Helping an organisation respond to staff views
This organisation wanted to live up to its commitment to listen to staff, especially its high number of young, unskilled workers. The work involved an opinion survey of all (80) staff on six sites. The survey was followed by development days for the senior management team. Each day was designed with a variety of exercises and techniques which managers could in turn use with their own staff teams.
In addition to agreeing how to follow up the staff survey, the days involved practising skills in supervising and appraising staff, thinking about managers’ own learning needs; and developing ideas for sharing skills and knowledge among the different sites.
In between the two team days, each member of the senior management team had two coaching sessions to help develop their management and personal effectiveness.
Finally, this commission also included recommending changes to the existing staff appraisal and development systems.
A learning and development strategy and more
This large local authority department needed a more systematic approach to learning and development, and to involve line managers more. This six-month project involved working with the senior management team, the Investors in People working group and the in-house HR team, to find out what was working and build on this.
...the commission produced
a
learning
and development
strategy,
advice on
in-house
induction,
guidelines for
developing a departmental
learning
and
development
programme...
In addition, the commission produced a learning and development strategy, advice on in-house induction, guidelines for developing a departmental learning and development programme, and advice on respective roles and responsibilities of managers, staff members and learning and development professionals, as well as guidance on learning objectives, appropriate learning interventions, and evaluation of learning effectiveness.
A subsequent commission included a quality check on the appraisal and development scheme, helped to develop a learning and development programme from personal development plans, and advised on the recruitment of an in-house learning and development manager.
Competencies
In addition to working with organisations’ own competency frameworks, my experience also includes designing competencies. Using structured interviews and drawing on participants’ own experiences and opinions, I have produced frameworks for use in performance review and as a passport to volunteers’ participation in a board of management.
Training
Although lot of my work involves helping organisations to think of the different ways for staff to learn and develop, I do recognise that well-designed training courses also have their use. I design in-house training courses and workshops that address real issues within the organisation, draw on the employer’s own resources, and offer up-to-date knowledge of human resources and employment law.
My training courses include human resources for line managers: induction; managing absence; managing difficult performance issues; equalities; recruitment and selection; and staff appraisal and development. I also train managers in coaching and supervision skills, and staff in getting best out of appraisal and supervision.
home
...the days involved
practising skills in
supervising and
appraising staff...
and developing ideas
for sharing skills
and knowledge
among the
different sites...