People development is taking on an increasingly vital role as organisations seek to harness employee potential to help them realise their strategic objectives and achieve real competitive advantage.
The Keil Centre's approach is to design development programmes which support the organisation's strategic objectives. We work with organisations to identify those attributes which differentiate top performers and focus development efforts in those areas.
The Keil Centre has designed and facilitated programmes for both public and private sector organisations. One multi-business transport group required a programme to develop their high potential people in each part of the company to be capable of moving to significantly more demanding positions anywhere in the business. The Keil Centre designed a programme which combined focused personal development for the individuals with opportunities to broaden their business experience and knowledge. Using a combination of workshops, project and development groups and supported by internal mentors, participants used real business issues and challenges as opportunities for personal growth and career advancement. As a result the participants were not only able to extend their range of management styles but were also able to identify new opportunities to work more collaboratively together resulting in savings which recouped 10 times the cost of the programme.
In another example, The Keil Centre assisted a public sector organisation going through major cultural change to make progress towards its aim of becoming the leading local authority. The first stage involved the organisation identifying the behavioural competencies required for superior performance now and in the future. A diagnostic process was designed to allow participants to identify both their knowledge and skill needs (what they had to know) and their behavioural development needs (how to apply it effectively). 360 degree feedback provided a focus for personal development planning. Participants provided support and challenge for each other in making progress on these areas through facilitated action learning sets. These groups met regularly to reflect on and try new approaches to real challenges they faced.
Programmes of this nature, where a wide range of people are involved in the process over a period of time, allow cultural change to develop. The environment of regular reflection, feedback and supportive challenge encourages a learning culture.