Service delivery complaints uncover a global HR problem

Having successfully worked together in the past, our client asked us to join them helping to optimise communication and operational synergies. With the end client being involved in creating breakthrough solutions in human health to improve patient outcomes globally, we felt a heavy responsibility to deliver on this project and safeguard their vital work.

We used our experience of supporting large-scale organisational change for other life sciences clients, to help them overcome their HR service delivery issues.

Quickly harnessing and driving change can make all the difference, so we began by holding a series of early discovery interviews with staff. These helped us better understand the service delivery problems, and allowed us to explore the root causes behind why teams weren’t working together.

It soon became clear there were fractures in the team dynamics. Poor communication, a lack of ownership and accountability within HR processes, as well as limited access to important information, were all having a negative impact.

This research enabled us to shape a suitable solution for the organisation. We rapidly turned our conclusions into a plan that would improve communication, collaboration and service delivery.

Our approach involved:

• Reviewing existing global HR processes
  ‍This meant we could point to specific areas of the process that were broken, and find solutions that would improve the process flow and be agreeable to all stakeholders.

• Creating a new problem-solving process
  ‍This initiative brought the global teams together to regularly share and discuss ideas, and established shared values around collaboration, continuous improvement and innovation.

• Launching new documentation
  ‍This updated way of working would underpin HR processes globally and covered responsibilities, accountabilities, communication and hand-over processes.

To ensure long-term continuous improvement, we also prepared a change management blueprint our client could follow to ingrain future changes to its processes, teams and wider organisation.

Drawing on our understanding of the organisational psychology involved in change, we were able to make a significant difference. Over six months, we used all of our skills to embed team spirit and collaboration across workshops, meetings, document creation and decision making.

Improvements in service delivery were measured over the six months against a series of agreed key performance indicators. Halfway through the project, the data already showed an increase in customer satisfaction and a decline in the number of issues being reported.

This trend continued throughout our intervention, setting the organisation up to significantly reduce its team issues and improve its HR service delivery as desired.