The HR Communities of Practice Team hosted several focus groups in May and June and a prototyping workshop over breakfast in early July to solicit input and feedback from colleagues in HR regarding the design and development of UW–Madison’s HR Competencies Program.
The focus groups elicited participants’ definitions of ‘competence’ and ideas about competency in areas including collaboration; execution; engagement, inclusion and diversity; ethics; change management; and problem-solving. The focus groups also generated ideas for what success would look like for an HR Competency Program at UW–Madison; what we should consider as we design the program; and what a ‘truly daring’ HR Competency program could potentially accomplish at UW–Madison. To see what participants came up with, check out the 2016 Focus Group Ideas PPT.
The prototyping workshop over breakfast drew approximately 45 colleagues from HR. The HR Communities of Practice Team began the morning by sharing how a ‘competency’ is distinguished from a specific skill or knowledge; by offering a visual explanation of the guiding framework for how the team is approaching the design of the competencies program; by highlighting the framework’s foundation – the engagement, inclusion and diversity competency; and by inviting participants to discuss their preferred learning styles as a way of reinforcing the need to be inclusive of all learners in the design of solutions. For more information, see the Prototyping Session PPT. The bulk of the session was a working session during which participants gathered at seven different tables to prototype learning, practice and assessment solutions for one of the seven competencies. The HR Communities of Practice Team along with colleagues who served as table facilitators during the prototyping session will present a summary of what was ideated at a special 10-11am HR Reps session. Stayed tuned for specific date by watching the HR CoP Calendar.