Downward pressures
The Housing Corporation carries out the complex role of regulating, funding and facilitating the proper performance of Registered Social Landlords (RSL) and with an effective delivery record it has seen its approach strongly endorsed by government review. Yet the continuing downward pressure on resources, along with major changes in the policy environment, provides the Corporation with significant and ongoing challenges.
The strategy for the organisation is to support innovative projects and develop working partnerships and it has achieved significant successes in this respect. However, the reduction in resources at a time when its responsibilities are increasing have placed considerable pressure on employees.
Over recent years there has been a reduction in the workforce from 750 to 600 staff and such a downsizing has, inevitably, led to a shift in roles for many managers. For some it has meant more responsibility, others have needed to adapt from specialist to more generalist roles. And as part of its response to these changes the Corporation has placed a new emphasis on establishing a development culture.
Commitment to Self Managed Learning
According to Jackie Hunt, Training and Development Adviser with the Housing Corporation: 'There may no longer be a straightforward career ladder within the Corporation but there are real opportunities for managers to develop a broad range of skills which meet the changing needs of the organisation.
'When we were looking at middle manager development we were attracted by Roffey Park's emphasis on working in partnership.
'This complemented our own thinking; we didn't want to go for a programme where the development was 'done to' our managers; rather we were looking for a provider who could 'work with' the learning agendas that managers brought with them.'
This sense of working with people is in line with the Self Managed Learning principles that Roffey Park has pioneered on many of its programmes, including its MBA. Self Managed Learning may require more input from participants but in so doing it tends to generate far more commitment than is the case with other training.
Although not intended as a fast track path, the people selected for this middle manager programme are high achievers.
As Jackie Hunt explained: 'Given our requirement for leaders with good management and personal skills it made sense for us to devise a programme with this in mind. People selected for the programme came from across the Housing Corporation's operations and met our criteria of having achieved consistently high appraisal ratings.
'The objective of the programme is to provide participants with a solid foundation of general management skills as well as to introduce the culture of development that we are looking for.'
The value of Learning Sets
There are two broad strands to this programme. There are four, week-long residential sessions which are designed as a long-term foundation for middle managers. As well as focusing on a broad range of management skills these sessions also cover, for example, financial management for non-financial managers and how to manage service operations. For those who wantit, it can also lead to a Diploma in Management.
An innovative part of the programme, and the part that dovetails with the Housing Corporation's ideas around self development, is the Learning Set component. The Sets include six participants and an adviser who meet for one day every two or three months. During the Set every participant is given group time to review their performance and talk about their personal development plans. Although topics tend to have a work-related focus it's important that the content of these sessions is driven by the individual concerned. In using active listening and questioning skills the other members of the group not only add value to each individual's learning but can provide real support to their colleagues.
Sets do a great deal to consolidate learning and are highly valued by the participants.
In the first two groups at the Housing Corporation individuals raised many of the same issues, specifically around presentation and confidence. The Sets legitimise the discussion of such concerns as well as providing participants with constructive feedback from their peers. Both Roffey Park and the Housing Corporation draw attention to the fact that some groups are continuing to meet after the programme, which is testimony to how useful people found them.
An integrated framework
In parallel with the introduction of the middle manager programme, Roffey Park has also been helping the Housing Corporation to develop a competency framework which will cover all grades within the organisation.
'We have started with senior management competencies and these are now integrated into our appraisal schemes' said Jackie Hunt. 'The development of a framework for middle managers and non-managers is now complete.
'A major benefit of the competency approach is that it allows us to speak with a common language. We know what skills we are looking for in selection and recruitment, we have a clear set of indicators against which people can evaluate and discuss their performance and, of course, we can tailor our training to take account of those competencies which are seen as being especially important for certain grades or job functions.
'For example, in the middle manager programme we are now placing a greater emphasis on planning and problem solving skills; this came about as a direct result of our competency development programme'.
Working together
One of the most notable aspects of the Roffey Park approach is the working relationship they have built up with the Housing Corporation. This was evident even before any training was delivered with the Roffey team researching the existing environment and liaising closely with the Corporation to ensure that the content of the programme addressed the Corporation's real needs.
Furthermore Roffey Park have welcomed input from the Housing Corporation's own executives who have shown more than a passing interest in the content of the programme. Jackie Hunt herself gave a seminar on change management and the Housing Corporation's chief executive, Anthony Mayer, also talked to the group about how the organisation was changing and the manager's role in that change.
Such joint sessions have typified the collaborative approach of the programme and have helped to ensure its effectiveness.
'We've evaluated the programme and seen that it is relevant to the needs of individuals, the regions in which they work and the overall organisation' said Jackie Hunt. 'Roffey Park have contributed greatly to this success. Their knowledge and experience has been extremely helpful and their emphasis on working 'with' us has been exactly what we required.'