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Lucinda Carney – Keynote Speaker and Thought Leader

Our CEO, Lucinda Carney, is an accomplished Speaker, Consultant and Author and was named Everywoman Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016. She hosts the popular Podcast ‘The HR Uprising' which reached No 1 in the iTunes business charts in the week of launch. Her bestselling book “How to be a Change Superhero” was released on 21st May 2020. This quickly became #1 on Amazon's Top 100 Paid HR Charts and #1 in the Hot New Releases HR Charts.

Actus Performance and Talent Management Software
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Oxford City Council
University of Suffolk
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South East Coast Ambulance Service
Newcastle United Football Club

Who is Lucinda Carney?

Our CEO, Lucinda Carney, is a highly regarded speaker, facilitator, and trainer able to engage audiences on a wide range of topics. Sheis a Chartered Occupational Psychologist with many years of Corporate HR experience leading and delivering system and culture change. Lucinda hosts the popular weekly podcast the HR Uprising and has just released her first book “How to be a Change Superhero”

With Lucinda’s background and expertise, she is able to produce great value content and present this in an engaging way. This experience shines through at speaking at events, conferences, and online in our webinars and podcasts.

Here is just a sample of topics that Lucinda has spoken on:

  • How to Develop a ‘RISE’ Mindset
  • The Talent Management Journey
  • Effective Homeworking
  • The Five Types of Onboarding
  • How to be a Change Superhero
  • How can SM&CR drive Culture Change
  • Demystifying Organisational Development
  • How to build an HR Balanced Scorecard
  • Organisational Change

Testimonial from S-RM:

Her lively presentation was extremely well received, with employees commenting on the way Lucinda conducted herself and how insightful her speech was. It triggered discussions across all offices and was applicable to everyone, not just women. We would happily have Lucinda back and would recommend her to other businesses looking for a speaker to talk about female empowerment.

If you want a truly engaging speaker, that provides expert knowledge in a fun and easy to understand format, get in touch with us below to see if Lucinda has availability.

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Thought Leadership

Lucinda is a sought after thought leader on a range of people related topics, many of which have been featured in the Press. She has also authored numerous white papers, manager’s guides and other essential resources to provide additional value to Actus Clients. These can be accessed in the resources section of this website or you can explore them further down the page. Lucinda also uses her experience to write pieces for third parties as well as give some truly insightful quotes, some of which are below:

Lucinda has also been a guest on the Extraordinary Business Book Podcast in the episode Being a Change Superhero with Lucinda Carney, you can listen to the full episode below.

Become a Change Superhero

As an expert in her field, Lucinda is passionate about sharing this knowledge to help others, whether they be managers, HR or individuals, particularly giving them the tools they need to create and drive lasting change. As a part of this, Lucinda has written a book, ‘How to be a Change Superhero’, which was released on the 21st May 2020 and available in both eBook and Paperback formats. This is for people who want to stand up and make a difference igniting and inspiring successful change but don’t know where to start. Shortly after release, the book became a bestseller on Amazon in both the Top 100 Paid HR Charts and Hot New Releases HR Charts.

Watch the Book Launch Recording

Lucinda is also the host of the popular HR Uprising Podcast, which is about creating an inclusive forum that enables people to share and learn from experts and everyday professionals. The HR Uprising is all about learning through collaboration; taking evidence-based action and helping colleagues to have the confidence and skills to rise-up through their organisations by delivering real, lasting business value.

Listen to the Podcast

Connect with Lucinda and the HR Uprising Community!

Actus Learning

Actus Learning provides a range of high quality leadership and performance management training solutions that empower organisations to embed best practice processes and behaviours that positively engage, develop and retain their people to ensure organisational goals are met.

Organisations can no longer afford to hold on to the traditional mindsets and methods for organisational development. To build and maintain a successful organisation requires finding your place on the learning maturity curve and creating a plan to enable your workforce to evolve into a high performing, people-centric entity.

Our goal is to create tailored performance management training programmes that enable senior executives and management to deliver, coach, drive and sustain, both individual and team optimum performance, to achieve outstanding results.

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Actus Consultancy

We support our clients every step of the way on their individual journey. Whether they are embarking on a large scale culture transformation project or simply looking to move their existing appraisal process online.

Our professional services team provide complete lifecycle guidance from initial concept, through to technology transformation, to establishing a new year round performance model.

Our experts can help to quickly identify requirements and build compelling cases for change and investment. They are available to provide guidance on the optimum solution to meet the needs of  the organisation. They will also provide best practice information and communication advice to help  successfully embed the new software and behaviours throughout the organisation to ensure a high uptake and engagement.

We have in house expertise covering all areas from large scale data input support through to advising and providing training to equip senior executives and line managers with the understanding of the best approach to embed the right behaviours in their teams to encourage higher performance.

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FAQs

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Who are your data subprocessors?

As part of GDPR compliance, clients also need to know about any Data Subprocessors as part of the Actus Service Provision. Full details of these are provided within our Privacy Policy, an updated version of which can be downloaded from this site.

Memset Ltd is our data host, based in the UK and here is a link to their data processing addendum which explains our contractual relationship with them on behalf of our customers by using them as a data Subprocessor for Actus Software. If you have any further questions around data security you can contact us on security@actus.co.uk

How do you carry out Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA’s)?

Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)

Where Actus is acting as a Data Processor to provide a SaaS Service or a Data Controller our DPIA has been assessed as being low to medium risk and the controls outlined above are considered to be sufficient. Our DPIA process is as follows:

We describe the nature, scope, context and purposes of the processing.
We ask our data processors to help us understand and document their processing activities and identify any associated risks.
We consider how best to consult individuals (or their representatives) and other relevant stakeholders.
We ask for the advice of our data protection officer.
We check that the processing is necessary for and proportionate to our purposes, and describe how we will ensure data protection compliance.
We do an objective assessment of the likelihood and severity of any risks to individuals’ rights and interests.
We identify measures we can put in place to eliminate or reduce high risks.
We record our decision-making in the outcome of the DPIA, including any difference of opinion with our DPO or individuals consulted.
We implement the measures we identified and integrate them into our project plan.
We will consult the ICO before processing if we cannot mitigate high risks.
We keep our DPIAs under review and revisit them when necessary.

Our Data Security Officer is Chris Carney and can be contacted at security@actus.co.uk

What is the scope and type of Data Processing when using Actus?

PROCESSING, PERSONAL DATA AND DATA SUBJECTS
1. PROCESSING BY THE PROVIDER
1.1 SCOPE
Personal data collected and processed via the software application of the Supplier in relation to some or all of the following HR or compliance-related activities including but not limited to employee performance management and appraisal; talent management; absence management; professional development and feedback; storage of personal data for HR reporting and remuneration; Monitoring of regulatory compliance and assurance.
1.2 NATURE
The Supplier’s software is being used to process data to allow the Customer to operate an online HR database and Employee Performance Management system for its staff.

1.3 PURPOSE OF PROCESSING
The purpose may include some or all of the following depending on the modules that the Customer has selected: Performance Management and Appraisal; Training & Development; Professional Revalidation; Feedback & Development; SMCR assurance and accreditation Other related HR recording and reporting.

1.4 DURATION OF THE PROCESSING
For the duration of the agreement.

2. TYPES OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE DATA
The following data may be held within the standard Actus system (this list may be subject to update)
• Employee ID
• First Name
• Last Name
• Job Title or Role
• Email address
• Gender
• Known as
• Hire Date
• Bespoke HRD fields as agreed with the client

Other Personal Data includes but may not be limited to:
• Objectives & Measures
• Feedback
• Appraisal data or ratings
• Personal development plan/career aspirations
• Department
• Location
• Other HRD fields if relevant

3. CATEGORIES OF DATA SUBJECT
Users of the Actus System

For further information contact security@actus.co.uk

Do you support Single Sign on or Active Directory Integration?

The quick answer is YES, however we do need to work on a case by case basis for this. We are able to provide SSO hosting and connection or pure SSO connection and one of the first questions that we will ask is whether you have already your own IdP server in place that we can connect with or whether you need us to set this up from scratch and host this for you. As you can imagine the former is quicker, simpler and cheaper but we have plenty of experienced in delivering both!

This question is best to get the techies talking on so just get in touch and we can set up that conversation.

What are your support T&C’s

You can obviously download our full support policy, however, our target response times for telephone or email is 2 to 4 hours depending on priority, usually much quicker!

Actus is so easy to use that most enquiries tend to be easily resolved by your internal HR Admin team. We provide them with the training to act as first-line support and they can contact us for additional help as needed. They can email or speak to our support team between 9.00 am and 5.30 pm GMT although we also offer emergency out of hours response if required.

We have many international clients who have found this approach works well for them, but we are able to provide managed service or out of hours support on a case by case basis if required.

What are you doing about GDPR?

As an ISO27001 accredited provider, thankfully many of our established processes already meet the needs of GDPR. From an Actus point of view – we are the data processor and you are the data controller for your users which means that in the eyes of the ICO it is down to you to ensure that your staff know why you are processing their data using Actus or any other internal system!

Obviously, we want to help our clients as much as possible in complying with GDPR and we have introduced a couple of new features that may be helpful. The first one is around obtaining consent on log-in. If you choose (and are not using SSO) then we can arrange for one-off or every time pop up a consent form for your users when they log into Actus. We have also put in place the option to control how long staff data is retained for within Actus which is also key to GDPR.

All of the other security that we place huge importance on anyway is relevant in terms of keeping your users’ data safe and outlined elsewhere in the FAQ’s

Actus the business

Our contract and sign off process provide us with formal consent to remain in contact with our clients and prospective clients and we operate an opt-in policy only for marketing.

As a business, we continue to monitor the guidance issued from the ICO and will update this statement and our processes as appropriate.

 

 

How much does it cost?

Actus is costed on a licence basis and will vary subject to your volume of users. Following a free system demo, we issue you with a full proposal that we know is highly competitive – try us and you’ll see!

If the software’s so easy to use, why do I need training?

To be honest, if you were motivated to do so, you could probably find your way around the software without training as it is very intuitive. However 90% of our clients are dissatisfied with the quality of their existing appraisal process – perhaps it is viewed as a tick-box exercise or the conversations lack quality. Essentially they want to use this move as an opportunity for culture change – to drive high performance and engagement and that’s why we recommend training. Our consultants are experts in culture change – yes you learn how to use the software, but more importantly we motivate your managers and staff to first want to use it, and secondly to use it well. So the training includes ‘Hearts and Minds’ and skills like writing a good quality objective or giving great feedback (we also offer lots of other training too if you are interested – check out the Learning resources section of the website to download our brochure).

We think it was Deming who said that: “80% of software initiatives fail due to people issues” – our training and change management support means that you can be one of the 20%!

How long does it take to set up and roll out?

Well to be honest this depends on you!

To give you an example of how quickly we can move, we have set up, implemented and trained the system out in less than a week – this is because the client wanted to move quickly and worked with us providing their data upon request. We’ve then had companies who wanted to roll it out over a longer time period (9 months to be exact) and again, we worked with them, at their pace to ensure implementation aligned with their project timelines!

Essentially, because the system is configurable, all we need to get started is to understand what aspects you want to turn on and off (configuration), agree terminology and look and feel, and get your data uploaded which is really quick and easy if your data is accurate and up-to-date, we just need a few fields on a spreadsheet.

In reality, what takes the time is paperwork and logistics (getting ‘bums on seats’ for training) so 6-8 weeks is a reasonable lead time. Talk to us and it is likely we can meet your requirements.

Where is Actus hosted & how secure is the data?

Actus Software is securely hosted in the UK Cloud (which basically means in Reading!) Why is this important? Well, first of all, because the software is cloud-based it means it is available 24/7 via the internet. It also means that you always have the most up-to-date version and you don’t have to install anything to use it. This, in turn, means you don’t have to hassle (or really involve) your overworked IT guys in order to use it. Now clearly it is important that the data is safe, which is why we choose professional hosting with leading provider Memset, you can see from this link that they have all the credentials that are needed to keep your data safe. You can download our security and back-up policy at the bottom of the page.

However, the fact that we host in the UK cloud is really relevant too (lots of the other software companies are US-based which can be a bit complicated). The UK has some of the most stringent laws around data protection and because we host in the UK your data is bound by this. Some companies don’t like hosting in the US or even Europe because (in theory) the US government can demand access to any data (not that they are likely to be that interested in your appraisal – but it is the principle). If you want to know more look up Safe Harbor. It may not be your biggest concern, but because we are fully hosted and backed up in the UK there is no need to worry!

Oh and by the way we are also registered on the UK’s digital marketplace which means we have had to jump through lots of hoops to show we are accredited to sell to government.

Any more security or technical concerns, just get in touch!

What makes Actus different from other software?

It’s a busy marketplace and it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference between different solution providers, here are some of the reasons clients have said we stand out:

 

  • Highly Configurable – we can map to practically any appraisal process – our HR background comes in handy here too as we (usually!) understand what you are trying to achieve it and how it translates into the software too
  • Comprehensive functionality – more features than most providers, included as standard: objectives; milestones; one to ones; appraisal; feedback and recognition; calibration
  • Designed to embed ongoing conversations – One to ones; Milestones; check-ins and aligned messaging
  • Expert consultancy & training – We understand HR (because we have felt your pain!) and we started out as a training organisation which means we can help you upskill your managers and accelerate culture change with one end to end solution
  • Best in class service – You are more than a number at Actus, we actually talk to our customers and don’t hide behind an automated email response if you contact support. Our support team are always getting amazing client reviews for their responsiveness
  • Highly security conscious – We actually have ISO 27001; 14001 & 9001 accreditation in our own right, not just through our hosting provider. This means that you can be confident that our security credentials are legitimate, it’s worth checking this detail with some of the others!

Honestly, we could go on but why not have a chat with us to find out more?

 

Blog Articles

See our latest Blog posts

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HR Wellbeing

Why is HR putting their own wellbeing last?

Posted on 15th June 2020 by Lucinda Carney

Recent months have put a disproportionate strain on HR professionals and they have risen to the challenge. But is HR doing enough to ensure their own wellbeing and self-development? It’s time to put our oxygen masks on!

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Testimonials

It’s nice to get customer feedback – here are some of our latest quotes.

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Actus Software are experts in embedding culture change. They took the time to personally understand the business and work in partnership with us to deliver results – wherever in the Scorpio world it takes them!

Paul Hayes, HR Director

Scorpio Shipping Group

Advance Change support staff have been wonderful, very prompt and patient.

We like how all the components (1:1, competencies, objectives, development etc) funnel into the mid-year & final reviews. It saves significant time. Capturing the content of the 1:1, empowering staff to help set the agenda and the automatic reminders about annual mandatory testing are all valuable features.

Sharon Flood – Director of HR

RANA Respiratory Care Group

We brought in the Actus appraisal system to engage and motivate staff and get them to make development and reflection something that they are doing on a continuous basis so to get more out of it. Hopefully, this will be the case when it has been fully embedded in the Trust. Feedback from staff around appraisals also found that they wanted the process to be easier and more user-friendly and Actus certainly is this.

Chris Rusz – Projects Officer

Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
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