4 Responses

1. sorry to be dense, but…
   …development of/for what?

   I’m afraid that that sounds a bit agreesive and I don’t mean it to be. What is it that you want to address…
   ~personal development?
   ~team development?
   ~generic skills development?
   ~organisational development?
   ~business development?
   ~process development?
   ~a housing development!

   I’d be happy to try to be constructive
   😉
   rus

2. Development planning
   I agree with Rus and you may get more contributions once people are clear what you are aiming for.

   One critical element which applies to all the examples Rus has listed is knowing the outcome of the development.

   I could go for an hour on that alone and have.

   What is the person, group, business aiming to achieve from the development?

   What is the difference that will be seen, heard or felt after the development and which is presumably and improvement than the current situation?

   If this difference happens what are the consequences?

   There should be consequences from a successful development. Some of these may not be so productive and become “side effects”.

   It is important to identify what these could be and weigh up the balance of
   benefit to side effect just like taking medicine.

   A related anecdote:

   I was the Head of training for a finance function a couple of years ago and I was asked by the directors to take £150,000 and develop 20 new stars for the function over a 12 month period so that they could promote more people from within instead of recruiting all the senior posts externally which had been the case for a couple of years.

   I asked one question which was “what do you want these stars to deliver to the function in 12 months time?”

   I waited for two weeks and after receiving no reply invited myself to the next directors meeting where we thrashed out the leadership needs of the function over the next twelve months.

   The result was we saved £120,000 and developed three internal candidates so that they could be promoted into specific, valued and prominent roles within the 12 months.

   Final thought: Geary Rummler produced an analysis of corporate development needs linkd to performance.

   It showed that solutions for 28 out of 29 common gaps in know-how were found in areas of the business and not in HR and training.

   Hope this helps some.

   Cheers, Nick

3. Geary Rummler Information
   Hi Nick!

   Do you have the source of the information you refer to in your statement…

   —–
   Geary Rummler produced an analysis of corporate development needs linked to performance.

   It showed that solutions for 28 out of 29 common gaps in know-how were found in areas of the business and not in HR and training.
   —-

   …as I’d be interested to learn more about what he discovered?

   Thanks.

4. Geary Rummler
   Hi Tim, I am pretty sure the chart I am thinking of is in the book:

   Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space in the Organization Chart (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)

   If you contact me direct I can send you a copy of the chart I am referring to.

   n.hindley1{dot}btinternet{dot}com

   Cheers.

   Nick