702 Leading and Developing People to Optimise Performance

Unit Overview

702 Leading and Developing People to Optimise Performance is a unit within the CMI Level 7 module that improves the ability of the leaders within the organisation to impact the performance of other people. Performance management requires the leader to effectively handle the process of providing development opportunities within their areas of responsibility. It is important that leaders understand the methods that they can use to develop the people within their areas of responsibility. Developing people involves different approaches to performance management.

Leaders can implement the use of both incentives and motivation approaches, such as rewards as well as the implementation of mentoring, training, and coaching approaches that help them to acquire the relevant skills that they should use within their areas of responsibility. Leaders play a critical role in the development of individuals within the workplace. It is, therefore, important that these leaders are taken through the process of training and learning that equips them with the understanding of strategies that they can use to influence the performance of others in their areas of leading and operation.

702 Leading and Developing People to Optimise Performance is a critical unit that provides the opportunity to effectively handle the process of leading and developing other people. Within the unit, the leaders are introduced to critical principles, tools, and techniques that they can use to improve the performance of others. They are also guided to develop principles that they can use to build the desired learning experience and activities hence improving their performance within their areas of responsibility. The unit is taught in 34 hours of guided learning and contributes 10 credit values towards the completion of the CMI Level 7 module.

Suitability of the Unit

Leaders must be in a position to influence the performances of individuals in their areas of responsibility. Performance management is one of the main tasks that leaders must fulfill within the organisation to ensure that they are able to lead individuals to achieve maximum performance hence optimising the performance of the organisation in general. Performance management utilises different mechanisms, including the use of development and learning mechanisms and approaches. Leaders must be able to effectively identify the learning needs of the individuals that they are tasked with leading.

Understanding these learning needs is a critical feature in ensuring that the leaders are able to develop techniques and approaches that can be used to address the learning need of the people being led. 702 Leading and Developing People to Optimise Performance is, therefore, a critical unit that improves the leading capabilities of the management as well as the procedure of creating development activities.

The unit is designed to target the strategic managers and leaders within the organisation. These include the CEO and directors of the company. The individuals are responsible for implementing strategic development that provides the employees with training that helps them to adjust to future skills needs. The unit can also be pursued by other stakeholders, including the middle and junior managers who handle individuals and need to optimise their performance. Other critical stakeholders who can pursue the unit are development professionals who provide external consultants to organisations. 

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learners should be able to:

• Discuss the impact of leadership, culture, and people development on performance

• Evaluate the impact that development could have on both individual and organisational performance

• Appraise the role of human resource policy and strategy in information the approaches used to lead and develop individuals within the workplace

• Explain different strategies that can be used to promote engagement, mental health, and well-being within the workplace as a critical feature in improving the performance of the individuals

• Make recommendations for leadership and development strategies that value people and optimise the success of the organisation in meeting specific goals and objectives.

Key Learning Areas

702 Leading and Developing People to Optimise Performance is a unit that focuses on helping leaders to develop good leadership practices. This involves being able to lead and develop people within the workplace. Some of the main areas of learning covered within the unit include:

Principles of Leading and Developing People

This area of learning focuses on ensuring that the leaders are able to align the leadership and development strategies to the organisational culture and the specific needs of their organisations. They are guided to set effective objectives, generate ideas and a culture based on collaboration and trust to boost performance. The leaders are also guided to understand the inclusive and innovative approaches that can drive performance and help employees to excel in their activities.

Learners are also guided to ensure that the HR policies developed within their workplace support their leadership and development strategies. This includes ensuring that the HR professional embrace the approaches of optimising performance through development. The learners are also introduced to the concept of psychological contract, which requires them to focus on the well-being, professional and personal, of their employees.

Leadership and Development Strategy

This area of learning helps the learners to effectively develop motivated and satisfied employees within the workplace. The leaders are guided to understand approaches that can influence the people within their areas of responsibility to pursue their full potential. The leaders are introduced to different approaches to achieving leadership and development approaches.

This includes strategies such as providing incentives for a specific level of performance, creating collaborative approaches between the managers and other staff and ensuring the environment based on trust and confidentiality. The leaders are also guided to understand the approaches to assessing the development strategy to ensure that it is based on valuing people. They are taught performance review systems and focus on SMART goals within the workplace.

Evaluation

The unit utilises both theoretical learning methods and interactive approaches to provide the learners with the desired skills. The approaches therefore engage the learners to ensure they acquire both theoretical and practical learning. The assessment process is based on a written assessment and simulated exercises. These approaches evaluate the ability of the learner to relate to the theoretical concepts learned and use them in practical settings.