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Susanne’s blog
– Head of Civil Service Strategic
Organisational Design and
Development Projects

Name

Susanne Gidda

Job role

Head of Civil Service Strategic Organisational Design and Development (OD&D) Projects

Government department

Cabinet Office

What does your current role involve?

I lead the organisational spans and layers programme to build resources for the civil service. To ensure we make better and more intentional decisions, when it comes to creating thriving organisations in each of our government departments. I cover all aspects of the project, including the initial setup of the programme in consultation with our sponsor (Second Permanent Secretary, Shona Dunn at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). I undertook preliminary research and scoping of the work, engaging with government departments on what are some of the needs and challenges that departments are seeing.

I have set up and continue to run a cross government working group on the topic. Another important part of this work is to strengthen our organisation design capability across government. This involves securing, procuring, running, training, evaluating and supporting the development of organisational design and development practitioners across government, to be included as part of Government Campus. This could also be through group or individual bite size learning sessions for government practitioners and supporting a wider network of OD&D colleagues across government. I certainly enjoy the scope and scale of my role.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Project-wise tasks include resourcing project management and completing analytical work. This would involve meetings with various government departments and consultants to resolve resource challenges, or collate information, consult on work, or prepare progress updates, or engage with stakeholders. Self-development is also a major thing to keep up to date with latest insights in the areas of responsibility. So, my recommendations are drawing on best available evidence. There is a lot of reading but also overnights of reflection journaling!

Another part of my day is to find ways to lead a group of HR leaders outside the civil service, as part of my professional engagement. I am a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Fellow and currently supporting some of the wider communities on culture and HR transformation. This gives a different perspective on how we do things here in comparison to elsewhere. It also leads to me being invited as speaker or participant at events. 

What skills helped you secure your role?

In my current role, it was important to have a subject matter expertise in organisation development & design; as well as how to navigate change and have a positive impact at the systems level. As I work across all government departments, it was essential that I understand how best to work with other government departments and being able to recognise and explore what the civil service need in for the future and how to make a helpful difference.

I can see that both the knowledge base and the evidence (including how to work with complex data) and the ability to build, sustain and deepen relationships as important to working intentionally with your career. As it’s also a leadership role, my leadership development background plays a huge role, i.e. how best to lead in the civil service and beyond. Finally, I think it’s important for us in our profession to act with integrity and be a reflective, ethical, humanistic practitioner, essentially ensuring we keep people in focus for our work.

Can you describe your career journey?

I studied a BA and MA in psychology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. I came to the UK to complete an MSc in occupational psychology at the Institute for Work Psychology in Sheffield and stayed on to do a Doctorate. I gained experience from working in various civil service departments and private consultancies in both HR and psychology roles. I first joined the civil service in the MOD in a HR capacity where I was part of the support to operations team. I then worked as part of defence civilian personnel to explore the more broader HR area of employee engagement and leadership. My following roles involved working as a Principal Psychologist at Dstl, Senior Defence and Security Policy Analyst at Research and Development (RAND) Corporation’s European office. Then as Head of Private Office in the Cabinet Office. I also worked for the International Cybersecurity programme for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to build international cybersecurity capability.

I came back to the Cabinet Office working in the Civil Service Talent Strategy Team in 2020. Here I was responsible for looking at the strategy for talent in government and the governance structures around the management at the senior level. In 2021, I joined Civil Service OD&D practice as part of (now) Government People Group, where I work currently.