Overview
Hone has had the pleasure of running a customized version of the Manager Core 101 program for Alloy since April 2022 – named AlloyLead – for a total thus far of 35 participants.
AlloyLead Sessions
Coaching I
Motivate Anyone to Do Their Best Work
Collaborate in a Dynamic Workplace
Give Feedback That Lands
During a series of 60-90 minute working sessions, Hone provided high quality service to the HR admins to customize the course content and case studies to align with the company’s mission, vision, values, and branding.
“We needed partners who would do a lot of the data collection on the back end, which was a huge selling point. We were also looking for customizing and something mindful around certain topics. We wanted to be very specific to Alloy, and Hone blew us away.”
The company
Hone provides leadership training for directors and managers of Alloy, an identity verification platform used to detect fraud and make identity management effective and simple for banks.
For this Case Study, we met with the project admin Catherine Petroff, HR Business Partner, to review the company’s experience with Hone.
The challenge
Before partnering with Hone, Alloy recognized that leadership training would benefit their first-time managers. In addition to basic management skills, the company felt tailored content could define what it means to be a manager at Alloy and establish bonds within the newly formed groups. Alloy wanted to create a highly functioning team that used the same language and consistent approach to leadership across the organization.
But as a one-person L&D department in a rapidly developing company, Catherine and the Alloy team needed a partner to provide integral, cohesive training that was easy to manage.
To address the company’s need to upskill and align new managers, Catherine knew Alloy needed a training program that could:
- Develop managers’ skills and confidence to deliver feedback, cross-collaborate with other teams, and delegate to other groups.
- Allow the internal team to tailor the content to be specific to Alloy’s culture and language.
- Be a ‘plug-and-play’ solution for administration.
The solution
After thorough research, Alloy picked Hone’s leadership training program for three main reasons:
- It fit the above criteria,
- the program offered engaging, community-building group workshops, and
- they knew Hone provides a collaborative approach to cultivating content that would suit their needs.
As the project admin, Catherine noted the interprofessional during the first meetings. “It was really collaborative every step of the way. I felt heard during those sessions. Understanding what was important to us. Helping our internal team feel ownership over the content.”
Network of Leaders
Hone and Alloy believe that education and development can optimize managers’ skills as well as create a supportive network of peers. Management can feel lonely without support, especially for promising individuals leading for the first time. But small-group training creates an inclusive and collaborative environment. “We see those programs [as] being effective in someone's career journey. But this was really creating a network, which we were looking for because we were remote at the time.” Realizing this ideology, Alloy offered Hone to all directors and managers.
Bonding in Small Groups
The Alloy management team appreciated the small-group training for the bonding opportunities. In addition to better material retention, workshops encourage participants to deliberate and comprehend information instead of simply memorizing methods and rehearsing scripts. “Classes give you that discussion period and space to be like, ‘This is what I learned last session. This is how I applied it. This is where I might have stumbled a little bit. And this is how I course corrected.”
New managers at Alloy could collaborate on real-world issues and finetune the leadership direction as a team. “I'm learning how I can connect better with the peers. I think an interconnected organization ultimately is a stronger one.”
Administrative Relief
Catherine’s biggest concern was handling the administrative side of learning and developing as a department of one. She disclosed, “I really admire Hone's philosophy and how courses were built. To sell this to the exec team, we need flexibility, which the team was more than happy to accommodate.”
And Hone continues to provide support throughout the process, from designing content to analyzing results. “[Hone] took off all of our backend work of collecting feedback, data, and all those state stats. It was so easy to put in front of stakeholders to show impact. Most importantly, it was great if you have a lean L&D team or you are working on a number of different initiatives.”
Conclusion
For Alloy, Hone delivered on their promise of connecting leaders with the network and tools they need to successfully manage their direct reports. “The facilitators were really good fits. There was a lot of feedback around, ‘I felt like I was part of a community. Managing can be very lonely.’ So, it felt good to have spaces where you could learn and collaborate. Folks were adamant that it was a dynamic learning experience.”
Implementing the Company’s Vision
According to Catherine, participants are employing the training straightaway. “There was a lot of confidence in the organization. We saw people adopting the language, using the tools and the frameworks provided, and then trying [the] processes in their team.”
Growing Alloy
Alloy and Hone plan to identify methods to further unite and strengthen the management team and company. “There were folks who are really invested; will always use the recap or put in their intentions or commitments.”
