10 questions to ask when planning people’s development

On the workshop I was delivering last week on developing people, there were two specific points that prompted a lot of discussion when we talked about planning people’s development.

So much so, that we decided to devote a whole follow up session to discuss these in more detail.

What were these?

The first was the value of a strengths’ appraisal, which I know I’ve shared with you before https://www.naturallyloyal.com/strengths-appraisal/

The other was a series of questions to ask in connection with the strengths’ appraisal.

  1. What skills & knowledge are needed across the whole team to achieve our goals?
  2. What more can we do as a team to add value (to each other and to our customers)?
  3. Where do my team sit on the skill will matrix for each key task?
  4. Who has strengths I can better utilise?
  5. Where are the gaps I need to fill?
  6. What coaching or development is needed?
  7. How can we meet these development needs?
  8. What can I delegate to make best use of people’s skills?
  9. What more can I do to inspire my team to take responsibility?
  10. What can I do in the next 24 hours to get started?

When I go back to my client we aren’t going to sit in a room and do this alone, but involve the whole management.

And before we do this, they are each going to conduct a strengths’ appraisal with their own teams and review these questions for their team as a whole. That way we know we are making best use of the strengths across the whole business, and give each team member an opportunity to tap into their talents.

If you only do one thing: Make best use of people’s strengths to compensate and plug the gaps in others’ weaknesses.

Video: D is for Development