Where they were
The organisation was traditional and only valued face-to-face training. L&D was looking for opportunities to challenge this traditional status quo and still meet their staff development requirements.
What they wanted
Management Development was top of many people’s wish lists but fulfilling this in a way that promoted learning transfer and behaviour change was critical. They also needed flexibility, and the ability to provide a consistent standard of training cross-divisionally and regionally with a minimum of administration and oversight.
“Our L&D Strategy is still in a formative stage. Aspirationally, the organisation is moving towards a 70:20:10 approach and the People Alchemy platform fits perfectly with this methodology.”
Their solution
They chose the Alchemy Learning Pathway platform with off-the-shelf management development pathways which were then lightly customised to suit their specific needs. They said “Initially, I provided a number of different options to the pilot group, including traditional face-to-face qualifications, eLearning options and the Pathway. What excited the group was the blended, flexible and pragmatic approach of the Pathway. And for me, the cost model was very attractive to our business, offering much greater value for money than other options.”
Their results
“The feedback from both learners and their mentors has been very positive. We’re starting to see benefits with cross divisional and cross country communications and support. In one instance a learner on the Manager Pathway in the UK is being successfully mentored by a Senior Manager based in Finland.”
“The Alchemy Pathway tool has enabled me to quickly and effectively implement management development training for both new managers and middle managers. One benefit of the pathway tool is that it empowers learners to work at their own pace with support from their own manager/mentor.”
“Two of the managers on the initial programme have now been promoted to senior roles.”
What they said
“My favourite story is from two ‘Middle Manager’ Pathway participants in the UK. Both were eager to start and completed Module 1 easily. However, when I caught up with them in the kitchen, the enthusiasm had waned. Module 2 wasn’t as much fun! Both agreed the topic, ‘Keeping Legal, Healthy and Safe’, was essential but didn’t know how to get the information they needed. After a quick conversation I mentioned that perhaps setting up a meeting with Legal and H&S might help – they could interview these two managers and perhaps get some more insight. And that’s what happened – the two learners worked together (despite being from vastly different divisions) and that week scheduled a meeting with the Head of Legal and the Director of HR/H&S. When I next caught up with them, they were stunned by how much they hadn’t realised Legal and H&S impacted on their particular department and both had immediately changed some of their behaviours and processes as a result of this one session. Incidentally, when I caught up with both senior managers to thank them for taking the time, they were both very impressed by the initiative shown by the learners and the quality of the questions and discussion.”
“Comments received from both learners and mentors have been positive. Mentors in particular have been surprised by how much supporting learning has caused them to reflect on their own experiences and all mentors have mentioned how they feel they have learned as a result of being a mentor, a huge additional benefit of the programme. Universally, people find the platform easy to navigate and I’ve been able to maintain oversight on the initial learners using the ‘Observer’ feature.”
The Learning & Organisational Development Manager went on to say, “Don’t be fooled that the pathway tool is delivered online, using a computer or handheld device. This is not elearning in any way shape or form. The content and activities are all designed to be applied immediately in the work environment and the system is just a way of making it all accessible and is very easy to use, as a learner, a mentor, and observer and as an admin. The People Alchemy team are passionate about developing capability in the workplace and the pathway tool supports this in a simple and cost-effective way. I can’t recommend People Alchemy highly enough as a supplier. They have been generous with their time, sharing thoughts, insights, and experience that have been fundamental in helping me ensure the success of the tool.”
Summary
The People Alchemy solution is a transformative approach to management development,
both for the managers themselves and the mentors who supported them.
Your next steps
Get in touch and we can show you how you can deliver effective management development
in the workflow to take advantage of the power of informal learning and better learning transfer that changes behaviour and improves performance.
Contact us to find out more or to arrange a demo.
