An introduction from Peter Morton
One of the biggest challenges for us as an organisation, is to live by our values. When we do this, we meet our targets and we achieve our goals.
We become an outstanding housing organisation, delivering greater service to customers and creating an improved environment to work in. But how do we ensure we
live up to the high standards we set ourselves? How do we continuously improve the way in which we do things?
Our customers tell us that their experience of dealing with us is as important as the outcome of their enquiry or request. You tell us that the way in which we
work alongside each other is also very important. So, with your help, we have developed a competency framework, which is a tool for all of us to use, which describes
the way in which competent colleagues behave when they are carrying out their jobs.
By standardising the way in which we describe behaviours that demonstrate we are living our values, we can set clear expectations for ourselves and each other.
We can identify where we are successful, and the areas in which we need to improve. And it works across different levels of the organisation, too. We've made sure
this framework is relevant by talking to Sheffield Homes people across the organisation. This relevance and this accuracy, makes it a more effective tool because
it recognises the different demands of our jobs, and the common abilities we all need to do them well.
Having a competency framework will enable us to assess ourselves: it gives us an opportunity to reflect on how we work and what we’re good at (and what we can
improve upon) and it provides us with a benchmark to measure ourselves against. We will also use it to help identify training and development needs, and improve
performance across the company.
The continuous improvement of Sheffield Homes as a workplace and as a housing organisation is critical to becoming the UK’s best housing organisation. Let us
continue to pull together as the great team we are, to focus on our personal and professional development, to focus on our attitudes, our behaviours and our successes,
and focus on our future.