Do You Have A Self-Managed Development Guide (SMDG)?
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The Self-Managed Development (SMD) Guide(TM) is a customized learning tool that can be developed based on workplace requirements of a specific organization, in which an employee is expected to perform his/her duties.
Purpose Of The SMDG: To outline key – mostly practical – learning points for employees to follow in order to become fully competent – and also stay continually relevant – on their jobs.
Using competencies defined as requisite for optimal performance within that environment, this kind of guide can be produced – for any workplace. This will help the relevant employee(s) quickly and successfully settle into their roles – to the benefit of both employer and employee.
The SMD guide will give new entrants into an organization(or position/job), a sense of direction in terms of what they should be doing, and what they are expected to know – or be able to do – at the end of their training(or induction).
Specific Benefits Of Having A SMDG(TM)
(a). Makes clear to employee ALL that s/he is expected to know/be able to do in order to perform well on the job.
(b). Encourages employee to take timely, personal action toward developing specified competencies to do job better.
(c). Helps your company cut costs on formal training.
(d). Results in continuous improvement in workplace performance of your staff = better delivery = improved customer satisfaction.
(e). Requires employees to create Learning Logs that document actual learning experienced – which in future become invaluable reference materials or aide-memoir.
I developed this concept of a customizable SMD guide in September 2001, drawing inspiration from Jim Stewart’s Speed Training System. Then I used it for Trainee Engineering Tradesmen who reported to me, while I was Technical Training and Development Manager(TTDM), Guinness Nigeria Plc, Benin Brewery.
Read the full story of how(and why) I did this, in an excerpt from my Ten Ways self-help manual in the box below.
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As Training and Technical Development Manager, while in Guinness, I had also played this coaching and people development role with the same passion. It is the same reason why today I am a Self-Development/Performance Enhancement Specialist.
In 2001, due to a large number of capital intensive and high priority projects going on in the brewery when about five(5) young trainee engineering tradesmen men joined us, myself and the Training Instructors who reported to me, were unable to devote as much time as would have been adequate to help the trainees really learn all they needed.
After watching the young men move around for some weeks without much sense of purpose, I made out time to put together – with extensive input from the instructors – what I called a “Self-Managed Development Guide(TM)” document. This document contained ALL the learning points to be studied (theoretically and practically) by each individual trainee in order to be fully ready for deployment to a department within the duration of the training programme.
Basically, it was an instrument that empowered the trainee to manage his training, and move at his own pace(recall Peter Drucker’s admonition). For instance, the guide contained references to everything the trainee needed to read up, or become physically familiar with – including plants, equipments, skills and names of designated resources persons across the site who could help with learning about them.
Each trainee therefore only needed to decide when and where he wished to acquire the new learning, and use the Learning Log(provided in the guide document) to record actual learning achieved. Then he would report periodically to me or the available Training Instructor to review his progress against the set goals. During this interaction, and without compromising our commitment to the brewery projects, I and the Instructors were able to conduct short practical tests, and quizzes to assess the true progress of the trainee.
Did it work you ask? Did the trainees demonstrate good performance when eventually posted out to departments? Yes they did. As a matter of fact, one day, not long after they had been posted out, they returned to my office as a group to present me with a gift.
One of them then spoke on behalf of the others that during the training period, they had complained among themselves about how I always kept pushing them to learn more etc.
But since they arrived at their various departments, they had found themselves treated with respect because of the performances they delivered on the job – and also the unusual proficiency they demonstrated in the use of technology(e.g. Computers) that the older hands still struggled to master(I had spent some weekends giving them practical Computer and Internet Training, especially how to use Search Engines to find useful engineering, and problem solving information).
Today, preparation of a Self-Managed Development Guide document for use in large or small organizations is now one of the many unique services I offer as a Self-Development/ Performance Enhancement Specialist. I can do this, because I know it works – having seen the results of its proper use myself.
You can also try and influence the development of a similar instrument in your workplace. It would certainly take a lot of work out of the process of helping new employees or trainees settle into their new jobs.
You would then be able to simply work with them to check off their achieved learnings, and continue as necessary, providing useful corrective feedback as appropriate.
A person in paid employment who wants to experience rapid career advancement must make out time to coach and develop others. Only by so doing can she increase the chances of moving up when the opportunity comes. I like to ask people this question: “How can you get promoted from your current position if no one else has the competence to do fill it?”.
And how will anyone else learn how to do that job quickly enough, if YOU don’t make the effort to coach those around you to the required competence level? You are in the best position to know what is needed to do YOUR job as well as you do it. That means you will be best placed to develop others – subordinates, colleagues etc to do it whenever you have to go away on leave, secondment – or when you get promoted!
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Since starting my business, I have gone further to develop this guide into customizable templates that can be modified – on request – for use by trainees/new recruits or re-deployed/promoted employees in any organization.
You Can Do It Yourself
It is important to note here that you can even use resource persons within your organisation(or yourself!) , to study what I have said here about the SMDG(TM) document and produce a tool that will deliver similar results for your business.
Alternatively you can contact me for details about how a Templated Custom Self-Managed Development Guide(SMDG)(TM) can be developed for your company.
Why Any Good Manager Will Find A Tool Like The SMDG(TM) Useful
I believe an important measure of performance for managers and executives should be “People Development“. Some managers have subordinates reporting to them for years who NEVER improve or become better on their jobs.
Other managers would handle that same group of reports for one year, and have them displaying dramatic improvements in their abilities – even delivering superlative workplace performances perpetually!
More often than not, the reason for this kind of transformation is traceable to the willingness of the manager to coach and develop his/her subordinates. Confirmation of this is usually readily obtained from the subordinates themselves, who will naturally hold the latter type of manager in high esteem.
Think about what I’ve said above with an open mind, and you’ll find that it’s true. Become a coach and people developer. It’s a sure way of achieving sustainable success.
One relatively easy and painless way you can effectively coach and develop people who report to you (or that you are responsible for) is by developing a customised SMDG(TM) for them – and getting them to use it, under your close supervision.
Judging by the results I achieved(see my story in the box above) by doing something similar in my workplace, you can – apart from improving their competencies – expect to enjoy the respect and admiration of those you manage.
In addition, you can look forward to earning recognition for your ability to develop employee potentials to the benefit of the company. Lastly, it would only be a matter of time before such recognition translates to career advancement for you.
If the above enumerated benefits appeal to you, then I suggest you seriously consider using the SMDG(TM) tool routinely in your coaching and developing efforts from today.
You can email a one page Frequently Asked Questions Acrobat PDF e-flyer on preparation of a Self-Managed Development Guide(SMDG)(TM) to yourself, using the File Mailer web form on the Free Resouces page on my website.
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