU representatives (the full Postal Executive) make the launch event a priority commitment.
Content of the Programme
The content of this training programme is highly interactive and will feel and look like a very different experience to the normal training room and powerpoint style courses that we are all used to. It has been deliberately designed to be different – because it is focused on people and what we can all do differently to improve relationships and drive culture change across the organisation.
Having seen and experienced some of the content, it will be very challenging for managers and representatives who start at a low point in their relationship, or who are set in their ways and only ever see an issue from their own perspective. It will also be challenging for those managers and representatives who don’t really get the need for us to work together in the current environment.
The training will be over three days (three separate modules) with each training day scheduled to be three weeks apart for each individual. In between each module there will be some pre work for participants to prepare for the next module.
The presentation on the 20th May will attempt to walk the PEC through the interactive nature of these modules.
At this stage, modules 1 and 2 are pretty much signed off, with module 3 being work in progress. A brief overview of these modules is set out below:-
Module 1: This introduces aims and objectives, has a brief look the history of the company and the union and highlights the reality of today’s market place and the competitive environment we now operate within. It goes on to look at how we respect each other’s identity and also what are helpful behaviours that will improve relationships and change culture.
Module 2: This looks at what the important relationships are in a workplace and what we need to do to build these into an effective way of working, including how we should handle disagreements and differences.
Module 3: This is intended to build an overview picture of the business and the role we play within it and it will also refocus managers and representatives on our new Industrial Relations procedures.
Summary and Next Steps
The next step will be the presentation on the afternoon of Tuesday 20th May and we need to set aside two hours to cover this.
We also expect to announce the date of the national launch event at Tuesday’s meeting.
Towards the end of next week, it will be the intention to communication via an LTB a comprehensive overview of the programme to our Branches and representatives.
Finally, it is important that both Royal Mail and the union are prepared to give this type of training our support as a key part of delivering the objectives of the Agenda for Growth agreement. Whilst it may prove testing for some of our representatives, I think it will be more testing on the whole for the command and control style managers who still remain prominent within the company.
We can also confirm that these training modules are for Royal Mail managers and reps and a separate programme will be developed in due course for Parcelforce, taking account of the differences and structures within that particular part of the business.
After a significant number of courses have taken place we will look for feedback from participants and make any necessary adjustments to enhance the programme.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)