Case study: blended rollout of a leadership competency framework

Growing Together

A tablet screen displaying an online goal-setting tutorial titled 'Goals That Matter,' focusing on SMART goals, with color-coded labels for each letter of SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, and example feedback options.

Turning a new leadership competency framework into goals people actually write, track, and talk about.

See The Program
Try The Microlearning

Instructional designer

My role

A statewide early childhood provider

Organization

Directors, supervisors, program and admin staff

Audience

Workshop series, microlearning, resource guide, ADP training

Deliverables

The project at a glance

1. Context

A new competency framework and a renewed performance process, launching together.

2. Gap

Staff needed to write outcome-based goals and enter them in a system many rarely used.

3. Intervention

A blended program where every piece ends in one real, aligned goal.

4. Measure

Goals entered and aligned in ADP, not seats filled in a workshop.

A laptop displaying a presentation slide titled "Growing Together" with a picture of a smiling young girl with long brown hair, wearing a floral dress and a pink hair clip.

The Challenge

An early childhood provider’s leadership team built eight leadership competencies with input from directors, program staff and administrators, aligned to the California Early Childhood Educator Competencies. At the same time, the organization renewed its performance process. Evaluations would now weigh how people lead alongside what they deliver, through three pillars: goals, basic accountabilities and competencies.

Staff across many centers needed to understand the competencies, write goals that were outcomes rather than to-do lists, and enter them correctly in ADP. Supervisors needed to set team goals first, so their staff had something to align to.

A framework on paper doesn’t change anything. Goals people believe in do.

The program

Four components, each built for a different moment: learning together, practicing alone, looking something up, and doing it in the system.

A woman in a gray blazer points at a large screen displaying a smiling young girl with long brown hair. The screen shows a blue section with white text about leadership development and a photo of the girl with her hands clasped, smiling.

Three-session workshop series

Session 1 introduces the eight competencies. Session 2 explains the renewed evaluation from both sides of the table and teaches SMART goals and OKRs. Session 3 covers cascading goals, peer review and hands-on goal creation in ADP.

Screenshot of an online learning module titled "Goals That Matter | Kidango" showing a section called "Module 1 - Why Competencies Matter." The content discusses shared language for great leadership and lists key competencies such as Supervision, Communication, Stewardship, Decision-Making, Adaptability, Strategic Planning, Innovation, and Pedagogical Excellence. There are navigation buttons for "Back" and "Continue" at the bottom.

Five interactive modules in 10–15 minutes. Learners sort vague goals from SMART ones, separate outcomes from tasks, match actions to competencies and rehearse ADP step by step, then close with a knowledge check and a written goal.

“Goals That Matter” microlearning

A book titled "Goals That Matter" placed on top of an open notebook on a wooden desk. There are stacked books and a cup in the background.

A printable pocket guide built for real use, not the file drawer: the eight competencies, SMART and OKR references with common mistakes, a goal-writing worksheet, the ADP path in six steps, and an FAQ.

Employee resource guide

Laptop screen displaying a workflow guide for creating team goals, including steps to name, align, describe, and assign a supervisor goal.

Separate paths for employees and supervisors. Supervisors create the team goal first; employees then align their own goals to it, so every goal traces upward.

ADP workflow training

The design decision: one throughline, one real goal

Competencies, goal writing and the HR system are usually trained separately, and people leave knowing definitions but without a goal. I built every piece of the program to end in the same place: a real goal the learner wrote, connected to a competency and ready to enter in ADP.

How the approach shifted

Typical performance rollout

  • Starts with the software

  • Defines competencies in the abstract

  • Generic corporate templates

  • Learners leave with notes

Growing Together

  • Starts with thinking; ADP is the last 15 min.

  • Shows each one in real time from the provider’s center

  • Examples in early childhood language

  • Learners leave with a peer-reviewed goal

Eight competencies, no hierarchy

Each competency came with observable behaviors, a growth-mindset question and a real moment from one of the provider’s centers, such as a director who replaces a write-up with a coaching observation.

Circle diagram illustrating eight core competencies, including SuperVision, Communication, Stewardship, Decision-Making, Adaptability, Strategic Planning, Innovation, and Pedagogical Excellence, with a central blue circle labeled "8 Competencies."
A graphic showing four sections of text about literacy development in a school setting. Sections are labeled 'Organization,' 'Education department,' 'Center,' and 'Lead teacher,' with details about each. The bottom has a note that says, 'Illustrative example used in the workshop.'

The cascading-goals session used one real thread, kindergarten readiness, so staff could see their daily work connect all the way up.

Every goal traces to a child

In pairs, participants rewrite a weak goal, compare it with a strong sample, then draft their own and swap it for peer review.

In the room

A presentation slide with a dark blue background and orange and white text. It outlines a goal to help teachers improve data usage, with a rewritten objective about coaching teachers to complete DRDP ratings within a two-week window and use the results for lesson planning. It also lists peer review questions about measurement, outcomes, and visibility.

“I really liked the customized aspects and the applicability of the training”

Cynthia, Regional Director

The system is the easy part once the goal is well written. Most performance rollouts start with the software. This one started with the thinking and gave ADP the last 15 minutes.

What I learned

Competencies name how we lead. Goals turn that into outcomes. Conversations keep us honest.