Case Studies

Setting Employee Performance Objectives

A set of steps to setting departmental goals and objectives. Use of performance appraisal training to help managers understand how to set SMART objectives for staff. Setting employee performance objectives leads to employee job performance appraisal and shows how goal setting can contribute to team success.

Benchmark level of Skill

Assessing the skill level within a sample population of a work team and benchmarking it against an external known standard enables a gap analysis to be generated. This allows strategies for skill development to be formed a bespoke staff development programme to be designed and the costs and benefits of implementing it to be quantified.

Structured Learning Package

Developing a learning environment through a structured approach that will ensure that individuals can be trained (and if necessary refreshed) to carry out the role consistently to the same defined standard. Changes to operating practice can be accommodated and the structured process generates data that can be used to validate the competence of an individual.

Long-term Development for Individuals

Planning to increase the long-term value of an employee by deliberately seeking to take advantage of opportunities within the current role to provide the means for development. Through creating an individual development plan and by working with reference to a standard, strategies to promote skill development can be developed around current tasks and will enable staff to develop to meet the future needs of the organisation.

Learning into Action

Use of a professional coach and 1:1 coaching sessions to help new skills to be employed back at the work place. Action planning and reviewing to make sure learning is adopted in every day tasks. Coaching management to ensure that new skills are employed in the workplace. These are just three ways of making sure that individuals translate learning from a training course into action within the job and thus become more effective.

Coaching

Use of a trained coach to introduce personal coaching to facilitate the development of people in the workplace. Coaching management performance.

Towards Assessment

Through choice of an appropriate external standard and engagement of appropriate independent assessors to test progress against the standard, the development of an individual can be monitored. Both company and individual gain credibility from an independent external assessor confirming that the individual meets the requirements of the selected standard.

Reviewing Development Against Standards

By selecting appropriate external standards and by setting short-term targets and reviewing progress as part of the performance management system the individual is encouraged to develop competence in a way that can be robustly audited.

Coaching for Managers

Coaching management - When managers have frequent contact with their staff equipping them with coaching skills allows effective coaching to happen when the need arises. Providing them with professional coaching training enables them to adopt a coaching stance when an issue arises and enables a quick and effective response to a perceived performance issues.

Learning From Experience

Individual competence can be enhanced through working with someone with an appropriate mentoring style who will help to identify development opportunities within the day-to-day workflow and then plan to accumulate experience in a systematic way. By reviewing the experience and extracting the learning, good practice can be recognised and reinforced. Individuals develop more quickly to sustain more demanding roles.

Mentoring

By making available a mentor who has already qualified against the appropriate standards to work with an individual and act as a role model, the pace at which an individual develops can be increased. By arranging vocational training in mentoring and developing a mentoring programme, the quality of support for the inexperienced can be increased.

Performance Management

Business system framework development performance management. Strategic planning and performance management development. The supervisor’s role in performance management systems. Performance management system designed and implemented.

Training Record Management

Introduction of training record management software provides a basis for employee training tracking, record management and auditing.

Performance Review for Managers and Supervisors

Performance review training for mangers and supervisors to help them to understand how to carry out their role in performance management systems.

Performance Review for Staff

Performance review training for staff to help them to understand their role in performance management systems makes the process less threatening and delivers benefit for both individual and organisation.

Personal Development Plans for Individuals

The Personal Development Plan is an output of the Performance Management System. It provides alignment between the needs of the organisation and the need for individual development

Setting Standards for Group Development

Selecting a standard against which an individual or group can be developed will allow them to become effective more quickly. Appropriate choice of standard (whether NVQ based or professionally based) will ensure that all the needs of the job are covered and that external validation of individuals can facilitate a quality assured approach.

Career Plans

Career plans can be created to develop a strategic vision of a career or to show the way forward in face of a short term need to change career. The career plan needs to take account of the individual’s skills, aptitudes and ambitions and can provide motivation for the individual

The Interview Process

Clarify the company requirements when interviewing a prospective employee. Be clear about the experience and skills that are required. Design an interview process that will give the required information. Select people of the basis of “best fit for the role”. Design interviewing skills seminars for the interviewers to ensure that they operate a consistent selection process.

Training Needs Analysis

Identifying the training required by individuals to enable the organisation to meet its objectives. By using appropriate training needs analysis tools and through use of training needs analysis examples, managers can be encouraged to develop a training needs analysis survey form that will enable them to carry out the task effectively and efficiently.

General Ability and Personality Psychometric Testing

Selection and use of calibrated tests that can be used to better understand the behaviours, skills and aptitudes of individuals and to inform decisions on use of individuals.

Programme Management

Use of experienced, suitably skilled and independent staff to manage programmes of activity allows for increased sensitivity to issues, increased focus on the programme, enhanced quality of solutions and in many cases offers a more cost effective approach.

Training Programme Brokerage

An impartial service that helps organisation identify the best sources of training that will meet their needs across a wide range of requirements and potentially identify sources of funding to facilitate the process.

Bespoke Training Events

Design and delivery of bespoke training interventions around people development issues that meet the client’s specific needs and are delivered by individuals with extensive knowledge and experience of the subject matter.

Towards Investors in People

Providing support to an organisation that is seeking to be accredited against such a standard. Providing additional resource and insight to research what is required, to plan what needs to be done, and to implement the internal processes and systems that are required to meet the standard.

Change Management Support

Use of an experienced professional facilitator to desensitise the change process, yet bring experience and structure to the process itself. Use of external resource as well as bringing impartiality allows for internal focus to remain on satisfying the customer.

Outplacement Support

Providing support to companies to help to equip individuals to take on new roles within or outside of the organisation. Understanding the individual’s needs and aspirations, searching for potential roles and equipping the individuals for success in new surroundings.