Establishing a new Advisory Services Shared Secretariat

CGIAR is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research for a food-secured future. Its work is carried out by 15 centres, in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector.

In 2018 CGIAR decided to transform the way that its independent advisory bodies received operational support, by forming a Shared Secretariat to be hosted by CGIAR, after many years of operational support from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The goal was to provide for stronger linkages between CGIAR’s vital advisory services and the organization’s strategic plan. CGIAR engaged Sculpt Advisors, knowing of the change expertise we could provide, and aware of the critical need for best practice to inform difficult choices.

A transition plan, agreed by multiple stakeholders – including the heads of the teams who were directly affected – existed when we began this engagement. The plan was very challenging to deliver, with impossibly tight deadlines and proposed activities within the plan time-consuming, sensitive and complex. The most complex of issues related to staff – made more complex by a change of roles and employers for those who would move over to the new Secretariat.

Our role was simply to ’get the job done’ – supporting the busy CGIAR HR team, and minimising risk and disruption to the CGIAR system. This was a high-profile project, visible across the CGIAR network, and to funding partners and other key stakeholders. Our first task was to facilitate a discussion between senior stakeholders to determine the structure of the new Shared Secretariat, including the number of roles, role descriptions, grades and reporting lines. Despite inherent challenges, this was achieved quickly, and communicated to staff.

Our second task was to carry out a detailed role comparison exercise to decide which staff were eligible for transfer, which staff could be directly assigned without competition and which staff would need to compete for roles in the new team. The outcome of this exercise was fourfold. Some staff were not eligible for transfer and therefore would need to find a new role elsewhere. Several staff were assigned a new role without competition based on strong compatibility between the old and the new. The remaining staff were invited to compete for new positions, and some positions were left vacant. As is natural in such a challenging context, emotions ran high when the results of this exercise were communicated. Some people were relieved, some undecided, and others proceeded in a way that kept their options open. Staff were given appropriate support during this time.

Next, we helped develop an advertising strategy for the recruitment and selection of the right people for unfilled positions, including the most senior post of Director. Sculpt analysed CVs for each role, long and short-listed, carried out reference checks and supported recruitment panel interviews. Recruitment of the new Director was particularly challenging as there were two ‘false starts’, with the best candidates who were offered the job not accepting the role at the very last minute for personal reasons. There were also some disappointments for existing staff who did not get the roles they wanted – they were offered comprehensive outplacement support, tailored to their needs, over a considerable period. We helped develop contract offers and negotiation of terms and conditions for some people. Finally, we helped ensure that the new Shared Secretariat was operational on the target date, with all staff and equipment in place.

Regular and carefully crafted communication at times of great uncertainty was key to the programme’s success. We also helped the HR teams, on a daily basis, to answer tough questions from staff and to follow the agreed plan when challenged.

This change programme took 9 months to deliver. Despite the frenetic pace, and a wide range of issues we and those we worked with had to overcome, the project was delivered successfully, on time and on budget.

Not all staff who could have joined the team did. Some decided to stay in the UN system, others relocated and others changed their minds – some very close to their transfer date! However, given that the new Shared Secretariat was to be smaller than the sum of the prior secretariat teams, the goal was not to transfer everyone.

Rather, it was to lead a process that would ensure that great talent joined the new Shared Secretariat in relevant roles. A secondary goal was to attract new talent with a diverse range of skills and backgrounds – and this was achieved. Finally, despite all the tensions and high emotions, CGIAR staff and Sculpt consultants behaved impeccably and professionally throughout the project – and thus reputations remained intact. This was no mean feat on a project of this kind and scope.