One of my favorite assignments ever was being the IT Leadership Development Program Director for 3 years. I facilitated soft skill and leadership courses, established a formal mentoring program with online assignment check-in and reflective journaling, which increased learner engagement and completion rates for the 9-month long program.
Custom SharePoint Site
Every year, I created a dedicated SharePoint site that was only accessible to that year’s LPD participants, mentors, and managers. Everything was managed via the site, including nominations to the program, year specific content, assignments, and final participant projects.
Annual content focus and LDP modules were provided by Apollo Corporate University (ACU). Each major department had an LDP Director that ran the program, coordinated participants and mentors, and tailored the content covered to best support the audience. I ran the program for all of IT, about 10% of total employee base.
Monthly Discussion Questions (DQ)
Monthly DQ requirements kept our forum lively and demanded a deep level of processing and reflection on concepts taught in monthly coursework. The focus being on application of learning rather than rote memory. The case studies generated ideas that learners could take back to their teams and apply immediately. Some really great process changes and implementation ideas came out of LDP participants.
Reflective Journal Activity
Traditionally the participants documented their learning journey in a personal notebook. Although a personal notebook is effective for reflective journaling, it is ineffective for leveraging social learning and the mentoring relationship. After my first year as LDP Director, I switched everyone over to electronic journaling on the program SharePoint site.
Using MyJournal enabled;
- A detailed log of LDP learning activities with key takeaways and application ideas
- Documentation of mentor brainstorming sessions
- Transparency of learner progress for people running the program, managers, and mentors
Example Month Calendar
Every month brought a variety of activities to complete that all had to be mapped out before the 9 month program began. A central calendar provided links to self-study content, web-based tutorial, live facilitated training dates, mentor meetings, leadership roundtable, and discussion questions. We had very high expectations of learner, mentor, and manager commitment to the IT Leadership Development Program. Participants spent an average of 4 hours a week on LDP activities.
Mentoring Workshop – Mentees
LDP 2009 Participant WorkshopMentoring Workshop – Mentors
LDP 2009 Mentor Workshop
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