lisa coulson - online training courses compliance ... · program – as opposed to a single...

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A BEST-PRACTICE GUIDE TO DELIVERING LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENTLisa Coulson

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2A BEST PRACTICE GUIDE TO DELIVERING LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT © 2016

INTRODUCTION

Bring about lasting change. Deliver a development program, rather than a single event.

We’ve learned from experience that organisations expecting to create fundamental and lasting change in leadership through a single training event – a facilitator-led session or an e-learning module, for example – are left seriously underwhelmed. This doesn’t only apply to leadership training. It’s also true for any training event being delivered with the objective of achieving fundamental cultural or behavioural change.

The great news is that there is a solution. A well thought-out and carefully designed development program – as opposed to a single training event – aligned to organisational need, with leadership buy-in will successfully deliver the lasting change organisations are seeking.

This paper draws on industry best practice to give guidance and provoke thought on what an effective leadership development program can look like.

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THE CLIMATE FOR CHANGE

There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to leadership development, simply because no two organisations are the same.

What is right for each organisation will depend on a number of factors, including:

• The leadership framework currently in place (if any)

• The capability of organisation leaders at all levels

• Senior leadership buy-in for the initiative

• The priority and time given to leadership development

• The organisation’s training culture and capability

• The expected degree of cultural change

• Budget.

And this is really only the beginning.

When a development need arises, the first thing organisation leaders often do is ask for training, because they believe that training alone can bridge the competency gap. Yet it’s not enough.

When considering any sort of training initiative, step back and take stock of your organisation. Look deeper and identify your organisation’s true appetite for change.

Change is a process in which your people must be provided with adequate ongoing support to implement and practice new competencies. It’s the only way transfer of learning will take place.

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Before designing any leadership program, determine where you need to focus your energy in order to get complete support for the program. To do that, ask yourself these questions:

What are the key organisational drivers and outcomes for leadership growth in our organisation, and how does the achievement of these outcomes translate to a measurable return on investment (ROI)?

Do senior leaders in our organisation see leadership competence as a critical tool in delivering the organisational strategy?

Does our organisation have a clearly defined leadership framework that provides a common language and vision for quality leadership that is easily accessible and shared by everyone in the organisation?

How does the current leadership capability in our organisation compare with the leadership framework, and what is the evidence of this?

Is there a performance management culture within our organisation that includes development planning, formal coaching and informal mentoring?

As much as the implementation of a leadership program is a development initiative, it is also a change activity, and therefore should be managed as a change initiative.

To effect real change, challenge your leaders and encourage them to join you on a leadership development journey. 1

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ORGANISATIONAL OUTCOMES AND ROI

For leadership training, the obvious organisational benefits are a change in behaviour that improves productivity and performance, increases staff engagement and reduces attrition. But these may not be the only drivers for your business. Often a company strategy will have identified some core initiatives that can only be achieved through strong leadership. Aligning the outcomes of your program to what the organisation is trying to achieve is key.

When communicating outcomes, make sure they mirror the language used throughout the organisation. It’s worthwhile looking at current business cases within your organisation to see what other department heads have written. The outcomes need to be measurable and, where possible, show a positive impact on the bottom line.

To get a ‘seat at the table’ and have development initiatives heard and taken seriously, HR and L&D need to become well versed in organisational outcomes. Learn what keeps your senior leaders up at night and then use that language in your reporting. This gives you and senior leadership a common language through which you can measure the return on investment (ROI) of your initiatives.

Before finalising your organisational outcomes, talk to the senior leader who will be responsible for the final approval for the initiative, make sure you both agree on the outcomes and have a complete understanding of what you see as credible evidence of benefits realisation.

Before embarking on any development activity, identify your program’s organisational outcomes.

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SENIOR LEADER BUY-IN

If your senior leaders don’t promote the program as necessary, needed and critical to the business achieving its goals you will be faced with general complacency when it comes time to getting the business to commit time and resources to the activities. The biggest challenge will be around:

Their willingness to coach and support employees

The priority they give the development program when the organisation has conflicting priorities.

When the organisation has conflicting priorities, a leadership program without complete buy-in will be put on hold until the business ‘has time’.

There are situations where this is unavoidable, especially when the driver is financial, but a lot of the time it happens because senior leaders have not identified a burning need for the program in the first place. The reality in organisations is that time is always a challenge. That’s why leaders need to see leadership competence as being vital to the success of the organisation. If you don’t yet have senior leader buy-in you will need to address their concerns before moving forward.

Your senior leadership team’s ability to convey a sense of urgency can make or break your implementation.

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LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

By having a well-defined leadership framework in place you will have the information your managers need to identify their own strengths and development opportunities. A sound leadership framework gives managers at the next level clear guidelines to structure their coaching conversations. It enables them to focus their energy on the right development activities. Essentially, if a competence is not in the framework, it shouldn’t be included in the development offering.

When assessing your framework it’s also important to assess how well the framework is embedded in your organisation. If it hasn’t been widely adopted, you will need to include this in your change management initiative.

A leadership framework outlines the competencies that define the skill, knowledge and attitudes you expect of your leaders, and therefore creates a roadmap for any leadership development program.

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PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

Monthly one-on-ones can serve as formalised coaching opportunities

If monthly one-on-ones form part of your performance cycle, these can serve as the formalised coaching opportunities that need to exist between manager and participant.

Coaching is a core element of developing your leaders. Coupled with a leadership competency framework, the coaching process will ensure the focus is where it needs to be and both the employee and manager know what the plan is.

If you don’t have a widely adopted or consistent performance management program in place, it is essential you formulate a process to capture and monitor leadership development activities.

CURRENT LEADERSHIP CAPABILITYWhen implementing a new leadership development program, it’s important to analyse your current leadership capability.

When you get into the design phase of your project you need to decide and prioritise the activities that are going to deliver the greatest bang for your organisation’s buck. The current capability of your leaders will have a significant influence on these decisions.

If you are looking to experience a big lift in the organisation, your development program needs to touch the widest possible group of people. A good approach to tackling this is coaching. Coaching is a standard feature of most leadership frameworks, but it can be a real challenge for many leaders because it takes them out of their comfort zone. This challenge is particularly prevalent for those that are new to leadership roles or have been promoted because of their technical proficiency.

For organisations to see lasting behaviour change, all managers must be prepared to coach their employees. Given this is a competency of high importance, yet often low proficiency, it represents an excellent opportunity for development. Similarly, financial and commercial acumen are often sore points for organisations. When an effective development program is delivered to a wide audience that possesses a competency gap in this area you are going to see a much more tangible outcome than if you are implementing a development program for a competency that is less organisation critical, such as project management.

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PROGRAM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

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PROGRAM DESIGN

• Who is the program designed for? For example: future leaders, team leaders, department heads, etc.

• What is the current capability of the defined audience?

• What organisational need will be met?• How did you identify this need?• What evidence is there of this need?• What will participants do differently as a result of the program?• Who will confirm these changes?• What is the specific criteria for success.

• What time commitment is required of the participants?• What time commitment is required of those in supporting

roles such as line managers?

• How will the program be funded?• How much will it cost?

• Timeline• Communication plan• Change management plan

• What administrative support will be in place to support line managers and participants?

• Managing and booking of sessions• Line manager support• Communication of the program• Ongoing support once learning is complete.

The outcome of the design phase of your project is to ensure the key stakeholders have a very clear understanding of what you intend to develop and implement and why you’ve chosen to go down that path.

For you, it will confirm you have interpreted the organisational need correctly and have designed a program that will meet the organisational outcome. Done well, this step will ensure you have full management support and sign-off, which is critical before starting any program development.

The output of the program design will be a program overview, which you will need to gain sign-off on from all your key stakeholders. The overview will need to include:

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A general overview of the entire program

Participant information

Organisational outcome

Time commitment

Budget

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Rollout plan

Administrative support

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PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT

Once you have formal sign-off for your program, you can begin designing and developing learning activities.

If your organisation has a well-documented leadership competency framework (LCF), it will form the foundation of all your learning activities and will be where you start your program development. If you don’t have an LCF in place and don’t want to create one, it is still worthwhile documenting the core competencies you intend to address through your program, as this will inform your learning outcomes.

For each competency you need to define what an individual can do to develop their skill set. This is where the 70:20:10 Model for Learning and Development plays a critical role. If you’re unfamiliar with 70:20:10, or only have a basic understanding, it is worthwhile to research further as it can make the difference between lasting change and superficial understanding of the concepts being learnt by a participant.

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It is generally accepted that the 70:20:10 ratio was developed by the Centre for Creative Leadership in the 1980s. They identified that leadership development is best achieved through a blended approach rather than one single training event:

10% of learning should take place under formal instruction such a classroom, e-learning, course work, books and organisational papers

20% of learning should take place through developmental relationships such as communities of practice, networking, coaching and mentoring

70% of learning should take place through practice using activities such as an increase in job responsibilities, project work, secondments, horizontal moves, practice or trial and error

In our daily lives we instinctively know that this is how we learn. If you think about how you learnt to drive, you can see the 70:20:10 rule in action. State and territory governments have deemed this to be the only way a person can now get their full licence. First, drivers learn the theory of driving and how to stay safe on the road, including the road rules and their responsibilities on the road. This knowledge is then assessed with an online test. If they pass they are given a learner permit (10%). They are then required to complete 120 hours of supervised driving practice, which involves being coached by someone with the required level of knowledge and experience, which ends with the assessment for their probationary licence (20%). This is then followed by a minimum three years of unsupervised practice on a probationary licence (70%) before they can sit their final driving test.

10%

20%

70%

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FORMAL LEARNING

When developing the learning activities to support competency development, start with formal learning activities even though they represent the smallest of the competency development activities.

When developing learning activities, start with formal ones. Then use those activities to inform self-development opportunities that will give the participants the chance to practise in the workplace.

The important thing to remember here is to focus on quality over quantity. You can choose to develop a program internally or purchase an already developed program off the shelf. Both are good options if you can engage a facilitator, either internal or external, that knows the topic and can deliver a high-impact session. The benefit of developing your own program is that you can make it very organisation-specific and use real organisational scenarios in the training.

If you don’t have the capacity or resources to do this, there are many great training organisations that offer exceptional training.

When picking a program from one of these organisations, evaluate them against the following criteria:

• Is the program in agreement with your organisation’s definition of the competency and expectation of its leaders? (If it doesn’t, you risk creating a state of conflict in your leaders.)

• How much information is presented to the participants?

• What is the cost (outright cost as well as time away from the office and productive impact) versus the overall benefit?

• How much of the training is actually focused on a knowledge gap? Too often people are sent on training courses that are delivered over a couple of days with only 10 per cent of the time spent focused on the competency gap.

E-learning that draws on the 70:20:10 model is a strong alternative to formal classroom-based training as it is generally more cost effective; it is available anywhere, any time, so geographically dispersed employees receive the same training as their peers regardless of where they are. The 100% availability also means the employee can link into the training when it is most appropriate for them. They can also go back over the training if they’re struggling with any of the core concepts. This means that the learners can be in much more control of their development path. The content will also be delivered exactly the same way every time it is run which removes the issue of facilitator knowledge of the topic, their ability to facilitate in an effective and engaging manner, and their availability. The one key to selecting strong e-learning for leadership training is ensuring it comes from a reputable provider and has strong theory behind it.

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COACHING, FEEDBACK AND LEADERSHIP SUPPORT

When developing feedback activities for a given competency, include at least two formal coaching sessions between the participant and line manager, scheduled by the line manager. In cases where this doesn’t happen, the participant may attend training without their manager having any understanding of what the learning outcomes are for the session, or even what topics will be covered. It’s critical that one-up managers take ownership of the development process and have a clear knowledge of what the department will accomplish by having one of their employees participate in training.

The first coaching session should focus on the development discussion and needs to take place before any formal development activities have been identified. Generally this discussion will take place as part of the standard performance cycle if the company has a performance management program in place. This conversation needs to be around the development need and what activities will be undertaken to address it. The discussion needs to be centred on why the person needs to develop the competency, how it will benefit them personally, and how it will benefit the organisation from a strategy point of view.

This is a critical step in the development process and is one that is seriously lacking in most current organisation-based development programs.

The focus then needs to be on the activities the participant will undertake – including formal training; learning from others through coaching, mentoring and social learning; plus any on-the-job activities – to support the experiential phase of the competency development. For each activity identified it’s important that there is a plan developed that clearly states what activity will be undertaken and by when.

The second formal coaching session needs to take place after formal training has been undertaken. Once the person has participated in a formal training event it’s important to follow up with a discussion after the event to uncover what the learning was, and whether the original development plan is still appropriate. Be prepared to amend the plan to support additional learning or modify the planned activities if they are no longer appropriate.

Beyond the development planning/coaching session, consider including the following to support the developmental relationship component:

• Manager coaching sessions• Meet-ups• Professional learning networks• Learning communities• A company mentoring program• One-up coaching session• 360-degree feedback program.

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EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Experiential learning can be defined as the learning that takes place when a person is given the opportunity to put into action what they’ve been taught.

The form of learning discussed in this paper originated with the Experiential Learning Model developed by Kolb and Fry in the 1970s. Nowadays, experiential learning is applied in the majority of formal training courses delivered.

A good example of this is where participants are taught the theory behind a competency and given the opportunity to unpack the learning with a classroom-based exercise.

The challenge all trainers face, however, is that the classroom is not ‘real’. For example, when learning how to have difficult conversation through role playing, the classroom is a comparatively ‘safe’ learning environment. There is very little emotion involved in what is often, in real life, a highly emotional conversation.

The key to identifying authentic experiential learning events is to think about exactly how the person can develop the skill further from the foundation learning they received in the formal training session.

If a leader needs to develop their competence in managing a budget, for example, a good learning activity would be to create a budget for their department and then present it to the company’s financial controller for feedback.

Listed below are some other common examples of experience-based learning activities:

• Research projects• Shadowing• Writing a white paper• Presentations• Participate in communities

of practice• Participate in professional

organisations• Secondments• Developing performance

support tools based on the learning

• Reflection journals• Case studies• Stretch assignments• Participate in an action

learning group

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EXAMPLE OF A COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT LEARNING MAP

Develops the skills, knowledge, behaviours in employees so they can contribute to the delivery of department objectives. Provides timely and constructive feedback. Provides development opportunities through formal and informal methods.

Self-development

• Observe a development discussion between your manager and their line manager

• Volunteer to coach a local or work-based sports team

• Organise an informal team meeting to discuss the development process within your organisation with the objective of finding out specifically what your employee’s need from you in the development process and coaching conversations

• Develop a coaching template to use with your team

• Research development activities on the internet

• Create your own development plan

• At the end of an employee coaching or development session, ask for feedback from the participants.

Feedback

• Manager coaching sessions • Peer networking groups • A company mentoring program

Formal Development

• How to Create and Monitor Employee Development Plans – e-learning module

Competency: develop people

Experiential learning Coaching and feedback Formal learning

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IN CONCLUSION

Only when it is well planned and strategically aligned will leadership development be successful.

It’s critical to gain senior leadership support upfront by clearly articulating the commercial reasons the organisation should invest in a program that goes beyond formal classroom-based training.

Leadership development starts with a quality conversation between employee and manager to accurately identify where any competency gaps exist against the organisation’s defined leadership competencies.

Once any such gaps have been identified and agreed, put a development plan in place to address them. Then, rather than just enrolling your employee in a leadership course that tries to cover various leadership competencies, make sure their development plan also has a range of activities – including formal education, coaching, mentoring and feedback and experiential learning – that help target the agreed competencies and forge those skills well beyond the formal training event and experiential learning.

Learning Seat is an e-learning solutions provider with 15 years of experience building online compliance training that helps organisations create safe, reputable and high-performance workplaces.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR She has designed and implemented leaderships programs across all levels of leadership from Team Leadership through to executive. Her specialty is setting up L&D departments from scratch, and really enjoys creating and implementing the policies, processes and procedures needed to provide the best possible service to a business. She has extensive experience with large-scale systems implementations that entail complex organisational change and has played both the L&D lead and Change Manager on these types of projects.

Lisa has spent the majority of her career in Learning and Development and training roles.

Before joining Learning Seat she spent the previous 12 years managing L&D functions across a wide range of industries including finance, banking, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and retail.

CONTACT US

1300 133 151 www.learningseat.com.au

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lisa coulson - online training courses compliance ... · program – as opposed to a single...

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