How did Glera Games improve the competence of novice managers?

Alena Zhuravleva, ex-HRD Glera Games

Why did Glera Games think about improving competencies?

In the company, 70% of management positions are held by employees who have been promoted to team lead and above directly within the company. Because of this, there has always been an understanding: there is a fairly high chance that a new manager may not be aware of some processes and management nuances. Last year, the team decided to fix this situation.

Adapting aspiring executives to their new role in the industry is generally an underappreciated process: the vast majority of aspiring executives face difficulties when they move to a new role in the company.

How did they solve the situation with the help of Glera Leadership?

There are several ways to fix the situation. Companies usually resort to external adaptation programs. Glera Games acted differently — they developed and implemented their own, Glera Leadership.

The program was the preparation of content on various topics.

Five themes were selected for the first launch:

1. Recruiting in Glera Games. The block includes a wide range of issues — from familiarization with the system where candidate profiles (ATS) are stored, to instructions and tips for conducting interviews and evaluating candidates.
2. Onboarding. It's all about why this process is needed, who is involved in the process and in what roles, who is responsible for what and in what time frame it should be implemented.
3. The procedure and processes of personnel adaptation adopted by Glera Games.
4. Employee development. This block includes topics on one-on-one meetings and skills for communicating feedback to employees.
5. Parting with an employee. Within the framework of this topic, the issues of dismissal were highlighted (at the initiative of the company, at the initiative of the employee, what procedures are there, what nuances).

Each topic in the program consisted of:

1. Video Tutorial

A record with a story about how a particular process is implemented in Glera Games, how it is important and how it helps in the work of the head. Describes in detail the tools available to the supervisor on this topic. The duration of the video is from 5 to 20 minutes.

2. Practical materials

This includes checklists, questionnaires, support questions for talking to an employee, and other materials that can be printed or used electronically.

Slide from the Glera Leadership program

In the course of independent work, the company's employees had to get acquainted with both the theory and implement the tools they had.

The deadline for completing the course was set at three weeks. This was done so that listeners would have the opportunity to listen to the materials in a comfortable way. Plus, it was important that production tasks were not affected.

During the training, a group of students met with HR twice to discuss practical cases and answer questions.

By the way, in the process of creating the course, its target audience was expanded. It so happened that the course turned out not only for young professionals who received promotion within the company, but also for those managers who came to the company from the outside, already with team management experience. For them, the course became an opportunity to get acquainted with the processes of personnel management in the company as part of their probation period and adaptation.

What results have you achieved with the help of the program?

The program was launched in three threads. On average, one group consisting of 15 people took part in the program per month. A total of 47 employees at the Team Lead and Manager levels completed the training.

The learning progress is as follows:

• 78% have completed their studies;
• 8% completed 50% of the course;
• 14% have not even started studying the materials.

The attendance of practical meetings (two practical meetings per course) averaged 70%.

100% attendance would be ideal, but, alas, in the real world an unattainable result. Since the course was limited by time limits, there was always a factor of unforeseen circumstances: someone got sick, someone had a high food load, and so on.

The program received a high level of course assessment from the students: 86% of the students gave the highest marks, the average grade was 14%.

Of the important things, we also note that at the end of the program, 25% of managers introduced One-on-one practice on a monthly basis with their employees, and 31% of listeners noted that it increased the transparency of processes for them.

Slide from the Glera Leadership program

Overall, Glera Leadership was able to:

• to help novice managers navigate the HR management processes faster and feel confident in their new role;
• to develop their team management skills and help them master the necessary knowledge and skills of working with staff in order to effectively manage the team and achieve their goals;
• to train managers on topics relevant to the company, including introducing management tools that are currently available in the company and that will help solve specific tasks when working with a team;
• reduce the risk of managerial mistakes that can negatively affect the team and the company as a whole due to inexperience;
• to develop a management culture in the company.

How much time and resources did it take to implement the program?

Six months have passed from the idea to the launch of Glera Leadership. Participated in the implementation of the project:

• The HR team, whose specialists independently worked on the methodological preparation of topics, recorded video materials;
• the recruitment team, which was responsible for the methodological preparation of the hiring topic and also independently recorded video materials;
• The Employee brand management team, which carried out video editing and animation, as well as prepared presentations and illustrative material, plus helped with filming.

What are the results?

Glera Games was satisfied with the results of the course. Now the studio has plans:

1. Transfer the course to an individual mode: it will be assigned as a probationary task in managerial positions, as well as to employees assigned to a managerial role for the first time as a secondary adaptation.

2. Develop version 2.0, which will include:

• materials for more experienced managers;
• additional materials for the development of soft skills;
• more complex examples.

3. To hold more practical meetings for the exchange of experience between managers outside the course.

Slide from the Glera Leadership program

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I hope that the Glera Games experience will inspire HR teams and top management of companies to invest in training aspiring managers. This is an important investment that can lead to improved team performance and increased staff engagement.