The Models Used
The Corporate Strategy model (Figure 2) consists of a set of questions which must be answered. The response to one set of questions results in a choice that narrows the set of possible answers for the next set of questions.
The questions in the model are, by design, very broad. In order to design a holistic answer or choice, it is necessary to break down these global questions into smaller questions pertinent to the situation or project, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2: Models Selected for Guiding the Formation of the R&D University
| Larger Question | What are our goals & aspirations? | What is scope of influence? | How will we succeed? | What capabilities are needed to succeed? | What management systems are needed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Narrowing Questions | What are the Business Goals? What are the Learning Goals? What is success? |
Who is our audience? (Level, years on job, Locations) What knowledge and skills ares are our focus? |
What must we do to consistently drive success? What are our measures of success? How can we access and leverage organizational resources? |
How will we leverage our capabilities? Our organization? How do we allocate financial & human resources? |
What organizational structure? What reward systems? What processes? How to shift from start-up to sustaining? |
Figure 3: Expanding on the Corporate Strategy Model
Likewise, the training industry’s performance improvement model must be broken down into bite-size pieces. Defining the “Desired Workforce Performance” was broken down into the following steps: (1) identify the R&D Function’s core competencies; (2) define Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels of these competencies, necessary for calibration among team members; and (3) agree upon the desired level of competence for the various groups of target learners (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Expanding on the Gap Model
The “Actual State of Workforce Performance” was analyzed for each competency. This task itself is large, so we agreed to create and deliver one “College” at a time, with each College focused on a single career level. There are five levels in all. Training blocks were created to “teach to the gap” – a term that became a mantra to keep the content tight, concise and focused. The training blocks were woven into a whole, that is, into one College, which is no more than a week long.