Leadership Institute

Taking Charge of Your Development

Learning Format: Classroom, Web-Based

Order No. WD75

Retaining high-caliber employees is a pressing problem facing businesses today. Surprisingly, lack of professional growth often beats compensation as a reason why employees are leaving.

This course enables employees to initiate, create, and execute their own development plans with their leader. Having employees who continuously learn and improve skills enables your company to quickly adapt to and capitalize on opportunities.

Do You Face Any of These Issues?

  • Is employee learning focused so that your people can continuously contribute to the organization’s success?
  • Do employees want to develop but have no idea where to begin?

Performance Objectives

Helps associates:

  • Achieve development goals that align with the organization’s business strategy.
  • Collect and analyze behavioral data to determine strengths/development needs.
  • Plan for and take part in feedback and development planning discussions.
  • Overcome the challenges and barriers to implementing a development plan.
  • Measure and monitor progress toward development goals.

Primary Competency Developed

  • Continuous Learning

Course Overview

  • Development and Success Profiles: A video shows why employees need to take charge of their development and identifies the barriers to doing so. Learners are introduced to the Development Cycle, and a case study shows the links between the Success Profile and organizational goals, vision, and values.
  • Assess and Diagnose: The importance of this phase is explained, focusing on the use of informal data and the STAR feedback concept. After writing and identifying complete STARs, learners assess and diagnose strengths/development areas in the case study.
  • Discuss Strengths/Development Areas: Learners discuss why it’s important to initiate development discussions with their leaders. Using a Discussion Planner, they track the use of Interaction Process skills while watching a positive model. They review barriers and brainstorm how to overcome them using a tool to strategize solutions.
  • Create and Implement: Participants review tools to help them complete effective development plans. They create a partial plan and prepare for a development plan discussion using the case study example. A video models an effective discussion.
  • Measure and Monitor Success: Learners discover the benefits of measuring and monitoring their progress and are introduced to a tool to do so.

Video Segment Summaries

  • A programmer (Taylor) misses an opportunity to take charge of her development and lead an important project.
  • Taylor conducts a development discussion with her leader, and both review her development plan.
  • The final segment shows the results of Taylor’s development efforts.

Course Details

  • Target audience: All employees through frontline leaders.
  • Course length: 4 hours, 17 minutes, or 2 hours, 20 minutes Fast Track.
  • Facilitator certification: DDI-certified facilitator required.
  • Prerequisites: Interaction Skills for Success or Essentials of Leadership.
  • Series: Suitable for all environments.
  • Group size: 10 to 20 people.
  • Prework: No.

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