Tomorrow's Officials: The role of the trade union official in the 21st Century.
introduction | looking
across the world of work | developing tomorrow's
leaders
training and developing
tomorrow's officials |
communications
for tomorrow's officials |
breaking
the mould
learning the lessons of the present |
is
there a wider role for the TUC?
what are the aspirations for tomorrow's officials?
the skills, expectations and competancies tomorrow's
officials might have |
over
to you
Introduction
This
discussion document reflects the contributions made by a number of trade
unionists at two Unions 21 seminars held under the title of 'Tomorrow's
Officials'. The first meeting was held at the ISTC in February
2001, and featured contributions from Jon Allen, Deputy General Secretary
of the TSSA; Willy Coupar, Director of the Involvement and Participation
Association (IPA); and Rachel Maskell of the MSF. The second seminar was
held during Unions 21's annual conference at Congress House in March 2001
and featured contributions from Sharon Graham of the T&G and Willy
Coupar of the IPA.
If you have any comments on this paper, or if you would like to receive paper copies of this document, contact Martin O 'Donovan, Director of Unions 21,on 020 7278 9944 or e-mail martin@unions21.org.uk
The two seminars addressed the following key questions:
- What are the key
roles of a trade union in the 21st Century?
- What skills will tomorrow's officials require if they are to deliver?
- Where do today's union officials come from and how do we develop them?
- What training and development is needed for the next generation of officials?
- If a union were a business, how would its key people be developed?
- Can unions compete with other organisations to recruit and retain good
people?
- Should trade union officials be encouraged to move in and out of other
organisations or indeed between unions?
- Should the TUC gain a greater role in developing future leaders, benchmarking
standards and career and succession planning?
- Can best practice be shared more effectively?
The seminars highlighted
excellent leadership, skills, training, support and a broad range of experiences
as crucial to future trade union officials. The seminars generated a refreshing
series of thoughts and ideas on the
cultural changes required if unions are to recruit, develop and prepare
their officials to flourish in trade unions over the coming years.
Looking across the world of work
How would a business develop its key employees and can unions learn anything from this? The best practice of a business will not necessarily transfer over to trade unions due to democratic structures, policy decisions, working culture among other reasons but trade unions might learn from many of them. The below ideas are not a series of concrete recommendations merely a set of observations, some of which may prove useful to the trade union movement.
If unions were to
borrow ideas from the broader world of work, tomorrow's trade union officials
could be given the opportunity to take time out from trade unions to work
in different areas to widen their skills and
experience while maintaining their motivation and enthusiasm for the movement.
This could include working in industry, government or indeed Europe and
would give officials greater insight and knowledge, making them more effective
within the union movement. There could also be greater movement of officials
between unions, for example could a senior officer in a small union use
the experience gained to become a senior officer in a larger union (or
vice versa)? Such moves would be common in the business world and even
if they would not work at the highest level, trade unions could exchange
staff
with other unions on sabbatical or indeed undertake exchanges with sister
unions abroad.
There are significant obstacles to overcome, not least the concern that unions would naturally feel in 'giving up ' their best and brightest officers. And many people will always consider that officers who go to work in management or for other unions are 'traitors'; however many feel that these are legitimate career paths which unions, as employers, should be considering especially if unions can encourage people who left the movement to gain outside experience to come back into the movement. Would improved flexibility and a broader range of experiences encourage a better motivated and more diverse set of officials to stay involved in the movement? Would such changes help unions to overcome the paucity of women at the highest levels in the movement? It is certainly worth a thought.
It is vital that unions
keep their officials motivated to stay in the trade union movement and
not be lured into industry where their extremely marketable skills and
experience could be utilised in the area of Human
Resources and Personnel.
Tomorrow 's officials should have the opportunity to benefit from a wide range of experiences including the opportunity to work abroad and to spend time outside of the trade union movement.
It is worth stressing that, unlike in the private sector, it remains unusual for unions to recruit senior people from outside the organisation and indeed the union movement. The points raised in this section are targeted at the broad cadre of management in unions not just elected officials. Of course many officials will be elected which means succession planning cannot be assured, but leadership at a wide range of levels can make a difference to an organisation.
For example, looking
again to the private sector, how would a business develop its senior people?
Around 20 people would be identified for leadership roles in, say, ten
years' time. Those people would be moved around again including
stints overseas and developed. If any skills gaps existed after
those ten years, they would be filled by external recruitment. Of course
unions are not businesses, but some of the practices should
be viewed with an open mind.
One way that unions
might develop future leaders is if they look today at the potential General
Secretaries and senior officials of the future and start to develop them
accordingly through training programmes, as would
happen in the world of business. Not all of these people will end up in
senior positions, but this should not prevent unions from systematically
nurturing their brightest talent.
Tomorrow's senior trade union officials will need to be prepared for leadership and be offered the experience of working in Europe in the light of globalisation and increasingly strong links with the European Union.
Training and developing tomorrow's officials
It is important for
unions to continue to develop lay representatives and activists so they
can come forward as full time officials. This training has to be flexible,
particularly for women, and increasingly those who are
active in workplaces where there is currently no recognition. Unions need
to be innovative in their approach to training in order that it is accessible
to activists. Examples of this could be training made available during
lunch hours, at weekends, online, or with content tailored to a specific
campaign.
It is also vital that training and development is continued once people
become full time officials, whether this be related specifically to the
role of the official, or to encourage personal development.
Tomorrow's officials will require constantly updated skills if they are to empower and represent working people.
A good example of the central role for officials in trade unions has been developed by the TSSA, which has recently gone through a wide-reaching process of change, and the development of officials has been key to the changes made: officials have received training and development reviews, and have set objectives and targets. They have also been given competency profiles and around £1,000 worth of training each. Leadership skills have been developed and more people brought in. The risks taken have proven worthwhile, with membership up for a second year in succession, a greenfield site team in place and a changing culture taking root within the union.
Communications for tomorrow's officials
Communications strategies
will need to be constantly developed to bring all union officials into
the union's core activities. A smooth flow of information can improve
officials' sense of ownership over the union's
aims and priorities, and can equally improve communications throughout
the hierarchy of trade unions. Best practice and support networks will
need to develop across unions, allowing officials from different unions
to
support and learn from one another where appropriate. The 24 hour union
will have to strive to communicate much better with both its officials
and its members.
Trade union members are increasingly used to 24 hour services in many
other areas of their lives. This presents huge challenges, particularly
to officials from smaller, niche unions.
Tomorrow's officials may need to network and share information and best practice to confront the challenges they face and unions' communications strategies will undergo continuous review if unions are to meet the demands of their members.
The issue of 'cloning'
is a key question: do retiring officials get replaced by slightly younger,
similar officials? There are of course times when this is both appropriate
and fruitful, but are there occasions when unions
should look to break the mould?
Unions should be encouraged
to actively recruit beyond the trade union movement. One union is currently
looking to replace retiring officials with a new range of officials, with
initiatives such as the new officer
spending one year as a shadow to their retiring colleague, while also
branching out into new areas of work, such as organising and involving
young people. The aim is to reinvigorate and to re-shape the union; and
to encourage new members to get involved in the union's activities.
How will tomorrow's
officials be affected by the partnership agenda? It is important that
unions try to work with employers to encourage the development of role
descriptions and training for rep's. Could employers
further encourage the skills and training development that goes hand in
hand with union activism? Might union officials be able to spend time
on sabbatical in organisations where partnership at work is embedded?
Would such opportunities be desirable and useful?
Tomorrow's officials will not all come from the same background: unions should celebrate this and encourage different career paths among officers.
Learning the lessons of the present
When looking to the development and progression of tomorrow's officials it is easy to lose sight of the excellent work that goes on in developing today's officials. There is much that is going well.
Many of tomorrow's trade union officials are being developed through the TUC Organising Academy, including two of the speakers at the Unions 21 seminars addressing this subject. The Academy promotes cross union co-operation, and encourages organisers to be creative and innovative, while sharing best practice and campaign ideas in their training groups. This has also led to the creation of the Organisers ' network, which exists to promote best practice across unions and provide support for Organisers. Each Academy Organiser is also allocated a coach within their sponsoring union, who assists them with their development throughout the year. In its first three years the Academy has resulted in around 100 new trade union officials entering the movement, many of whom are young people and women, who may not have otherwise had the opportunity to work for a union.
Is there a wider role for the TUC?
Following on from the success of the Academy in providing networks for new organisers, could the TUC play a wider role in developing future leaders, in benchmarking standards and in career and succession planning? "The best thing about the Academy",reflected Rachel Maskell of the MSF during one seminar, "was meeting with others who were going through the same thing." She remains in contact with them to this day.
Given that the TUC
already provides a network for new organisers through the Academy, a network
on partnership through the Partnership Institute and a network for personnel
and HR staff working in unions, where is the next logical area for development?
Could the TUC take on more of a role as a forum to bring together officials
from different unions to discuss operational or management aspects of
unions? Perhaps in areas such as training and development, IT systems,
finance, research, legal, campaigns, organising? The aim of such groups
would be to identify best practice systematically. The TUC could become
a enchmarking centre acting as a repository of information and practices
that unions could tap in to. Assessing the way an organisation does things
against other organisations via benchmarking are becoming standard processes
now in the private and public sectors. As a union movement it ought to
be easier for us to facilitate this. On the question of 'elected versus
selected' officials, there may be some political problems about how and
among whom such a development operates but if it is focused at practitioners
and functional
heads this may be overcome.
Tomorrow's officials will need to key into best practice and innovations throughout the union movement.
What are the aspirations of tomorrow's officials?
Unions need to re-shape
their structures to nurture a new generation of officials. While today's
officials enjoy training from their own union, there is a next stage:
a training needs analysis and the kind of mentoring
and support that, as one speaker put it,"stirs passions, and doesn't
kill them off."
Mentoring should never
consist of a senior official telling someone how it was in their day.
Unions also need to continue to look further at their own policies, assuring
family friendly union workplaces. Unions should also
look at their hierarchical structures, with the need for a new framework
allowing different specialisms. One speaker reflected that many regional
officials feel isolated in their post, and urged unions to introduce 'genuine
appraisals', where officials can receive greater support from senior colleagues.
Unions need to look
at how best to develop a new era of officials, for example by providing
training at people's homes, rather than in faraway training centres. The
image that a youthful workforce has of unions
also needs to be questioned: the television shows mainly old men; younger
people and women need a higher profile. The importance of encouraging
women and young workers to become active in unions is massive, as within
the next ten years it is estimated that almost half of current trade union
officials will be of retirement age.
Tomorrow's officials aspire to work in a flexible, empowering, highly skilled job where their passion remains high and they remain inspired.
As stated at the beginning
of this paper, the above suggestions and observations are not concrete
proposals for trade unions, rather a series of ideas that aim to stimulate
thought and discussion. Trade union
officials will remain vital to unions if they are to deliver for members;
by looking across our own movement and the wider world of work we can
start to identify the skills those officials will require.
The skills, experience, expectations and competencies that tomorrow's officials might have: -
Experience of working
abroad
Given the context of a globalised economy and the trend towards increasing
links between trade unions across the world, tomorrow's trade union officials
will require an ever greater knowledge of working to influence multinational
companies and European and world institutions. As unions work more closely
with sister unions overseas, it may be that officials can gain greater
experiences of working in such institutions perhaps through sabbatical
periods abroad.
Partnership
As the information and consultation rights at work agenda takes hold across
Europe, it is likely that the partnership agenda will move further into
the mainstream. Tomorrow's officials will need the knowledge of the private
sector and the requisite training to ensure that robust partnerships deliver
for trade union members.
Access to a best
practice and ideas network
Trade union
officials often come across similar barriers, many of which are overcome
using new and innovative ideas and practices. Tomorrow's officials should
be able to link up with fellow officials in overcoming common problems.
This might be facilitated by the TUC. There are of course times when unions
compete with one another and will not want to share best practice, but
with more working people out of unions than in unions, there is plenty
to be gained by the movement as a whole through improved networking.
Relevant and updated
skills
The lifelong learning agenda has really taken hold in the trade union
movement, with thousands of members benefiting from initiatives such as
the Union Learning Fund. However, it is vital that unions stay on top
of
this agenda, share best practice and ensure that tomorrow's officials
have access to the first class and constantly updated training they will
require.
Flexibility at
work
Tomorrow's
trade union officials will be negotiating on behalf of members to ensure
that employers respect employees' home lives and offer maximum flexibility
at work. Those officials will want the same for themselves.
Greater flexibility at work for trade unionists should also result in
an altered hierarchy, wherein officials can specialise and develop their
skills in a certain field, remaining motivated at work without necessarily
seeking the highest office within the union.
Strong communications
system running through union
A regular and well-managed flow of communication between a union, its
officials and its members is vital to today's trade unions; it is likely
to be as important or more so in the future. Tomorrow's officials will
need to feel engaged in their union's campaigns and priorities, and comfortable
in delivering for their union to its members.
System of succession
planning
Trade unions will need to develop procedures that ensure that tomorrow's
officials are drawn from the widest possible pool of candidates. That
means encouraging and nurturing a broad cadre of officials, and ensuring
that tomorrow's officials are equipped to move on and up through their
union.
Tomorrow's Officials: Over to You
This paper puts forward
a number of ideas on tomorrow's trade union officials. Do you think the
ideas thrown up are of interest to your union, or perhaps one idea in
particular has made you think? Perhaps you have
thought of something that has has not been mentioned?
Whatever your comments or ideas, e-mail them to Martin O' Donovan, Director of Unions 21,on martin@unions21.org.uk or write to Unions 21, FREEPOST, 6 Cynthia Street, London N1 9BR