Hi DBK -- perhaps the first question is -- why do you feel the development should be mandatory?

quote:

It's the easiest solution to the problem, as most management do not comprehend that training can be fun, interesting and educational.

I would, in part, agree. All too often a dictat from on high is born out of frustration. However, there are some circumstances in which certain types of training could be considered mandatory e.g. healthcare professinals, although this is not the issue under discussion here.

I think the point made about employee/supervisor relations is the key one and the development of managers to support this needs to be reflected in an organisation's ethos from day 1. This will help ensure that managers acknowledge their part and want to learn how to be effective ......after all it is also known that the initial view an employee gets during their induction period can take a very long time to correct if it gets off to a bad start.

I think organisations need to highlight what it is that they beleive is critical for their success. In so doing mandatory training is implied rather than explicit since each person will know what steps they need to take in order to contribute to success.

Hmmm, this looks like an individual development plan IDP (or personal development plan PDP or whatever you call it).

Clearly, for an organization to survive, all employees must be learning and growing. For an organization to thrive, managers and supervisors must excel.

This is rooted in defining competencies, assessing performance gaps, determining root causes of performance problems, then developing strategies to get key performers to produce. The other part of the equation is to build organizational capacity through the use of acceleration pools and leadership development.

That this occur is mandatory. That people all participate in the same process is absurd.

So it would seem that the answer lies in determining what competencies are needed by the organization, measuring what is in place, determining what is needed to thrive, then build the capacity within the human resources to deliver the desired performance.

Previous posters have made the same points about performance issues, but my point is that it must be mandatory in the organization to have staff learn and grow. How they do it should be very individual.

I am an Instructional Designer for an organizational entity under a very visible large federal agency. Employees have a mandate to follow for managing projects within a specified budget. This mandate requires staff to gain certain on-the-job experiences and take training courses to fulfill leadership/management requirements. Most of these employees, however, are at least 2nd line supervisors. Because we are a bunch of overachievers who really value the training, I think we have not encountered issues or even disappointment that leadership professional development is mandatory.

I am not sure that addressed your question. What specific questions do you have?

I'm adding to this post late, but hopefully it will still result in some feedback for me!

We are just now looking at implementing a "true" leadership development program. We loosely use Organizational Development in conjunction with Leadership Development. Reason being is we want clear paths. I'm the training manager for a bank, so an example is if you want to be in lending and you are a teller, we would like to provide an idea for how an employee can try and get there. (The OD part of the program.) The problem then lies with managers and supervisors who lack some skills and knowledge in assisting their employee in getting on that career path. (The leadership development piece of it.)

Where I'm struggling as the training manager is getting my arms around non-operational training iniatives. We have been extremely focused on operations and missing out on the people skills training. I think we need to take the approach of mandatory development training, but allowing employees to choose their own development courses.

Another struggle is putting this in place. What does a good program look like? How do I decide on what is an appropriate development program for a manager to attend? Then, how do I track the program and attendance and more importantly the results of the program.

If anyone can shed any light on how you started such a program and how you manage it, and track the success, I would enjoy speaking or emailing with you. Or if you can share any materials such as outlines, agendas, or "templates" I would sincerely appreciate it.

Thanks - operationally dazed and confused!