The Winning Teams Blog

CIPD research findings – learning and the line (part 3)

The is part 3 of my review of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) ‘change agenda’ report entitled “Learning and the line: the role of line managers in training, learning and development”. In the first part, we recognised that line managers play an important role in learning and development, and that they undertake a number of activities supporting learning and development. In part 2, we examined the authors’ views as to what factors leads busy line managers to devote time to development activities for their staff, and themselves.

In this part, we will look at the implications of the research for HR practitioners seeking to strengthen the role of line management in leading and developing staff. The authors identify five key recommendations:

• Organisations need to encourage line manager’s buy-in to learning and development by clarifying their responsibilities through job descriptions, performance appraisal, and reward systems. They need to send a clear message that demonstrates the importance and value of development-related activities.

• Organisations need to allow managers the time to carry out their learning and development activities, as well as performing their traditional management duties.

• Line managers need training and development programmes to develop their learning and development skills.

• Senior management commitment is essential to create the appropriate culture, and leaders need to be encouraged to act as role models.

• It is important to select line managers carefully, paying particular attention to behavioural competencies that facilitate learning and development in themselves and others.

CIPD research findings – learning and the line (part 2)

The is part 2 of my review of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) ‘change agenda’ report entitled “Learning and the line: the role of line managers in training, learning and development”. In the first part, we recognised that line managers play an important role in learning and development, and that they undertake a number of activities supporting learning and development.

We also saw however, that not all managers believe that learning and development is their responsibility, some use it as a reward system which may be detrimental, and others are not properly skilled to perform these functions. In part 2, we will examine the authors’ views as to what leads busy line managers to devote time to development activities for their staff, and themselves, and to develop the skills to do this well. The authors identify 4 integrated activities:

• A focus on key staff: - line management are likely to place greater emphasis or attention where employees need either high levels of technical or generic skill to perform their duties, or require high levels of a ‘unique’ skill that is organisation specific.

• Building a language of learning and development: - the language associated with learning and development (used initially by learning and development professionals) is spreading to line managers, and is helping to embed learning and developing behaviours.

• Creating a culture of performance where learning and development is highly valued: - line management are most likely to engage in learning and development activities where senior management deliberately create a culture where people are helped and encouraged to learn, and to cooperate with others.

• Developing line managers themselves as a distinctive occupational group: - the authors found that where line managers themselves were encouraged to learn and develop, they were more likely to exhibit these behaviours themselves. The importance of senior management involvement cannot be over-stated.

In the next part, I will look at the implications of these findings for developing line managers in supporting learning and development.