At Leeds Beckett University I was responsible for developing the vision and setting the strategic direction of the People Team, including refreshing the People Strategy (to ensure it was properly aligned to the broader organisational strategic priorities) and ensuring that all stakeholders were supportive. Those stakeholders included the Students’ Union, Trades Unions, the Board (including independent Governors) and senior leaders across the University.
Having refreshed the University’s People Strategy , I undertook a “customer survey” to explore what the HR team was known for, what it was already good at and any areas for development. I took that insight and redesigned the HR team’s operating model to enhance capability and capacity. I also helped the team clarify its purpose and vision and describe how we might move from “good” to “great”. We also rebranded the team, to signify the change in emphasis of the purpose of the team (moving to be called the People Team rather than Human Resources). One of the key outcomes of this work was to support the team in becoming even more high performing and to drive engagement through clearer articulation of why their work mattered.
