How the Home Office improved their fast track development scheme with Business Emotional Intelligence
The Home Office improved their fast track development scheme using Business Emotional Intelligence.
Fast track development schemes for employees with potential are a great way to nurture and develop talent within an organisation. These programs offer accelerated career paths, increased responsibility, and exposure to a wide range of experiences that can help employees build their skills and progress quickly in their careers.
However, despite the many benefits of fast track development schemes, there are also several challenges that organisations must overcome in order to make these programs successful.
The Home Office runs an internal development scheme to help fast track potential to achieve middle management positions in approximately 3 years.
The Home Office identified the need to develop scheme members’ skills in giving and receiving feedback, and also to increase their understanding and management of their actions during this process.
Using Business Emotional Intelligence to improve the fast track development programme
To maximise delegates’ learning, the Home Office used the EBW Business Emotional Intelligence approach as the basis for the learning intervention.
The programme was divided into stages:
Above: What is Business EQ? The individual Business EQ Compass
Stage 1: Delegates complete the Business EQ Assessment
The Emotions and Behaviours at Work (EBW) Assessment was used to help individuals understand their Business EQ and why people behave as they do and how to maximise their performance at work. The Home Office initially worked in partnership with the assessment provider (EBW Global Emotional Intelligence Systems) to develop the day 1 and 2 workshops. Prior to the workshops, delegates completed the EBW.
Stage 2: Day 1 – Build awareness of Business EQ and delegates’ feedback styles
We knew that delegates needed to develop their feedback skills. Therefore day 1 included an introduction to the concept of Business Emotional Intelligence and a number of discussion exercises to raise self-awareness of delegate’s typical feedback style and the impact that this has on themselves and others. For example, delegates were encouraged to reflect on instances where they had given difficult feedback and the impact their emotions (and subsequent behaviour) had on themselves and the person receiving the feedback.
Stage 3: Raise self-awareness via individual Business EQ feedback sessions
Once delegates had an understanding of Business EQ and how it could be used to facilitate giving appropriate feedback, they received a one-to-one feedback session of their EBW Assessment results from a trained EBW Global Partner. This session helped raise delegates’ self-awareness of their Business Emotional Intelligence, how their approach may influence others in the workplace, as well as providing an opportunity for the EBW Partner to role-model effective feedback.
Stage 4: Day 2 – Exercises and strategies to practise giving and receiving feedback
Day 2 of the workshop built on the previous stages by combining the delegates’ knowledge of Business EQ with exercises to practise giving and receiving feedback using a variety of strategies. Most importantly, day 2 gave delegates the opportunity to practise the interpersonal skills associated with Emotional Intelligence; identifying emotional responses in others and tailoring their communication/ feedback to successfully manage the interaction.
Stage 5: Follow-up with EBW Business EQ Action Plans
A key success factor for any training is the transfer of skills to the workplace. To facilitate this, delegates were encouraged to complete ‘EBW Business EQ Action Plans’ which prompted them to consider the exercises they completed, the feedback from their peers and the facilitators, as well as learning points they could apply in their day-to-day roles.
Step 6: Further integration of Business EQ principles
Additional Business EQ workshops were made available to members of the development scheme that included innovation and decision-making etc, at which delegates are encouraged to reflect on some of the basic principles of EBW Emotional Intelligence such as self-awareness of personal style and social awareness of how others behave, to enhance their understanding of how they and others typically approach such activities.
Outcome & Benefits Achieved
The success of the EBW programme is proved by the fact it has been running for over 5 years and the EBW is now being used as part of the Home Office 1-year talent management programme and a large group of Home Offices coaches are now trained in using the EBW System.
Feedback from delegates has been very positive with quotes ranging from “it is the most useful programme that I have been on” to ‘I use the EBW Compass every time I am meeting somebody or planning a team meeting”
Cost saving: The programme saves money by using a mixture of experiential workshops and coaching that has resulted, in some cases dramatic, improvement in management style.
Take a look at what people said about our work:
“I found undertaking the EBW assessment refreshing and insightful. I would recommend this exercise and coaching process for all leaders hoping to better their leadership style and indeed themselves as a person."
“Investing in the EBW Team / Leadership Programme has enabled me to see my blind spots, look laterally at my thinking and to understand how I can better engage with and positively influence those around me – and it really works!"
What Next?
In conclusion, despite development programmes being a difficult area to get right, the success experienced by the Home Office was created by using the right tools in the right way.
Business Emotional Intelligence can be used with great success in developing & emerging leader programmes and fast track or accelerated development programmes for employees with potential.
Inspired to start using Business Emotional Intelligence in your business? Rise to the challenge - find out more about the Business EQ Assessment or our Leadership Development solutions.
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