PSL development centres support future leaders at the learning and skills council

The Learning and Skills Council, which aims to make England better skilled and more competitive, has saved over 100,000 in six months, after asking assessment specialist PSL to help identify and develop its next generation of leaders.

The cost of externally recruiting a senior manager can be as much as 35,000, said Steve Lewitt, the LSCís Director of Organisation Development. Weíve developed a process that is enabling us to fill more of our top executive director posts through internal promotions. This is saving us money and it is also sending a very positive message that we take the development of our employees seriously.

PSL analysed the executive director role, to determine the key competencies and skills required, and it ran seven development centres nationwide for 40 directors who were identified as having the potential to become future leaders.

The two-day development centres featured a range of in-tray exercises, written exercises, group exercises, discussions and presentations. PSL psychologists observed the delegatesí behaviour, provided one-to-one feedback and helped each individual to create a personal development plan.

As a result of the development centres, the LSC identified a talent pool of 30 individuals who are capable of making the move to executive level. The LSC now plans to run development centres for the next level in the organisation: heads of department and managers who are looking to move up to director roles.

Development centres are a resource-intensive exercise and they have confirmed to us that we have a substantial pool of talent within the organisation, said Steve Lewitt. PSL have considerable experience in running development centres and their expertise and advice proved extremely helpful.

For more information about PSL, please call 020-8585 2345 e-mail info@psl.com