Managers given the tools to release the potential in their teams
Glasstap, whose innovative Trainers' Library service is used by professional trainers in more than 50 countries, has expanded its expertise to provide a service that will help transform managers into leaders.
It is generally accepted that learning and development is critical to any organisation’s success, but unless the line manager can support and continue the efforts of the learning and development professionals, much of the opportunity for growing talent is easily lost.
Glasstap has been enabling professional trainers for more than 13 years with its innovative services including Trainers’ Library, but the company was becoming increasingly concerned that they needed to do more to help line managers effectively support and develop their staff.
That’s the thinking behind the company’s new service, Managers’ Library (www.managerslibray.com). Piloted between September and December, the service is now available to any organisation that has managers.
Rod Webb, co-founder of Glasstap explains: “With Managers’ Library, we’ve taken a two-pronged approach to helping managers tap into their team’s potential. Firstly, with our library of training materials, we’re giving managers access to simple training activities they can to develop their teams’ skills. They’re short so they won’t encroach too much on the normal work of the department; in fact they should be able to use them in existing team meetings. But they’re engaging and powerful too.”
“Secondly, we’re providing managers with tools that will help them develop their own people development skills. Our self-study guides are practical, interesting and work-based. And we’ve added video, top tips and blogs too.”
The design team were keen to ensure that Managers’ Library is mobile friendly.
As Craig Worcester (the other co-founder of Glasstap) says: “People are using smart phones and tablets all the time, and we wanted to ensure that managers using our new service can do so wherever they have reasonable internet access – in the office, or on the train to work, for example. And we wanted to make everything bite sized; geared towards the way people naturally use their mobile devices.”
Rod emphasises that Managers’ Library is not intended to replace traditional training workshops and courses; they will always be important. But it enables Glasstap to provide a comprehensive solution that supports both the professional trainers, and the line managers who must continue the vital role of developing people’s potential, when formal learning ends.