Hi Everyone,
I'm hoping you can help with a question I have on management development.
In short, I'm building a program (online only), that will help team members develop first line manager skills.
It'll consist of 6 short modules made up of a blend of digital resources (videos, webinars, quick guides, workbooks and animations).
We want to set it up so each resource is trackable in our LMS, i.e. I can see you've completed (read, watched, listened to) it.
However, the team member confirming they've done something isn't the same as them being able to do it.
We want to provide the business with confidence that people who've completed the work required for this programme have what it takes to be good first line managers.
There are some critical skills that we think will prove that namely - Holding a team meeting, Giving feedback and coaching and goal setting.
The question is how do we provide that "guarantee" to the business whilst keeping the running costs of the program to a minimum
Our ideas so far
- Propose that the manager must tick a box (literally) on our LMS to confirm that the team member has been observed demonstrating the skills
- Create an online test that will assess their ability to make decisions in mock situations that mimic the skills above
- Propose that the manager must observe the team member delivering the skill in question, give them feedback, record the outcome of the conversation and send it in to us for assessment - we then sign them off if the feedback indicates the individual is successful
- No validation and rely on the fact that to sell themselves at interview the best candidates will have demonstrable examples of the skills and we'll advise them how they can do that through our online resources
Each idea has it's own pros and cons, what's your preference and why? Are there any approaches you've used that have assessed skill level but kept resources required to a minimum?
The success measure for the program will be team members who successfully secure a promotion to first line manager roles (hence no 4 above).
Cheers
Adam
Replies
Hi Adam
Apologies for my tardiness! I'd be interested in talking more about your work and sharing my own progress with my curation/resources/social-based programme. I have made some progress since my last post, though a bit slowly!
Mike
Having consulted on the key areas, the main areas I'm looking to cover are around HR basic understanding, getting managers to think about their approach and style, moving from being 'one of the team' to being the manager, getting the best out of their team, and then some more practical elements such running meetings, conducting one-to-ones, etc.
I'm taking a social learning & WOL approach, getting people to share their thoughts, plans and ideas ahead of of issues and then reflecting on them. So I guess this aligns with your No.2 point - though this would involve people using real situations and, therefore, demonstrating their application, as well as getting a wider discussion from others.
If I take the example of meetings, after providing a few resources to help people think about the key issues, challenges of meetings, etc. you could provide a template with the main things that they need to actively consider ahead of the meeting. They could post this ahead of the meeting to demonstrate their thinking and then post a reflecting following it. In my mind, this hits the key buttons - demo application of learning and reflective practice.
In terms of the other ideas points you offered, I think LMS tick boxes offer nothing - unless it's them or their manager stating they've done the above. I think no4 is too long term - not being able to demonstrate learning at the point of which they need and use it.
I do think there's scope to work out a place for managers - critical in my opinion, and I think it can link back into my initial thought. They can use people's thoughts, plans and reflections as a basic for discussions and coaching conversations.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and perhaps there's scope to pool some further ideas. Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for sharing.
We've got similar themes running through our material, particularly the moving from being one of the team to a manager, building the team, running meetings, using outlook and Microsoft word, powerpoint etc. We've also got some basic material on analysis and reporting as they may be required to do that for performance conversations and we've got introductions to our HR processes, Perf mgmt, attendance, misconduct and grievance so they know what to expect.
Who are you speaking to re WOL? Which tool are you using? I like this idea though, I haven't done any WOL and it would be a good way of getting managers talking about it in advance of the launch. What kind of updates or material are you posting?
Some of the challenges we have is getting the majority of people to contribute online in the way you described, but by making it a condition of sign off (or similar without being too draconian) for some critical skills might be a useful way to facilitate and prove learning to an extent so I like it as an approach
Adam
HI Adam. Tough call to pick my preference, but I'd say number 4 is least preferred and if possible to be outruled.
I like 1 and 3 in that this practical skill is best observed. If you have the resource to deal with the work that it generates, I think 3 in particular stands out as being the one for me. Not only do they get to confirm the observation has taken place, but will also tell you why. This builds up a good bank of data to as you say provide the business with confidnece that people have demonstrated these skills.
I would say though in example 3, a level of support will be needed for those carrying out the observation. Do they themselves know what good looks like. Perhaps they need to to through the process first and be observed themselves so they have a sense of the role they play in this.
However, if you feel resource to do this is limited, then my thinking would be to go down the route of 2. In our HRM online programme we use business scenarios using fictitious organisations with characters posing real challenges on for example decisions that need to be made or approaches in different situations. This works well. Where you mention 'online resources' to advise them how they can demonstrate these skills, I'd say this fits well with option 2. Perhaps some takeaway, or easily accessible resources that they can refer back to?
Any thoughts?
Hi Ady,
I agree with your points, they mirror our thinking in a lot of ways.
With option 3, we'd need the line manager to do the certification and give the feedback. You're right, we'd have to show them what good looks like or give them a crib sheet on what they're looking out for and how to give them constructive feedback on their performance.
Agree with you for option 2, I feel like often we say "let's use a quiz to test competency" but unless you're creating situations where they could show they would make the right choice (or more right choices than wrong ones) then you're just testing knowledge.
As part of the build for each module we'll have take away resources that we can give them, short guides and prompts for them to use so that should support them in the moment should they need it.
Have you got an example of the business scenarios you've used in the HRM online programme?
This is an example of how a Business District similuation tends to work. There's perhaps some context missing as it fits in with other stuff in the programme but you'll get the general jist.
http://docs.dpgplc.co.uk/Welcome_to_BD/story.html