Transforming STEM Talent
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Category: Specialist development, Leadership development
We were tasked with developing solutions to improve the mindset and emotional intelligence (EI) capability of Dstl staff. The target audience was mainly Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) talent, with a high proportion identifying as neurodiverse. It also included adapting to ensure effective delivery during the Covid pandemic.
Previous research indicated that a mindset of Growth and enhanced EI capability is essential for Dstl achieving its purpose. For example, Dstl researchers reported significantly lower levels of Self Belief (I’m not Okay) than the general population. Crucially, this increases the likelihood of defensive, Survival behaviours, e.g. increased burnout, low collaboration, blame, avoidance of conflict, resistance to change, etc.
Our solution needed to target and improve Self Belief and EI for everyone at Dstl, which included the neurotypical and neurodiverse. They needed a practical development approach and toolkit that would enable personal performance more consistent with Growth than Survival.
The result was a blend of in-person and self-managed learning alongside workplace application and mentor support. We delivered the in-person elements with two residentials: ‘Realising my Impact’ (three days) followed by ‘Sustaining my Impact’ (two days) three months later (equivalent of our Mindset to Lead programme).
We designed it around two psychometrics to raise awareness at the start and to track progress at the end:
The residentials provided space to understand their Growth and Survival patterns through the completion of experiential activities using our toolkit along with facilitator and peer coaching, self-reflection and, importantly, application back in the workplace.
The advent of Covid meant a complete format change. The approach was to maximise time for coaching and feedback with scheduled online webinars. The knowledge aspects were completed through a series of online modules, alongside online learning sets for experiential activities. Both were self-managed.
One key challenge was accessing feedback aligned with the digital content. It resulted in:
More Growth, less Survival
From our research we knew it was essential to increase those in Growth and reduce those in Stuck. Both programmes delivered transformational results. Growth increased from 20% to 44% in-person (more than doubled) and from 13% to 36% for virtual (nearly tripled). Stuck reduced from 40% to 16% in-person (over halved) and 43% to 22% in-virtual (halved).
Intention-to-quit halved
Interviews confirmed at least 15 resignations were avoided ensuring the retention of vital technical specialisms:
“Before RMI I was doing this training to help me to leave, now I see my Survival mindset was impacting how I felt all along. I now want to commit for the long-term.” Senior Scientist.
Transformational impact with neurodiverse participants
RMI/SMI is key to Dstl’s neurodiversity support:
“I can‘t thank you all enough for what you have taught me and how much of a positive impact your teachings have had on my life. The calmer me…is very much modelled on what I took away from the RMI…it really helped me to realise my full potential in the workplace and… at home.” Scientist.
Wider impact
90% of in-person participants and 95% of virtual rated RMI/SMI as ‘very’ to ‘extremely valuable’.
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