THIS IS HOW WE DO IT

Evidence Based Management

AOM 2014 – session 308Evidence-Based Management in

Action

Government of Flanders

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Who am I?

The Dream

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All decisions concerning HR & OD in the government of Flanders are grounded on the best available evidence.

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It's a matter of professional integrity! No girl wants to marry a doctor who can't tell if a man's dead or not! Scherlock Holmes, 2009

Becoming an evidence based organisation

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1. It starts with your mind2. Everyday practice and

learning3. Integrating evidence based

practice in the organisationRousseau, D.M. and Barends, E.G.R. (2011) ‘Becoming an evidence-based HR practitioner’. Human Resource Management Journal 21: 3, 221–235.

Becoming an evidence based organisation

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• Our plan: • Develop competencies• Applying the methodology

• How do we implement it?• Is it feasible?

• Communication/ Marketing• Convincing the organisation• Blog, presentations, factcheck,…

-> Support from CEBMA

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Developing competencies

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• Trained 12 colleagues during 5 halve days• Content:

• Developing awareness• formulating explicit questions• looking for evidence • appraising evidence• HR-analytics (I-nostix)• …

-> the 1+6 A’s (awareness + ask, acquire, appraise, aggregate, apply, assess)

• Goal: • providing basic competencies• Providing a common language-> It starts with your mind - Awareness

Developing competencies

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What we've learned

Involve corporate HR & OD + the ones who implement it

We created basic knowledge of EBM We created awarenes

• understanding of the added value and even necessity of EBM

• Inspired colleagues with new possibilities and ideas

Developing competencies

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What we've learned

But how to implement, how wil we do it?• Searching for scientific evidence= challengeing for some

colleagues• What about external partners• What will we expect from partners?• What about expectations of our clients?• ….

5 sessions, too much? • Depends on background• Some expressed a preference for a shorter but more intensive

training

Applying the methodology

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• Try-out in already planned projects:• Burn-out, high potential program, new ways of

working, autonomous teams and organisational values

• Goal• Building a portfolio of cases• Learn about how difficult/ easy it is in reality• Practicing the competenties -> Everyday practice and learning

Applying the methodology

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What we've learned

• Difficult to implement in ongoing projects• Threatning to internal consultant and client• Difficult to question already made choices

> integrate the methodology in new projects from the beginning

> Implement it step by step

Applying the methodology

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What we've learned

• Evidence based working challenges external partners• Evidence based working asks difficult questions towards

proposed tools & methodologies

> Communicate with external providers > When writing a commision demand for EB

proposals> External partners are able and willing to follow the

EB logic> Acquired knowledge can not be neglected

Applying the methodology

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• Evidence based working challenges our beliefs• External comments are sometimes right

> Question our own position> Criticaly exploring our own choices makes

our policies better

Applying the methodology

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• Evidence based working is possible• Exploring the 4 sources of evidence might seem

time-consuming

> Does every HR-professional need the skill to consult scientific evidence?

> In the beginning focus on projects with big and/or long-term impact

> There is a learning curve

Communication

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• Infographic• Communicating in an attractive and positive fashion

• Blog• Sharing our experiences

• Factchecker• Showing the potential of Evidence Based working

• Involve decision-makers• If they expect ‘evidence based’ propositions, we will

take a huge leap forward

-> It starts with your mind

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The future

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• Realising the dream step by step• First focus: Important projects with potential big

impact and/or long term consequences • Toolboxes• New corporate policies

• Next challenge: integrating Evidence Based working in our processes

• Involving our external partners• Building a solid knowledge base= long term project

The future

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• Providing a competence pool• Making a pool of experts in evidence based

working available for the organisation

• Marketing evidence based working in the organisation

• A what works centre for management in Flanders?

Questions?

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Maxime LooseInternal consultant – government of Flanders

Maxime.Loose@Bz.vlaanderen.beTwitter: @maximeloose

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/maximeloose/evidence-based-management-how-we-do-it