berneslai homes
leadership development programme - a case study
Doing things differently
When Berneslai Homes appointed Azesta in 2019 they were looking for a fresh approach to leadership development – one which would create a buzz, have an immediate and lasting impact and be a model for future years.
The housing association wanted to improve the skills of its 80+ managers in four areas highlighted by an Investors in People assessment: emotional intelligence, resilience, role-modelling and developing team members. They were looking for a new and sustainable way to develop their leaders, grow their talent and plan success.
Working together, the Berneslai values and objectives were woven into Azesta’s experiential approach to learning, to create the Berneslai Homes High Performing Leaders Programme.
The Approach
Shirley spent time getting to know Berneslai Homes so was able to create a bespoke 360º questionnaire that directly addressed the four main areas for development and would be used to build an engaging series of experiences.
One-to-one feedback from the 360º reviews fed into individual Personal Development Plans which were regularly monitored, and a follow-up 360º assessment was completed at the end of the programme to measure change.
84 managers in six cohorts attended two day-long experiential workshops over a period of 6 months.
The value of experiential learning
With 100% attendance, sessions combined accelerated learning techniques such as interactive discussions with the chance to practise skills in team challenges, all backed up by a Berneslai handbook (produced by Azesta) supporting learners during and beyond the programme.
The challenges used tried and tested tools to bring to life positive leadership behaviours. Tools like the ‘Tower of Power’ – a team activity in which members had to identify a ‘saboteur’ within the group, demonstrating the importance of fact-checking and relying on evidence when giving feedback.
The transfer of learning
Throughout, Azesta worked with the Berneslai HR team, holding regular review meetings, feeding back on learners’ experiences and assessing the outcomes of their ongoing evaluation.
The learners’ line managers also filled in a pre-programme questionnaire, followed by another three months later to capture progress. Involving line managers is critical in the success of the Azesta approach.
Azesta used an 8-level Learning Transfer Evaluation Model (LTEM) to evaluate the impact of the programme on each individual’s development.
The outcomes
An average score of 9.8 out of ten was given to the question ‘How likely are you to recommend the workshops to a colleague?’.
On being tested for knowledge retention, learners scored an average of 82.6%
In a staff survey, 87% of people had discussed performance with their manager in the last six months and 84% had agreed objectives. This was significantly up on previous surveys.
Achievement
Berneslai Homes maintained its Investors in People Gold status and made positive steps towards Platinum, increasing its level of attainment in ‘maintaining performance’ and ‘creating sustainable success’.
“The programme created such a buzz with leaders wanting to share their positive experiences back at work. Others couldn’t wait to experience the programme, which didn’t disappoint. Positive gains started to ripple through the company with more collaborative working; more coaching and empowering of staff; giving better feedback; holding those difficult conversations; increased external networking; more focus on staff development and succession planning. Many leaders stated their confidence had increased, empowering them to be more effective at implementing these changes. As a result, the Board and Senior Management Team have given full support to deliver this programme on an annual basis so our new leaders and those aspiring to become leaders can also make a difference”
“Your leaders are showing greater self-awareness and confidence than in the past and are reinforcing practices that give your people a better and more consistent experience of good work. Your people and leaders themselves are full of stories of new things and how they’re doing things differently. Changes in leaders’ behaviour means your people are experiencing more of the positive aspects of your culture, in turn, reinforcing their levels of engagement and effort”
“From what people are saying, your High Performance Leaders Programme is having a real impact on individual managers’ behaviour. Your people are noticing changes in how inappropriate behaviour or under-performance is dealt with, suggesting that managers are using greater emotional intelligence both to tackle this in the first place and in how they’re dealing with specific situations.”
