Evaluating the People Culture Skills Framework
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Active Essex launched their PCS (People, Culture and Skills) framework in April 2022, putting people at the heart of their initiatives. This framework accompanies the 10-year Sport & Physical Activity strategy, Fit for the Future, for Essex, Southend and Thurrock.
The PCS framework focuses on enhancing the sport and physical activity by prioritising people development, nurturing inclusive cultures, and addressing skills gaps. Its mission is to make Essex, Southend and Thurrock a great place to work and volunteer in Sport and Physical Activity.
Although recent priorities have been focussed on filling immediate vacancies and providing training, a persistent, high staff turnover and significant skills gap remains. The Essex Skills Strategy (2018) and Training Needs Analysis (2021) stated that the labour market challenges and skills gaps remain the same despite significant investment. This has reinforced the need to look differently at the sector’s people challenges, highlighting the need for long-term strategies to reduce workforce churn, incentivize growth, and create clear career pathways.
This insight led to the development of the PCS framework, based around three guiding principles:
- People: Create a diverse, satisfied workforce with clear career routes and human-centred leadership.
- Culture: Foster supportive environments with effective policies and governance to ensure sustainable growth and safety.
- Skills: Partner with education providers to address skills shortages and utilise mechanisms like apprenticeships
People Culture Skills Outcomes:
An evaluation report has been produced using interviews and surveys to understand how Active Essex identified challenges, supported organisations and devised personalised plans. It touches upon how they used a holistic approach to offer support that focused on organisational development, rather than just delivery.
Throughout this work, organisations were offered a range of interventions, depending on the support needed. This included 1-2-1 conversations, business development support, upskilling and training, onboarding, surveys and a series of 'Lunch and Learns'.
Organisations supported through the People Culture Skills Framework
Sport for Confidence
Understand the impact of workshops and events for organisational growth and development.
Key recommendations
Based on the feedback data collected from interviews and surveys, six key recommendations emerged:
Continue with PCS Implementation
Categorise organisations to allow Active Essex to adapt their offer accordingly.
Establish the role of Active Essex
Active Essex should become an 'accelerator' to allow organisations to make informed decisions.
Look at the Systemic Gaps
Address gaps for organisations, providing a multi-organisational, co-ordinated solution.
Programme Awareness
Improve communication to ensure organisations are aware of schedules, events and benefits.
Increase investment in framework
This will help address the diverse needs of organisations at various stages of development.
Growing better practice
Adopt better practice in staff recruitment - recruit based on values rather than skills.
