CASE STUDY
People Manager Academy
Giving busy managers control over their development while keeping the focus on demonstrated performance.
Leadership Development • Personalized Learning • Microlearning • AI-Enabled Assessment
TOOLS
Articulate Rise •
Mindtickle
DELIVERABLES
Scripts • Videos •
Asynchronous Microlearning
COLLABORATORS
Learning Architect & Internal Reviewers
ROLE
Instructional Designer
AUDIENCE
Sales, Customer Success & Marketing Managers
Project Snapshot
The Challenge
Surveys of senior leadership and people managers identified several capabilities managers needed to strengthen to effectively lead their teams and support company goals. At the same time, managers were navigating significant organizational change while balancing demanding workloads.
Practical development. Limited time. Immediate application.
Analysis & Insights
Surveys of senior leadership and people managers helped identify the capabilities managers needed to strengthen while also revealing an important design constraint: managers needed practical development that could fit within demanding workloads.
KEY INSIGHTS
Organizational Change
Managers needed help guiding through change.
Manager Capability
Coaching, conflict resolution, and prioritization emerged as development needs.
Limited Bandwidth
Long-form training wasn't practical.
The Solution
Rather than requiring every manager to complete the same curriculum, the Academy was organized around learner choice. Each of the three areas: Business Acumen, Influence, and Adaptability, began with a pre-assessment tied directly to the available micro-learning. Managers used their results to identify the resources most relevant to their individual needs.
I designed and developed approximately 15 optional microlearning courses and videos for immediate workplace application. Individual courses were five minutes or less and typically introduced one or two memorable strategies, such as COIN (Context, Observation, Impact, Next Steps), followed by brief scenario-based practice.
HOW THE ACADEMY WORKED
Assess
Identify development needs
→
Choose
Select relevant learning
→
→
Learn & Apply
Explore practical strategies
→
Practice
Try them in scenarios
Demonstrate
Complete AI role play
→
Use feedback and retry
Improve
→
Earn
Demonstrate competency
Application & Practice
Managers were encouraged to select a peer partner and meet regularly as they progressed through the Academy. Discussion questions for each learning area supported conversations about how they were applying the strategies on the job.
PRACTICE
Brief scenarios provided low-risk opportunities to apply new strategies, while optional peer discussions encouraged managers to connect what they were learning to challenges they were experiencing on the job.
Completing every course wasn't required to earn the badge; demonstrating the capability was.
DEMONSTRATE
At the end of each learning area, managers completed generative AI role plays based on authentic tasks such as coaching an employee, communicating organizational change, or writing to leadership.
My role: Provided content input and reviewed the AI role plays during development.
IMPROVE
AI evaluated each submission against a rubric aligned to the learning objectives. Managers needed a score of 80% to demonstrate competency and could use the feedback to revise their approach and try again.
Results
3
managers completed the full Academy during the initial launch period
I left the organization shortly after launch, so longer-term completion and performance data were not available to me.
Behind the Scenes
The Academy required our team to produce learning assets much faster than our existing development process allowed. I helped redesign the workflow, replacing a lengthy, SME-dependent process with a more agile, iterative cycle built around close collaboration between the Learning Architect, internal reviewers, and me.
PREVIOUS DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
6 - 8 WEEKS
REDESIGNED DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
~ 2 WEEKS
TEAM OUTPUT
1 - 4 ASSETS WEEKLY
Core Capabilities Demonstrated
Performance Analysis & Learning Strategy | Learning Experience & Curriculum Design | Applied Learning & Practice
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