How To Engage and Upskill Your Team Through Developmental Case Studies

In the era of virtual teaming and the Great Resignation, organizations are looking for creative ways to develop their talent to meet rapidly changing needs, while also creating an environment that engages and retains talent.  Developmental Case Studies (case studies that are delivered while the candidate is in-role and include significant feedback and coaching on job-specific skills) are innovative tools that offer the opportunity to simultaneously grow and retain people in ways that deliver on your businesses’ performance goals.

The Workplace Isn’t Just Changing, It Has Changed

We are all aware that the pandemic forced much of the workforce to quickly transition to a highly virtual work environment.  While there are many benefits to virtual work, people also noticed that the teaming and bonding that used to take place naturally in the office were no longer natural parts of the landscape of work.  In fact, according to a 2020 Glint Survey, 31% of employees felt less connected to their leaders and 37% felt less connected to their teammates versus pre-pandemic levels.

At the same time, the needs and desires of employees have shifted to value more than just compensation and promotion.  Many employees now share that learning and growth opportunities, including working alongside mentors and expert colleagues to upskill within their role, are top priorities when considering a long-term role.  In 2021, LinkedIn Learning found that 76% of Gen Z workers believed that learning was the key to a successful career.  Unfortunately, this need is not always recognized by C-Suite leaders as only 27% of Learning and Development professionals reported that CEOs are champions of learning.

Additionally, the pace of change has never been faster, which requires employees to rapidly learn new skills to continue to be impactful.  To help employees be successful navigating evolving marketplace demands while also engaging them in a way that enhances teaming and retention, organizations must invest in consistent learning and development programs.  One approach that effectively accomplishes this goal is the widespread and consistent use of Developmental Case Studies.

Developmental Case Studies Help Solve For Employee Disconnection And Desire For Growth, Along With Creating Additional Benefits

By emphasizing collaboration, Developmental Case Studies create an opportunity for teamwork to grow and relationships to flourish.  While it makes sense that this collaboration and teamwork help employees to feel connected to each other and the wider organization, the benefits don’t end there as there are significant emotional benefits as well.  In fact, people who work on healthy teams are 80% more likely to report positive emotional well-being .    And it’s not just employees that benefit – the organization realizes large benefits as well.  In fact, well-functioning teams have improved problem-solving skills, increased potential for innovation, and enjoy up to a 20% increase in productivity.

Developmental Case Studies support employees’ desire for growth because they are expressly designed with a “for-you” mentality that provides just-in-time learning and growth opportunities.  This benefits employees by openly investing in their skills early and frequently, helping to build confidence via experiencing success in the case studies and some early wins in role, and building real-world skills that are critical to their long-term success in role.

The company gains significant benefits as well.  The problems discussed in the case study are designed to provide to real-world learning that will quickly lead to improved business performance. Also, the manager has the opportunity to give immediate feedback in a low-risk (customer-free) setting which allows for mistakes without negative customer experiences. Upon completion of the Developmental Case Study, the manager has learned exactly where her team’s knowledge and skill gaps lie and can intentionally design future trainings to address them.

All of this results in benefits for the employers and employees alike. By meeting the need for upskilling and reskilling, employers increase their employees’ internal mobility and which is an important factor of employee retention.  A 2021 LinkedIn Learning study found that companies with a culture of upskilling and reskilling their employees into new internal roles enjoyed an average employee retention term of 5.4 years, a significant increase from 2.9 years at companies that did not employ consistent upskilling/reskilling practices.

What Makes Developmental Case Studies Truly “Developmental”?

Current common practice at most companies is to use Traditional Case Studies as a candidate selection tool during the candidate review process.  While this type of Case Study is a strong jumping-off point, limiting the use of case studies to only candidate selection tools causes both employers and employees to miss out on a wide range of benefits.  Instead, we recommend a program of Developmental Case Studies that are used as in-role upskilling and reskilling tools.  Developmental Case Studies differ from Traditional Case Studies in a few key ways.

The most important difference between Developmental and Traditional Case Studies is the focus on investing in employees’ development vs assessing capabilities.  Traditional Case Studies are designed to assess a candidate’s viability for the role and to predict whether they are the correct fit.  Conversely, Developmental Case Studies are designed for and implemented with employees that are already in role.  They assume that everyone participating is already in the right role and, therefore, deserving of investment.  Therefore, they are custom designed to invest in people using a methodology called Scaffolded Design.

Scaffolded Design Is The Linchpin That Holds The Case Study Process Together

Imagine a skyscraper that is being renovated.  In the early stages of the renovation, you will see many scaffolds in place to ensure the building is properly supported.  As the renovation continues and the building is able to support more of its own weight/structure, those scaffolds decrease over time until eventually the building is standing completely on its own with no additional supports.

We use this same system in designing Developmental Case Studies.  They are designed in a series (typically of 3 to 5 case studies) where the first case study has the most supports built in and the final one has the least.  These supports might include:

• Pre-wiring critical concepts before or early on during the case study
• Connecting the task to prior knowledge/experiences
• Using simplified data sets
• Incorporating visual aids, such as graphic organizers, templates, flow charts, outlines &/or concept maps
• Designing answer choices that guide the employee to understand the nature of the issue better
• Providing sentence starters in for open-response items
• Sharing check lists of what a strong response would include
• Designing questions to alert employees to what is important
• Breaking down larger tasks into smaller sub-steps
• Building ample time into the day/week for the employee to fully process the case study
• Pre-planning opportunities for active collaboration from employee to employee
• Pre-planning opportunities for feedback from managers/leaders
• Guiding employees into moments of self-evaluation
• Manager modeling/demonstrating specific skill gaps that arise during the completion of the case study (just-in-time learning)
• Reminders on timing/due dates
• Establishing clear expectations, including models of success

As employees work their way through the series of case studies and, in so doing, demonstrate growth in their knowledge and skills, we gradually remove these supports until they own the entire body of skills that it takes to complete the task.  The employee completes the process feeling ready to take on the challenges meaningful to their role and the manager exits the process knowing that they can trust the employee to think and act thoroughly and completely in increasingly complex environments.

Where Can You Start?

With all the benefits of Developmental Case Studies, it might be time to consider implementing them in your organization.  You can start on a small or large scale and begin to see benefits immediately. Great places to start are: teams with business-critical roles undergoing change, teams that have expressed a desire to upskill, teams that face an attrition or engagement risk, and/or teams going through a change of responsibilities or ways of working.  Although creating and launching a Developmental Case Study is a big undertaking, the investment delivers significant benefits for your team.  Additionally, Developmental Case Studies have a long shelf life – they can often be used for years with only minimal tweaking from group to group.  You’ll reap the benefits in your teams and business almost immediately and well into the future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tracie Steel is a Consultant with BrightOrg Services. Tracie has worked in the fields of education and consulting since 2007. This experience has allowed her to develop expertise in the areas of strategic thinking, project management, people coaching, and training development. Known for her high standards, preparation, growth mindset, energy, and resolve to execute projects cleanly, creatively, and on time, Tracie is passionate about coming alongside clients to help them think and work in new ways in order to achieve their goals.

Related Articles