People Strategy and Plan 2026 to 2029 - Print version

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.

People Strategy (2026 to 2029)

Purpose

To build the workforce, leadership and culture required to deliver the One Coventry Plan, creating an inclusive, high performing organisation where people are supported to do their best work.

Our ambition

Where we are now, we have a committed, experienced workforce with strong public service values and pride in serving Coventry. The employee survey also points to specific areas where we can be more consistent and fairer, strengthen trust, improve the experience of change, and make performance and development conversations more useful day-to-day.

By 2029, Coventry City Council will be recognised as a fair, inclusive, and high performing employer, with clear expectations, strong leadership, and transparent people practices. Colleagues will experience consistency, trust and opportunity throughout their employment lifecycle, and our workforce will better reflect the communities we serve.

Strategic Priorities (2026 to 2029)

The People Strategy is structured around 4 integrated priorities that span the employee lifecycle:

• Workforce Planning: A proactive, data driven approach to ensure we have the right people, skills, and capacity in place now and for the future.
• Culture and Behaviour: Embedding inclusion, trust, fairness, wellbeing and belonging as core organisational strengths.
• Performance: Creating a high-performance culture based on clear expectations, regular feedback and coaching led conversations.
• Learning and Development: Becoming a learning organisation that builds capability, strengthens leadership, and supports career progression at all levels.

What Success Looks Like by 2029

• clear and consistent expectations for leadership, management, and performance.
• stronger leadership accountability for people management.
• improved recruitment, retention, and workforce sustainability.
• fairer, more equitable people decisions and reduced disproportionality.
• improved staff engagement, wellbeing, and performance outcomes.

(Detailed objectives, measures, and delivery actions are set out in the People Plan)

The Golden Thread

 

From strategy to outcomes:

• One Coventry Plan: outcomes for residents and communities
• People Strategy 2026 to 2029: workforce, leadership and culture required
• 4 People Plan priorities: workforce planning, culture and behaviour, performance, and Learning and Development
• policies, frameworks and programmes: performance management, workforce planning, leadership development
• everyday leadership and behaviours: clear expectations, coaching, fair people management
• measurable impact: engagement and wellbeing, retention and diversity, performance and service outcomes

Coventry Demographics and Employee Data

Coventry’s Starting Point: Coventry City Council employs approximately 5,200 staff across a wide range of services. Our workforce is committed and experienced, with many long-serving colleagues and strong public service values. At the same time, demographic trends, skills pressures and representation gaps highlight where we need to plan more proactively for the future.

Our recent Employee Survey shows strong commitment to serving Coventry’s communities. It also identifies opportunities to improve fairness, trust, performance management and the experience of change, particularly through greater consistency, earlier communication and clearer expectations. These insights shape the priorities in this plan.

The plan considers the Council’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy actions and the employment law changes expected over the next few years, including changes introduced through the Employment Rights Act. People Services will monitor legislative changes, update policies and guidance, and provide manager briefings and training to ensure we remain compliant and consistent.

Leadership KPIs, Ownership and Reporting

This plan is delivered through a shared model: People Services will provide the frameworks, tools, data and specialist support; leaders and managers will apply them equitably in every service. Progress will be reported through data/insights reviewed quarterly by the Corporate Leadership Board:

• People Services will lead/enable; workforce and people analytics; policy and process design (e.g., recruitment, onboarding, performance, attendance); learning offer design and delivery; employee relations advice and casework standards; HR systems and automation (including safe use of AI enabled tools); and organisation wide communications, guidance and templates
• Leaders and managers are accountable for workforce plans for their service; timely recruitment decisions; high quality onboarding; regular performance and wellbeing conversations; managing performance, attendance and conduct fairly and appropriately; completing mandatory manager training; and using data and feedback to improve their teams’ experience and service outcomes

Priority 1 - Workforce Planning

Our vision

Coventry City Council will take a proactive, data-driven approach to workforce planning to ensure we have “the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time” to deliver excellent services to Coventry’s residents. This means anticipating future needs – such as demographic shifts, evolving service demands, and identifying skills gaps and developing talent pipelines both internally and externally to meet those needs.

Our objectives

• establish and embed an effective workforce planning approach across all services, enabling leaders to forecast demand, identify skills gaps and implement solutions that build long term workforce resilience
• expand internal progression routes by implementing clear career pathways, standardised job descriptions and use of job families to support organisational consistency and agility
• embed talent and succession planning through regular use of the 9-box grid and targeted development opportunities for critical roles
• redesign recruitment and onboarding to be simpler, faster and relevant, including automating steps where this improves quality and reduces administrative effort
• refresh the employee benefits offer to support attraction, retention and wellbeing

What does success look like?

• effective recruitment processes, reflected in reduced time to hire and improved candidate experience
• managers using workforce data and insights to understand future demand, identify skills gaps and plan effective solutions
• job families consistently applied, providing clarity on role expectations, skills and responsibilities
• employees can clearly see how to progress through ‘grow our own’ routes, transparent career pathways and regular development conversations
• our organisation is better equipped to plan, with the right people, skills, and capacity in place to meet the needs of Coventry’s residents and communities
• we are recognised as an employer of choice, attracting and retaining talent through a strong employee experience
• recruitment processes that are faster, clearer, fair and free from unnecessary barriers
• candidate assessment methods that test the skills required for the role and support fair, evidence-based decisions
• a seamless onboarding experience from offer to day one, enabling colleagues to contribute sooner

Priority 2 - Culture and Behaviour

Our vision

Coventry City Council will foster a positive, inclusive culture where people feel valued, trusted and empowered. Difference is celebrated, people feel a strong sense of belonging, and everyone understands how their work contributes to the community. We will strengthen engagement, improve how we communicate and make decisions, and ensure the Council is a safe, healthy and respectful place to work.

Our objectives

• build a culture that values difference and celebrates diversity
• sustain our approach to health, safety and wellbeing
• strengthen belonging across the organisation
• enhance trust and confidence in the organisation by demonstrating consistency and fairness in our decision making
• improve the day-to-day experience of working at the Council so people feel valued, supported and proud to work here
• strengthen staff engagement by listening to feedback and demonstrating timely, visible action
• promote and manage health, safety and wellbeing so that colleagues are supported to work safely and sustainably

What does success look like?

• we have a culture where difference is valued and respected, and where diversity strengthens how we think, work, and deliver services that reflect our residents and is for our residents
• we have a robust health and safety culture with strong reporting and feedback processes
• our managers lead with clarity, confidence and compassion, creating psychological safety and environments where people feel supported, trusted, and able to thrive
• colleagues feel able to share ideas and ask questions; feedback is welcomed, listened to and responded to
• colleagues feel genuinely valued and recognised for their contribution and have a strong sense of belonging
• improved staff engagement and wellbeing, reflected in improved staff survey results and reduced sickness absence

Priority 3 - Performance

Our vision

Coventry City Council will create a high-performance culture where expectations are clear, feedback is frequent, and colleagues are supported to excel. Every colleague should know “what good looks like” in their role and be recognised for their contribution.

Performance management will be fair, equitable and development focused, moving away from a tick box annual appraisal to a continuous, coaching led approach. This is not about punishing underperformance; it is about enabling everyone’s best performance and addressing issues early and appropriately so that services improve for Coventry’s residents.

Our objectives

• embed transparent performance expectations across all teams
• a revised appraisal system to support and underpin the process
• continue to develop and embed a strong coaching capability across the organisation
• strengthen the quality and frequency of performance conversations, including use of SMART objectives and AID feedback
• continue to evolve the recognition programmes
• align reward and recognition with contribution and performance where this is feasible within the Council’s reward framework
• implement employment law changes (including changes introduced through the Employment Rights Act) in a timely way and ensure managers understand what they need to do

What does success look like?

• a clear understanding of expectations – our people understand what good looks like in their role
• a strong, embedded coaching culture – our managers and employees will be actively using coaching techniques in their day-to-day interactions
• earlier identification of performance issues which are managed appropriately with equitable application of organisational policies
• appraisals have SMART actions, feedback is provided, performance conversations are a feature of the organisational culture
• recognition is timely and meaningful, and (where feasible) reward is aligned to contribution and performance
• colleagues leave the organisation well, reflected in improved exit feedback and higher completion of exit questionnaires

Priority 4 - Learning and Development

Our vision

Coventry City Council will become a true learning organisation where continuous development is part of our DNA. This means providing every employee with opportunities to grow their skills and career, strengthening leadership and management at all levels, and ensuring the organisation has the capabilities needed for the future.

We want a workforce that is not only highly skilled and adaptable but also one that sees the Council as a place where you can build a fulfilling career. Learning and development will underpin our other priorities: it feeds workforce planning (by developing skills internally), supports culture (by equipping managers to lead the desired culture and giving all staff the tools to succeed), and boosts performance (by addressing skill gaps and improving effectiveness). Digital and AI enabled learning tools will support more personalised, timely and accessible development.

Our objectives

• strengthen management and leadership capability across the organisation through the learning offer, including the Owning and Driving Performance programme
• increase positive role‑modelling of One Coventry values and behaviours by senior leaders
• all employees are provided with a learning or development plan by 2029
• managers attend mandatory policy and procedure training for the key four policies: Probation, Enabling Attendance, Performance Management and Disciplinary
• giving and providing feedback is the norm
• individual ownership of ‘own’ learning and development has increased

What does success look like?

• stronger management and leadership at all levels, reflected in timely interventions
• more opportunities for our people to develop and progress through increased career progression and career graded roles
• improved retention and lower turnover
• effective management of casework, reduction in disproportionality
• reflection of change in the staff survey feedback and results
• higher numbers accessing training and development opportunities

Delivering the People Strategy: Roles and Responsibilities (2026 to 2029)

The People Strategy will be delivered through a shared model of accountability:

• People Services is responsible for designing and maintaining people frameworks, policies, tools, insight and development support, and for providing assurance and expert advice
• leaders and managers across the organisation are accountable for adopting, applying and role‑modelling effective people management practice within their services

Year 1: Build the Foundations (2026 to 2027)

Focus: Establishing consistent frameworks, clear expectations and core people infrastructure.

People Services:

• design, launch and maintain the People Strategy and performance management framework, providing guidance and practical tools to support organisational adoption
• refresh and maintain key people policies to ensure they are compliant, clear, inclusive and accessible
• establish, analyse and report organisational baselines for engagement, diversity, performance and wellbeing, providing insight to inform leadership action and prioritisation

Organisation (Leaders and Managers):

• set and role‑model clear expectations for leadership, management and performance within services, aligned to the People Strategy
• adopt and apply strengthened workforce planning, recruitment and onboarding processes, using corporate frameworks and guidance to plan effectively and recruit consistently

What will make the biggest difference this year:

• clear, consistent expectations for leadership and performance across the organisation
• strong workforce planning and recruitment foundations that enable services to plan with confidence

Year 2: Embed and Improve (2027 to 2028)

Focus: Enabling consistent management behaviours, building capability and improving quality of practice.

People Services:

• design and facilitate targeted leadership and management development, providing learning, tools and support that enable leaders and managers to build their capability
• provide advice, guidance and assurance processes to support consistent people management practice across the organisation

Organisation (Leaders and Managers):

• adopt coaching‑led performance conversations and consistent SMART objective setting as standard management practice
• actively utilise talent, progression and internal career pathways across services to support development and retention
• consistently and confidently manage performance, attendance and conduct in line with organisational frameworks and standards
• use workforce and engagement data to identify issues and target improvement activity within services

What will make the biggest difference this year:

• coaching‑led performance conversations become part of everyday management practice
• clear and accessible progression, talent and internal development routes across services

Year 3: Sustain and Mature (2028 to 2029)

Focus: Sustainability, impact and continuous improvement.

People Services:

• evaluate the impact of people initiatives on retention, engagement and performance, using evidence and feedback to refine and evolve approaches
• provide succession planning frameworks, future skills insight and organisational assurance to support long‑term workforce sustainability

Organisation (Leaders and Managers):

• actively identify, develop and review succession and future skills pipelines within services
• embed continuous learning and improvement as part of organisational culture and leadership practice

What will make the biggest difference this year:

• strong leadership and succession in critical roles

People Services will provide the frameworks, insight and development support; leaders and managers are accountable for consistent application and impact within services.

How will we measure impact