Employee Development Framework
Background
Need
Employees at a public health provider seeking clarity on how to progress in their roles and improve outcomes for users, and for the business to identify and support skill gaps.
Role
Working freelance as a consultant, I designed and led the project end-to-end from empathise to implementation.
Users
Delivery staff, managers and senior team of the public health service provider.
Team
Senior management: fed back on alignment with business objectives, decision makers and sign-off.
Middle managers: fed back in workshops on feasibility, and handed project and assets at point of implementation.
Delivery staff: fed back on usability and clarity, became users at point of implementation.
Learning & Development team: consulted on direction and alignment with L&D policy
Timeline
Feb 2023: Project planning and initiation
Mar 2023: Survey & interviews, creation of prototypes
Apr 2023: Feedback and usability workshops
May 2023: Training collateral, assets implemented and sign-off with senior team
Design Process
Empathise
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Qualitative surveys and interviews conducted with all levels of the organisation.
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Grew understanding of needs, emotions and organisational culture around development:
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Inconsistencies in communication on the opportunities available for growth
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Staff unclear on how to structure, and what to aim for their professional development
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Define
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User insights turned into a thematic analysis.
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Identified priority needs to be addressed with the framework:
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Create clear map of progression between roles
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Create clear framework for skills and abilities for each job role, and recommended time for development work each month
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Ideate & Prototype
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Creation of updated staff journeys to incorporate professional developoment meetings with managers, and between peers.
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Brainstorming a tailored 'career map' in workshops with Learning & Development specialists.
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Prototyping development plans to outline the skills required for each job role, and how these might be assessed by managers.
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Draft skills matrix created across the organisation.
Test
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Brainstorming workshops held with staff and managers to gather feedback on the clarity and usability of the framework.
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Further breakdown of data skills to distinguish how it is used differently between roles
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Further breakdown line management skills
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Remove recommended timeframes for development as too subjective
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Recognition of skills in supporting people with more varied disabilities
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Refined the assets to make sure they were truly understandable and viable before launch.
Launch
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Assets and processes implemented using training collateral such as operating procedures and follow-along videos.
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Final presentations and Q&A held.
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Recommendations for next stages of work and further organisational change that was uncovered in the thematic analysis.
Outcomes
Service Outcomes
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'Career map' successfully launched to demonstrate progression routes within the company.
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Professional development plans were made available for all managers and staff to identify competencies and skills to focus their progression time and discussions.
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Skills matrix was used in the next round of hiring to identify skill gaps and hire essential abilities.
Learnings
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Timing and context within the business is imperative to success:
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Client's business was going through an acquisition
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This confused the implementation of a new staff journey and limited the amount of time and attention from staff
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