To enable candidates to develop teams and individuals to enhance their performance at work.

The manager’s role in identifying team and individual development; providing support for learning; assessing against agreed objectives; continually improving development activities, policies and practices.

Candidates should already be capable of fulfilling the Assessment Criteria for Unit S6 relating to development.

The candidate should know and understand how to:

1. Explain the importance of equal opportunities in Human Resource Management and identify some practical policies and procedures which encourage and monitor understanding and adherence.

2. Draw up a plan which will meet the development requirements of a given individual, and which takes into account the support and guidance which may be needed, as well as the resources required.

3. Construct a plan to assess progress against these development objectives and develop a means of feeding back to the individual.

Candidates should be fully conversant with the content of Unit S6 relating to development.

Organisational context

1. Importance of human resource development to organisational effectiveness; team objectives and organisational values related to development; equal opportunities and development; resources available for development; procedures for presenting development needs, assessment results and proposed improvements to the development process.

Communication

2. Showing commitment to development; presenting development needs and plans positively and effectively.

Information handling

3. Importance of confidentiality; collecting and validating information needed to identify development needs; importance of development records; collecting and validating the information needed to assess the effectiveness of development activities.

Involvement and motivation

4. Importance of providing opportunities to identify development needs and encouraging team members to identify them; importance of, and processes for, agreeing development plans; encouraging involvement in assessing the effectiveness of development activities and providing feedback.

Training and development

5. Setting realistic development objectives; importance of, and processes for, planning development needs; equality of opportunity; identifying, selecting, prioritising and implementing appropriate development activities.

Monitoring, assessment and providing support

6. Importance of monitoring individual progress; how to monitor and evaluate progress; making necessary adjustments.
7. Importance of assessing development activities; principles and methods of fair, objective assessment; encouraging team members to contribute; areas where advice and support may be needed.
8. Types of support for learning and development; ensuring individual support fits the circumstances; identifying obstacles to learning and development and strategies for response.
9. Importance of gaining feedback on support provided by the manager, encouraging that feedback.
10. Importance of reviewing and improving the development process; evaluating the contribution of development activities to organisational objectives.