CASE STUDY 1: A CHARITY About the organisation and development programme The organisation is a charity that employs approximately 4,000 people and is a values-based, person- centred organisation. It spends approximately 90,000 on management development per year. The programme to which this case study relates is a core management development programme, which has been running for the last five years. Being a charity, the organisation is limited by resources and has to carry out management development programmes in a realistic and practical way. Prior to this programme, all development programmes at this organisation were outsourced. In contrast, the core management development programme was designed in-house, ensuring that it aligns to the principles of the organisation and meets the needs of the managers, challenges their thinking and enables them to develop new skills. The organisation strongly believes in engaging the managers in the development of the programme: they want them to contribute rather than feel they are having something done to them. Before the intervention It was felt that managers had often been promoted to manager level without being given an appropriate management toolkit. The job description was also very task-oriented, though this was later reviewed to place a greater focus and emphasis on the role of leaders. With these issues in mind, an in-house training needs analysis questionnaire was developed around core management skills, which managers were asked to complete; the questionnaire covered a variety of topics, such as finance, strategy, performance management, people and operational practice, and asked questions such as Where do you feel you have experience?, Where do you feel you have knowledge? and Where could you do with guidance? From this, development needs were identified. The results of this needs analysis were used to produce a paper to be taken to the board, which demonstrated the skills gaps and the potential return on investment for running a programme; as a result of board buy-in, two specialists were recruited into the learning and development team. The intervention programme Ten workshops were created to develop managers knowledge and skills. Additionally, the organisation wanted to provide opportunities for the managers to develop their peer group network, by sharing their experiences. The topics covered include recruitment and selection, effective communication skills, finance for non-financial managers, and performance management. Workshops were carried out with managers to give them feedback on the training needs analysis questionnaire they had completed and to inform them of the next steps. When designing the programme, expert knowledge was sought from specialists. For example, when designing the workshop on finance, a specialist in finance from within the organisation worked with the facilitator to identify learning objectives. Additionally, the specialist was involved in delivering the development programme to the managers, thus enabling relationships to develop within the organisation. The programme included many different activities, such as discussing the difference between management and leadership, encouraging managers to share and discuss their knowledge and experience, and underpinning this with theory where possible. The programme ran for ten months, one day a month, and covered one subject per month. The programme continues to be run annually. Following the intervention Before and after each workshop, each manager completes a questionnaire. The facilitator examines the completed pre- and post- questionnaires and the facilitators remit includes following up anything that they think is necessary. It may be that answers from the questionnaire identify how an aspect of that workshop can be carried out differently. The facilitator is both a peer to the group and an informal coach. It is proving very useful to have an in-house facilitator because, if any of the managers have queries or issues, it is easy for them to contact the facilitator or bounce ideas off the facilitator. Strong relationships are built during the course of the programme. Managers receive feedback on their learning, through the supervision and appraisal process in place in the organisation. There are a minimum of four supervisions per year and one formal appraisal, but some managers may choose to have a supervision every month. The success of the programme is measured by the pre- and post-development programme questionnaires, which assess participants level of competence before and after. In addition, HR metrics are also examined, such as staff turnover and the number of disciplinaries; conversations with line managers are also conducted. After the ten sessions, the development programme is reviewed, refreshed and updated. The organisation is continually growing and, to remain sustainable, its managers need to have the right skills and to grow in a way that reflects the market, therefore the management development programme needs to change and evolve. Based on the above case study, answer the below questions: 1. What factors have facilitated the management development programme process? 2. What have been barriers to running the management development programme?