145
The materials provided a preliminary insight into the web questionnaire to be conducted in the municipal sector, into the search for targets, and into the selection of themes and a suitable learning platform. These initial interviews were therefore very helpful during the analysis of learning challenges (phases 1–5 of the roadmap). Four main themes for SAKEA emerged from the web questionnaire conducted with municipal representatives: mobilising the strategy and transforming it into shared understanding and action in the work community, rewarding practices as an incentive and tool for work performance evaluation, predictive SHRM personnel work as practical management, and the challenges and solutions of managing regional projects The initial understanding to emerge from these themes was further defined in cooperation with the applicable actor groups and other interested parties from the network. On the ‘basic research/action research’ continuum, discussions conducted within the learning team steered research in the direction of action research, although decisions were, to some extent, left to the network researchers’ own discretion. The initial starting points of research and development and the related targets and methods can be observed separately. In research, the credibility of the research methods and processes is considered a key criterion; in development activities, the applicability of information is more central. Research-oriented development activities are somewhere between the two. After considering applicable methods and creating an initial understanding of the project (roadmap phases 7–8), the following functional sub-targets were agreed for the three-year activity period of the network, through a shared work process for the key interest groups. We sought to identify functional, strategic, everyday HR practices for municipalities; enable the piloting and adoption of good practices in learning networks, while providing expert mentoring to participants in local projects; and develop new learning methods and action learning projects for the needs of self-steering, shared and thematic project cooperation. After giving consideration to the network’s way of working, the role of researcher shifted from basic research towards research-intensive development. While research-intensive development can aim at achieving immediate, practical development results, it can also seek results of a kind that can be reviewed within a wider framework of discourse. SAKEA aimed to generate information that could be discussed locally, on a general level within the network, or in new environments, where new ideas could be tested.