Development Programmes

The Need

Clients frequently need to assess the abilities, potential and areas for development of groups of managers.

Specific needs include:

• Assessing the development needs of individuals within a team, or within a key layer of management, in the light of new business challenges.
  
  
• Devising development plans for high potential managers.
  
  
• Helping managers and professionals take personal responsibility for their own development and career management.
  
  

The YSC Process

YSC collaborates with each client to establish a unique programme of assessment and development activities. These are always dovetailed to specific requirements, and may include: 360 degree feedback, self-evaluation, paper-and-pencil exercises, business simulations, group discussions around key business challenges and didactic input in aspects of management and development skills. As always, the emphasis throughout is on creating an environment conducive to learning. This involves the blend of relaxed professionalism, appropriate directness with informality which is the hallmark of YSC's style. Our experience is that this allows participants to think afresh about their own development and respond productively to feedback. Combining group-based work with a range of individual and follow-up activities adds further flexibility to the logistic benefits of group-based programs. Each is facilitated by a number of YSC and appropriately trained client coaches. This allows senior executives to gain a hands-on involvement in the development of their people, in addition to their signalling the importance of development and helping to convey new skills and behaviours required of participants. Individuals emerge with clear and practical plans to drive forward their own development. Clients often find it helpful for YSC to summarise these plans in the form of personalised reports. When considered collectively, these provide an excellent insight into the culture and skills in an organisation, providing an invaluable platform for ongoing organisation development activities.

Case Examples

• A multi-national building supplies group worked with YSC in establishing a group-based development programme for key teams. A distinctive feature was focused discussion around key business challenges. Facilitated review and feedback allowed clear team insights to emerge, as well as developing actions plans of immediate business benefit.
  
  
• Working with a major firm of consulting actuaries, a personal and career development workshop was designed in which delegates constructed their own development plan. This was refined by YSC, and then used as a basis of a review with the individuals' boss. The overall process ensured trust and personal ownership of the development plans - a key success factor in programmes of this sort.

Back to top