We are the Lace Family from the CS Local Middle Manager Academy North, and a few months ago we ran a pilot to test our new learning and development toolkit, L+D4U. This toolkit arose from our business challenge as we looked at various ways to support our peers with their development plans, whilst aligning with the recently introduced Success Profiles and combining different learning opportunities into one handy workbook. Over 330 colleagues from more than 30 different Civil Service departments around the UK registered to take part and we promised to update everyone on the results and feedback to date.
We used the pilot to answer the following questions.
- Did it help you as an EO/HEO access L&D opportunities?
- Did it help you have conversations with your manager about your personal development?
- Did it help you as a HEO/SEO have conversations about your staff’s personal development and help them to take part in L&D opportunities?
We accepted the following limitations, for the purposes of the pilot:
- The format was not fully accessible.
- There was not enough time to fully refine the evaluation sheet.
- There was limited time to attract people to take part in the pilot.
- There was limited time for people to fill in the toolkit and take up opportunities during the time we had to run the pilot.
So what happened?
- 337 people registered to take part in the pilot
- 106 people completed the mid-point survey
- 69 people completed the end-point survey
The geographical spread of the 337 colleagues is shown below.
The percentage of grades who took part is shown below.
Toolkit feedback
When we designed the toolkit, we thought users would complete it over a 12-month period, though we believe you could use it over anywhere between a 6-month to 3-year period. Analysing the end-of-pilot survey, we observed the following results:
- 69 people gave feedback at the end of the pilot
- 67% completed each behaviour tab
- 28% wrote STAR examples for each behaviour
- 60% completed recommended online learning
- 34% completed recommended practical development opportunities
- 75% of managers used the toolkit to aid their discussions about personal development with their staff.
We also asked if respondents would use an online version if it was available.
- 95% would personally use an online version of this toolkit
- 3% would not use an online version for their personal development but would recommend their staff use it
- 2% would not use an online version, because they had issues using the pilot version
We have further data on the participants of the pilot which shows the breadth of interest in this type of toolkit, including:
- the highest level of qualification held
- learning and development opportunities undertaken since joining the civil service
- department or agency
- reason for taking part in the pilot
Next Steps
We will use the insight from the pilot to show the value and need for this type of online resource to support learning and development for everyone.
Here is a quote from our business challenge senior owner, Karl Ford, Area Contract Manager, Legal Aid Agency
I have been really impressed with the team’s ability to adapt and deal with the challenges, and the survey results and comments show that the toolkit created will help staff in their development. I intend to use the tool with my own team, having taken over a new complement of staff in a merged department, which will allow me to quickly assess their Learning and Development requirements, and bring everything into one place.
We are still working our way through feedback and hope to turn this into an online version soon, so feedback is very welcome. We already have ideas on how to improve the scoring method, evaluation information and functions, and how to adapt the toolkit for different grades and career pathways.
Thank you again to everyone who shared this and to all those who took part. For those who didn't get the opportunity to participate in the pilot, if you are interested in trying out the L+D4U toolkit, please access the Excel spreadsheet attached 2019-08-05 L+D4U Success Profile toolkit Please note, however, that this will only be useful for departments and agencies using Civil Service Learning – those who have moved to the new learning and development platform will find that the links to online learning will not work.