Designed to match
Company-specific programme
Company-specific programmes are not off the shelf. Each inquiry sets a four-step plan in motion: needs assessment, programme design, implementation and evaluation. A few experts with practical experience of the process have their say.
Needs assessment
‘It’s about being clear what you want to achieve’
Energy
supplier Eandis is one of the latest recruits for the
company-specific programmes of Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. Eandis
started with the Eandis First Management Programme in May 2009 and since then
has completed two modules.
“The programme focuses on our 'first managers’, staff below the middle management tier who are ready to be given greater scope,” explains Erik Vande Weijer (head of Staffing and Career Development). “The aim of the programme is that participants should not just implement others’ ideas but also question, improve and rethink things for themselves.” Before Eandis turned to Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, the company had already conducted a thorough analysis of its learning goals and linked them to the competences and disciplines that it felt it needed to focus on. “You have to be clear what you want to achieve in order to prepare properly,” says Erik Vande Weijer. “In our case the programme had to prepare staff for a transfer, broader responsibilities or more complex tasks. We also wanted to build in a network component: we didn’t want the programme to be just an individual learning experience; we wanted it to serve as a collective learning vehicle, not only for the participants but also for their supervisors, the senior managers.”
Eandis designated one or more in-house experts for each module. “Their role was to illustrate the theory being taught at Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School with Eandis business practice,” explains Elke Verniers (Training Products Developer). “Concrete learning objectives as well as a scenario setting out the content and teaching approach were drawn up for each module in consultation with the School.” Whether the needs assessment was done well will only become apparent later. One of the first important indicators of this, according to Erik Vande Weijer, will be the course participants’ final project. “Anyone can do a training module, but the project will show how much effort the managers put into the programme and whether it has a concrete impact on them.”
Programme design
‘Interest and commitment at the top are crucial’
A
specific programme is designed based on a thorough assessment of needs.
The man responsible for company-specific programmes at Vlerick Leuven
Gent Management School, Alexandre Segers, is involved in the
design process right from the start. “The company’s input during the needs
assessment stage gives us a pretty good idea of their objectives, and we forge
concrete links based on that information. For a company that wants its managers
to give their staff more feedback, we can develop, for example, a few sessions
showing the importance of feedback and highlighting the link between feedback
and performance.”
Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School puts a draft together and then submits it to the company. This draft is checked within the organisation, and sometimes also with a number of prospective participants. “What follows is an iterative process of giving feedback and adapting until we agree on the overall design and we know what topics and objectives should be included in the various modules. Then we sit down with the faculty to fine-tune the design and agree on the specific content of the modules.”
What does Alexandre Segers think are the critical success factors for designing a professional programme? “Interest and commitment at the top are crucial. Management has to invest more than just money in the programme; there has to be real involvement. In addition, the company’s initial request must be carefully analysed and placed in the specific context in which the company operates, before a solution is formulated. Is this programme really the best solution or are there other options? Finally, open and confidential communication is always very important – from the School to the organisation, from the organisation to the School, and also from the organisation to its own employees. The programme aims to have a lasting impact on the participants and their organisation, so you need to know what interests them and allow for this during the design process. After all, they’re the ones who will evaluate the programme in the end: the proof of the pudding is in the eating, as they say.”
Programme implementation
‘Generating collective momentum in the company’
A
company-specific programme has been running for business software developer
SAS since autumn 2008. The aim is to develop or strengthen the
“soft” leadership skills of staff who have been promoted internally from a
technical role to a management position.
The programme consists of seven modules, each of which takes two days. HR Director Gunter Cools gives an interim assessment. “SAS used the programme to address the whole line management, eighteen of them. We didn’t want only senior management to benefit from this kind of training and these ideas, but everyone in the company. That’s possible with a tailor-made programme.”
Gunter sees even more benefits: “By communicating the same message to the same group of people at the same time, you generate a collective momentum in the company. That gives an incredible boost of energy. Where the participants feel comfortable with one another on a customised training course, you also get more fruitful discussions. It’s easier to raise sensitive issues than on an external course. And then there’s the team-building aspect: members of staff get to know one another better and identify with others in the group. Purely on cost alone, a tailor-made training programme allows you to get best value for money by, for instance, changing the number of people per module to reduce the unit cost per participant. You also gain in terms of time investment: you take only the modules that are relevant and necessary to your company and you also decide when and in what order they are held.”
To enjoy the benefits of the company-specific programmes, the company must, of course, be prepared to chip in. Gunter Cools: “It’s very important to select the right target group and to prepare the participants properly. They have to appreciate the value of the programme. Management operates as the driving force by communicating openly about the design, objectives and follow-up to the training.”
Programme evaluation
‘Life-changing event’
Global
specialist in material technology Umicore embarked on a
company-specific programme, “Entrepreneurs for Tomorrow”, three years ago. The
course focuses on staff with an average of ten years’ experience and the
potential to progress to senior management, and staff who have recently been
promoted to that level. “The aim is to prepare them for their broader
responsibilities,” explains HR Development Director Mark
Dolfyn.
The programme takes up three weeks, spread over nine months, each time in a different location – Europe, North America and China. Three groups with participants from different continents have already completed the training in full. “The participants, our organisation and the senior managers are all wildly enthusiastic. There's the content and the teachers, the different locations add an extra dimension of adventure for some, but the most important aspect is that the group works together as a team. That generates a tremendously positive drive and gives people a unique experience.”
The “E4T” has now become a formula for success in Umicore’s training policy. “With most participants we see clear gains in the three areas we defined beforehand: they understand the business better, they know how to motivate colleagues, and they’ve also grown personally. What’s more, the participants maintain an active network afterwards. They keep in touch; they share news about marriages and births. For some of them the programme really was a life-changing event.”
Umicore wants to make even more active use of the critical mass of its alumni in the future. “The budgetary scope is rather tight at the moment, but that’s definitely the plan,” Mark Dolfyn assures us. Meanwhile the present participants have been given an extra task. “We want to know how Umicore can latch onto climate change to develop new products and services. Ten of the 26 participants have volunteered for this project.”
That enthusiasm shows that the training pays off. Further evidence, according to Mark Dolfyn, lies in the effect it has had on retention. “In the three years we’ve been running the programme, not one single participant has left the company. What’s more, half of them have been promoted to senior management and are doing a great job.”
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