Employee development in a medical technology company

In this employee development mandate, the interim manager was temporarily engaged as HR manager. One of her tasks was to identify and promote potential in the medium-sized medical technology company. The challenge was to form a team of young hopefuls from each department. In addition, it was necessary to use modern tools for project work as well as the expertise of long-standing knowledge carriers - at the lowest possible cost.

The interim manager specified the methods and content for the employee development program. She focused on project work with its most common approaches and the development of the soft skills required for cooperative collaboration. At the same time, the concept was designed to enable participants to develop and motivate themselves as independently as possible.

Workshop for committed employees from all areas of the company

In the first step, the managers suggested potential specialists and managers from their departments. These employees had already distinguished themselves through qualities such as diligence, commitment and a thirst for knowledge. There was a mixture of very young and older employees who came from both industrial and commercial or technical backgrounds. The level of education was completely different.

The next step was a 2-day training course by an external consultant. The training imparted knowledge for successful project work. This is where the first differences between the various professional training courses became apparent for the first time. The role of the interim manager was, among other things, to accompany the process and be the contact person for the participants.

Project participants define their own projects and implement them

In the third step, the project participants had to decide which project they wanted to work on and how much time they needed for it. At the same time, each project participant was assigned a "mentor" who was to provide advice but not carry out the work. The only requirement was that the individual projects should contribute to improving operational performance. The conclusion of this phase consisted of the project participants presenting their projects to managers and senior management. At the same time, they were in charge of implementing their projects.

Teamwork in a joint project strengthens skills

In the fourth step, the project participants planned a joint project. The focus here was on communicating across departments and discussing and solving difficulties together. The mentors continued to be available for advice and followed the individual steps at all times. Once the participants had agreed on a joint project, they worked together to implement it.

Employees successfully empowered for joint project work

The employee development project ran for a total of two years. Over the entire duration, the participants showed great commitment and made great progress. They developed an understanding of the work of other departments and learned to recognize and solve problems. The older employees enjoyed contributing their knowledge and being an important part of the organization. The project also had a positive impact on the other employees. The desire to participate in the next project increased.