Manager Participation in LDPs Maximized!

Let’s be honest—every L&D manager wants managers to sign up for and actively engage in Leadership Development Programs (LDPs). At first glance, this seems like a motivation problem. And when we talk about motivation, it’s hard not to discuss self-determination theory. In this article, I’ll give a brief overview of self-determination theory and explore how it applies in learning contexts. Specifically, how it can help drive manager participation in LDPs in the form of enrolment and meaningful engagement.

A Word on Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

Motivation literature identifies two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic.

Extrinsic motivation is when people do an activity not because they want to, or because they enjoy it, but because it is a means to an end: obtaining a reward, avoiding negative consequences, or in order to reach a certain goal. Even if the person places value on or derives enjoyment from the activity, this is not what motivates them.

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Intrinsic motivation is doing something for its own sake, exercising the capacity to explore, learn, seek novelty, and challenge oneself. People who are intrinsically motivated do activities because they are interesting, or because they derive enjoyment from doing them.

It might seem that coupling the two types of motivation is a good strategy; if some people favour one and others favour the other, then you’ve basically covered everybody. However, research shows that adding certain types of extrinsic motivation to cognitive activities actually makes them lose interest and show less engagement. Higher incentives led to worse performance!

Self-Determination Theory (SDT): The Gold Standard in Motivation

Currently, the most prevalent theory of motivation is probably Edward Deci’s and Richard Ryan’s self-determination theory, probably due to it featuring in the writings of authors like Daniel Pink and being beautifully illustrated by the popular video by RSA Animate (though in it he uses slightly different words: mastery instead of competence, and the concept of purpose instead of relatedness).

This theory focuses on intrinsic motivation and proposes that there are 3 conditions needed to intrinsically motivate someone to do something.

Autonomy: Choices Beget Motivation

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To be intrinsically motivated, people need to have the autonomy to choose their path. In the context of leadership programmes, managers like to be given a choice regarding the topics they will learn, the techniques they will use, the groups in which they will interact, and the domains on which they will apply their newly acquired knowledge.

Relatedness: Belonging is Core Human Need

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Belonging is a core human need; when people feel they are connected to a group in any way, it serves to increase their motivation. A social connection with the group they are learning with, or a shared purpose amongst them will work towards motivating managers to engage much more in learning programmes.

Competence: When People Get Better, They Engage!

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People become motivated when they feel that they are good at something, and especially when there is a visible indication of progress, of getting better. In that sense, learning programmes generally will impart a sense of competence on managers, but a well-designed platform could go a long way towards solidifying their feeling of competence.

Let’s look at self-determination theory in the context of leadership development programmes, seeing how this theory of motivation can be used to increase manager participation in LDPs and help them remain engaged throughout their participation in the programme.

Boosting Manager Participation in LDP Enrolment with SDT

This might be the first obstacle facing the L&D manager: people have to sign up for the programme first.

The easy answer is to mandate attendance… but that means you’re choosing the path of extrinsic motivation, usually in the form of a reward on signing up or some negative consequence on not attending. Could this be detrimental to manager participation in LDPs? It could be: you risk demotivating those who were intrinsically motivated, those who wanted to learn for the sake of learning. Furthermore, people might end up looking for the bare minimum that they can do to get the reward or avoid the punishment, because that becomes the objective and people—especially managers—value efficiency.

How can we remedy this?
Here are some applications of self-determination theory that might greatly help you boost manager enrolment in learning development programmes.

Meaningful Choices Increase Manager Engagement in LDPs [Autonomy]

Sometimes giving managers the choice to learn is all you need for them to enrol in development programmes. Giving them a choice in the topic they want to learn makes them committed to their own choices, customised to their specific professional needs and interests. This might require creating different learning paths, and therefore revisiting the whole training architecture in the organisation.

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Less difficult to implement is having choices within learning paths, such as options in modules or programme components, different time slots for attending, and various modalities for learning. These can include face-to-face classroom learning bundled with online components, or a blended mix of both. Try to implement programmes providing choices in supporting material such as books, articles, videos, audios, and social resources like coaches and mentors.

Another choice is the group or team they join. Your programmes might extend for months, so managers forming their own teams increases engagement. It also provides relatedness. If the programme doesn’t have a clear direction for how teams will be formed, then it might be done on the fly and therefore not provide the choices necessary to engage manager autonomy.

If you communicate choices clearly before launch (such as internal comms campaigns), it makes managers more excited to join such an autonomous learning environment. Based on the usual interventions I’ve seen over years, this is a breath of fresh air amidst the usual fixed tracks of traditional programs. It’s important to let managers know they have meaningful choices in order to glean benefits of autonomous learning.

Eliteness of Alumni Makes Managers Participate [Relatedness]

If managers feel that they will be part of something grand and important, they’re more likely to want to belong to it.

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One way to make them feel that enrolling in your LDP makes them part of prestigious elite is to work with your vendor to provide ramifications reaching beyond the walls of the classroom, in the form of clearly labelling and branding previous graduates and alumni. This works by making them identifiable within the organisation and giving them special status rendering the programme akin to a university.

This is usually implemented by creating an alumni club with benefits like future learning opportunities or access to elite or advanced interventions. A programme can keep alumni in the picture by keeping them connected with current cohorts, further increasing the signal of relatedness. This can be done by having them act as welcoming committees for new participants, or as guides and mentors throughout the learning journey. As stated earlier, even if the vendor provides such a programme, it will require tight communication and collaboration from your L&D department to make this successful.

If the programme runs long enough, some of the alumni will eventually become high-ranking executives, lending much more strength to the programme from which they graduated. Imagine if managers start saying: “The CEO took this programme 10 years ago!” How much more motivated will they be to participate in it? It gives off a powerful signal of success and efficacy.

Signed Up? SDT Increases Manager Participation in LDPs by Heightening Engagement

The first day of an intervention usually holds some interesting surprises. We have an attendance sheet sent beforehand by L&D, but when we match it to reality, there are usually a few gaps in the seats. This is nothing of course compared to the gaps in things like assignment submission! It’s hardly a success if managers enrol but don’t show up. Or start showing up, but the numbers dwindle as their enthusiasm falters over time, or they keep attending but don’t do the actual work that will help them develop. That’s why the second challenge after signing them up is keeping managers engaged throughout the length of the programme.

Following are applications of self-determination theory to increase manager participation in LDPs and engagement in development programmes, helping you keep those attendance, participation, and completion numbers up.

Manager Participation in LDPs Increases If They Belong to Teams [Relatedness]

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As stated by Deci & Ryan, people want to belong to a group. This can greatly benefit programme engagement as belonging to a group brings with it a series of behaviours, including wanting to conform to group norms and wanting to act in ways that are praised by the group. This will create a virtuous cycle that keeps people engaged to attend, to come early, to participate, and to complete assignments and the entire programme with their group. That being said, group formation should be an integral part of the programme’s design. There are many ways to form groups and teams within a programme: they can be static or changed every few milestones, random or by choice of facilitators or participants, homogeneous or diverse. Look for interventions and programmes where group formation is a core feature, has clear direction and guidelines, and has a philosophy and rationale for these design choices.

'If programmes don’t have clear direction for team formation, it will be done on the fly and might not provide the choices necessary to engage manager autonomy.'

Why—you might ask—is grouping such a big deal? In addition to the benefits for engagement, it could also be extremely beneficial to group together people from different departments, for example, rather than just group department colleagues together. The synergy created by a more diverse group is often much more effective at providing insights and better problem solving than a homogenous group. This ultimately creates a richer learning environment, where managers not only feel great about getting to appreciate these different perspectives, but their learning outcomes are more profound. I’ve personally seen the effect of a dynamic group on a manager’s learning journey, and I can’t overstate its importance enough.

Programme Components Should Come in Ascending Difficulty [Competence]

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An important aspect to consider when deliberating programmes to implement is the sequencing of components. This isn’t a textbook, so interventions shouldn’t just come in whatever order seems logical or convenient. There are psychological aspects to consider. One aspect you should look at when critiquing programmes is the difficulty trend of the sequence. Is the difficulty trending upwards, starting with the easiest topics and building up? Or is the programme providing difficult components upfront? Or is there no real sequence behind the programme?

Throughout the large number of managers I’ve helped develop, I’ve found it prudent to start from their areas of competence. So, I always start with something they already know, or something not so far from what they know. As confidence in the material increases, I can increase the difficulty, giving them time to absorb the new topics and gain competence therein.

'If it runs long enough, alumni become high-ranking executives, lending strength to the programme. Imagine if managers say: “The CEO took this 10 years ago!” How motivated will they be to participate?'

I generally perceive managers (especially senior ones) as competent people. So, I know it isn’t always easy to gauge what is difficult for a cohort of senior managers or executives. However, some topics tend to be more difficult for the unspecialised than other, more familiar topics. For example, detailed financial management topics or statistical analyses are generally more difficult. Flooding managers with difficult concepts right out of the gate usually creates a sense of frustration that negatively impacts engagement.

Thus… SDT Increases Manager Participation in LDPs

We’ve taken a look at self-determination theory and its application on manager participation in LDPs (learning & development programmes). In addition, we’ve also looked at how we can use it to boost enrolment. Hopefully, you can now experiment with applying it during the programme to keep people engaged in their learning.