My company is about to embark on a large scale Leadership Development programme and I am thinking of using the company's intranet to give the project a unique image. I want to use it in colloboration with an e-zine to be sent to leaders twice a month to keep them updated. All leaders have access to computers/e-mail.
Has anyone used the intranet as a major tool for driving Leadership/Management Development?
I just want to get a feel for any advantages and disadvantages. Thanks in advance.
Damian Hunter
2 Responses
First Stop Support
Yes, it can…and I’m sure you’ll get lots of replies giving examples of how the intranet can provide the information your employees need to understand the programme.
But for me, the power of the intranet comes from providing the first level of leadership/management training in the form of performance support tools.
These can be as simple as HTML pages with checklists on some of the key tasks, etc. that your leaders and managers need to do, to more interactive resources that are available on the commecial marketplace.
I have seen how managers have valued “real time”, “just in time” access to useful materials. This has had a secondary benefit of raising the profile of the corporate intranet, that later provided a good platform for launching leadership-related e-learning courses. One of the best quoted examples of this is the IBM Management Development Programme.
Leadership Forum
As an addition to your Intranet site and e-zine, why not set up a discussion forum? You can use it as a way of getting important leadership themes discussed, so that you can input coaching, and stimulate collaborative learning among your leaders.
Advantages: the forum will provide a focus and lots of talking points and learning opportunities related to your leaders’ actual concerns and situations, building on shared experience in your company.
Disadvantages: you’ll have to spend time on ‘priming the pump’, and making sure that the IT side of it works effortlessly.
Fortunately, there are thousands of good examples of forums linked to web sites and newsletters all over the Internet these days, so model yours on the best!