Executive Summary
The People Strategy sets out how we will create the conditions for colleagues to do their best work: clear expectations, strong and compassionate leadership, fair and transparent people practices, and meaningful opportunities to develop and progress. By strengthening leadership, capability and performance, we will improve service reliability, responsiveness and sustainability for Coventry’s residents.
The People Plan translates this strategy into a focused set of actions for 2026 to 2029. It is grounded in Coventry specific workforce and demographic data, employee feedback, and best practice, so that priorities are evidence based, targeted and measurable. Recent employee survey results show strong commitment to public service and pride in working for the Council, alongside clear opportunities to strengthen trust, fairness, performance management and how we manage change equitability. These insights have directly shaped the priorities and outcomes in this plan.
Delivery is structured around 4 integrated priorities spanning the employee lifecycle: workforce planning; culture and behaviour; performance; and learning and development. The plan provides a clear ‘golden thread’ from the One Coventry Plan and corporate priorities to the leadership expectations, manager routines and colleague behaviours that deliver better outcomes for residents.
This plan sets out what People Services will lead and enable, and what leaders and managers across the organisation are accountable for delivering. Sustainable improvement depends on consistent people management in every service, supported by clear frameworks, tools and capability. We will make practical use of digital and AI enabled tools to improve insight, streamline people processes and reduce administrative burden, freeing up capacity for leadership, coaching and service delivery.
Delivery is phased over 3 years (2026 to 2029): building strong foundations, embedding capability and behaviours, and sustaining impact through continuous improvement and evaluation.