Train and Develop Employees

Train and Develop Employees

Introduction To succeed, non-profits rely on the passion and commitment of the people who work for the organization. In the same way that these organizations empower the communities they serve, they can also give back to their employees and reward staff commitment by investing in their education and professional development. To do this effectively, employers should create plans and systems that help team members set and achieve professional goals, identify areas for improvement and pursue further education in their field of interest. Creating these systems will help your organization attract and retain staff, increase productivity by clarifying roles and responsibilities, as well as open channels for communication and feedback. By using learning and development plans, a non-profit can help develop employees and volunteers who are: Motivated and productive Equipped to help the organization achieve its goals Able to work effectively without supervision Capable of managing or being involved in new programs Proactive about identifying learning opportunities and areas for improvement This toolkit leads you through the steps of creating a learning and development plan for your employees that fits your organizational objectives and an employee s desired career path. You ll also find a template for an individual development plan at the end of this toolkit, which can be used within your organization to help supervisors and employees create a plan for the coming year s development activities. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 2

Roles and responsibilities Learning and development is a shared responsibility between the organization and its staff. Management provides the resources and an environment that supports growth and development, while each employee takes on full responsibility for their own learning and development. Management Clarify each employee s role and how they can best contribute. Keep track of this information and be sure to update it to reflect any organizational changes. Identify the competencies that the organization will need in the future. What are the long-term goals of the organization and what skills will be even more important? Focus on developing these skills among staff as needed. Collaborate with staff on individual development plans. Clarify who will do what and make sure the expectations are clear. Look for learning opportunities in everyday activities. Encourage employees to share positive or negative learning experiences with coworkers. Employees Figure out where to focus. Work with your manager to identify and prioritize knowledge areas you could develop. Identify goals and activities for development and prepare an individual development plan. Choose specific actions to help you reach your goals. Look for learning opportunities in everyday activities. In addition to agreed upon goals, identify other learning opportunities that would contribute to your development. Be sure to share these opportunities with your manager. Commit. Development is a continuous learning process that takes time, patience and commitment. Communicate your successes with your manager, and initiate a conversation with a supervisor if you are having trouble achieving your goals. Complete regular performance reviews. Work to understand the strengths and areas for improvement of each employee. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 3

Creating a learning plan Creating a learning plan together is a great way to ensure that your organization and team members are on the same page. Coordinating the development of these plans will help clarify responsibilities and expectations, assign a reasonable timeline to keep employees focused and create opportunities for management to have honest, constructive conversations with employees. Successful learning and development programs require: A positive learning environment for all employees Accommodation of different learning styles Varied learning opportunities and educational programs Systems to create specific goals and measure progress Formal and informal channels for feedback Creating a learning and development plan in four steps: StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 4

Let s explore each step in more detail: Step 1: Identify competency gaps Set aside time to discuss performance and identify areas for improvement with your employee. This conversation can be informal, but should include input from both employee and manager, and should lead to the selection of at least three areas for improvement by the employee. For example: An Executive Director at a local art organization has an objective to prepare a comprehensive budget for the fiscal year, so that the organization will be financially prepared to build a centre for emerging artists. The Executive Director has some experience preparing budgets on a smaller scale, but she and her manager agree that she needs more budget planning skills for a task at this level. Improving budgeting skills is a high-priority learning area for the Executive Director. Step 2: Identify learning objectives The conversation should focus on knowledge areas or skills that need improvement, but should also include the employee s interests and goals. Be sure to discuss how the employee s skills and interests can align with the organization s needs, and construct a timeline in which the employee will develop these areas. For example: In consultation with her manager, the Executive Director decides her budgeting objective will be: I will learn to create and monitor budget plans at the organizational level in the next six months. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 5

Step 3: Identify activities Once you ve identified competency gaps, work with your employees to assign followup actions for each gap. Objectives should be SMART specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Make sure your employees are clear on their goals, how they can be achieved and how they will be measured. For example: The Executive Director looks for options that would help her learn more about budgeting. She consults with board members and colleagues, and searches online for courses offered in the community. She decides that a combination of learning activities will best prepare her for the new budgeting responsibilities: Attending an external training course Engaging an experienced board member as a coach and conducting coaching sessions once a month Private study While making these plans for employees, keep in mind that everyone learns differently. Make sure you offer a range of options to help your employees reach their goals. Make this information available to employees, and encourage your teams to provide feedback if there are any other opportunities that would be beneficial to them. Identifying opportunities for your employees to learn on and off the job can help them perform better in their roles and feel more connected to, and valued by, the organization. Below are recommended experiences that may be valuable to your employees and help you retain strong team members. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 6

On-the-job experience Committees Committees comprising staff from across your organization will allow members to see issues from different perspectives and create stronger professional relationships in the workplace. Set aside part of the committee's work time to discuss issues or trends that may impact the organization in the future. Conferences and forums Employees may benefit from attending conferences that are relevant to their position and organization. After an employee attends a conference, invite that employee to present their learnings to the rest of the staff. Sharing the knowledge increases the value of the conference to the rest of the organization and helps the employee reflect on their experience. Some conferences and forums may be considered off-the-job learning. Lessons learned notes Discussing internal and external employee experiences can offer a lot of insight to your team invite staff members to write a brief summary of successful or troublesome experiences they had and examine the employee's actions. If the experience was a negative, work with the employee to identify areas for improvement and ways you can help the employee implement the changes. Field trips If your organization has staff at more than one site, provide employees with an opportunity to visit the other sites. This helps your employees gain a better understanding of the full range of programs and clients that your organization serves and allows them to get better acquainted with other staff members. Field trips to other organizations serving a similar clientele or with similar positions can also provide a valuable learning experience. Get the most out of field trips by highlighting for employees key items or processes to be mindful of at the site, and follow up by giving employees a chance to discuss what they ve learned, suggesting ways to apply any ideas to the organization. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 7

Job aids Provide employees with manuals, checklists, phone lists, procedural guidelines, decision guidelines and other resources to help them perform better in their field. Job aids are very useful for new employees, employees taking on new responsibilities and for activities that happen infrequently. Job expanding Once an employee has mastered the requirements of his or her job and is performing satisfactorily, the employee may want greater challenges. Managers should consider assigning new, additional duties to the employee at this point. Groups with flat organizational structures should consider giving managerial tasks to experienced staff, in order to challenge and keep them developing. Job rotation Consider giving employees short term opportunities to work in a different area of the organization. Employees keep their existing job, but fill in for or exchange responsibilities with another employee. These situations must fit with the employees skillsets or interests, and be agreed upon by any managers involved and the employees. Follow up on the job rotation experience by reviewing with the employee, noting what they took away from the experience and anything they enjoyed or disliked about their temporary role or project. Job shadowing If an employee wants to learn what someone else in your organization does, give that employee the opportunity to shadow and observe him or her at work. This experience should give the opportunity to observe the duties of this person and create opportunity to ask questions; however, in most cases, the shadowing employee will not help with the work. Learning alerts Flag relevant newspaper articles, government announcements and reports for learning and discussion among your team. Prepare a brief summary and one or two key questions for your employees to consider and circulate the item to your team. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 8

Include the item on the agenda of your next staff meeting for a brief discussion. Peer-assisted learning Encourage employees to take time to share their skills with one another by collaborating on tasks that align with their skills. Look for opportunities where these sessions would be mutually beneficial to employees, and encourage employees to identify these opportunities on their own. Special projects Special projects give employees the opportunity to work on a project that is outside their normal job duties. For example, someone who has expressed an interest in event planning could be given the opportunity to work as part of a special events team. Stretch assignments Stretch assignments are similar to special projects, but give the employee an opportunity to stretch past his or her current abilities. For example, a stretch assignment could require an employee to chair a meeting for their first time. To ensure that the stretch assignment will be a positive learning experience, take time both beforehand, to prepare the employee, and afterwards, to discuss what was successful and areas for improvement. Off-the-job learning Courses offered by colleges or universities Many colleges and universities offer courses relevant to employees in the nonprofit sector. Give employees the chance to attend these classes on their own time, or agree for your organization to give them time off with pay to attend. Consider implementing a program where your organization covers the cost of the course for the employee. Professional associations Professional associations provide employees an opportunity to stay current in their chosen field, and to connect with other individuals who work in similar areas. A reading group also provides staff with the opportunity to discuss books or articles that are relevant to the workplace and organization. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 9

Self study Independent reading, e-learning courses and volunteer work provide learning opportunities to your employees that help them develop personally and professionally. Online learning, or e-learning, offers employees educational choices ranging from formal training offered by colleges and universities, to an informal walkthrough of a given subject, to reading reports on a topic. E-learning can take place on or off the job. Classroom training Courses, seminars, workshops Consider offering formal training sessions to employees, or bring a trainer, facilitator and/or subject matter expert into your organization for a training session. You can also look for opportunities to send employees to relevant courses or seminars. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 10

Relationships and feedback Coaching Coaching refers to a pre-arranged agreement between an experienced manager and his or her employee. The role of the coach is to demonstrate skills and to give the employee guidance, feedback and reassurance while s/he practices the new skill. Mentoring Mentoring is similar to coaching, and occurs when an experienced senior professional inside or outside the organization provides guidance and advice to a junior employee. The two people engage one another and develop a working relationship, based on shared interests and values. Networking Some professional specialties have informal networks designed to meet the professional development needs of the members. Members meet to discuss current issues and to share information and resources. Performance reviews Performance reviews are important for evaluation and development. In traditional performance reviews, the manager and employee evaluate the employee's strengths and areas for development, and feedback is gathered from supervisors, peers, staff, other colleagues and occasionally clients. Review results can be used in determining advancement opportunities, and to help the employee further develop important skills and competencies. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 11

Once the manager and employee have decided on a development plan, put it in writing so everyone is clear about the development activities the employee will undertake in the coming year. Example The Executive Director drafts the following learning plan: StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 12

Step 4: Provide feedback Managers should meet with employees regularly to discuss employee progress on objectives. Discussions should happen both informally, on an ongoing basis, and formally, once or twice a year. These discussions should be positive, but can also be corrective if necessary. The finalized learning plan should include input from the employee, and a chance for employees to ask any questions. Example The Executive Director receives feedback on her learning from the course instructor. She also discusses with her coach what she is learning at her course and in her selfdirected reading, getting advice, feedback and encouragement. She receives feedback on ideas from the professionals she meets at the non-profit peer group. Most importantly, she is applying her learning to draft a budget plan for the Board of Directors to review. The feedback from the Board will be a good measure of whether she has successfully achieved her learning objective. Learning and development programs need support from both the organization and individual staff to be successful. Management is responsible for providing the resources and a supportive growth environment, while individual employees are responsible for following through on their goals and working to meet their objectives within the agreed upon timeframe. When used effectively, learning plans can be extremely helpful in making your employees feel valued and valuable, as well as help your organization reach its full potential. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 13

Individual development plan template Creating an individual development plan for your staff is mutually beneficial for employees and the organization. These plans offer a clear path for career development and help employees reach their personal goals. Use the template on the following page to create a plan for each each employee. You can extend the plan to add more developmental objectives as needed. Purpose of the individual development plan Set priorities for employees learning and development Identify available activities and resources to help employees achieve their goals Set a realistic timeframe for achieving those goals Create a process for feedback and progress reviews Sections in the individual development plan Developmental objective for the coming year What does the employee need to achieve? Relationship of objectives to organization goals How will the organization benefit from the development goal? Competencies to be developed What will the employee learn? Activities and resources to develop skills What are the best development activities for the goals identified? Refer to the Learning and Development Resource List for some ideas. What resources are required for the employee to engage in the development activities time, funds, help from others and so forth? Date for completion Individual plans are usually written for a one -year period, but some employees prefer to set short-term (1 year), medium-term (2 years) and long-term (3 years) goals. Longer timeframes may be necessary if, for example, an employee wants to earn a degree or certification in his/her field. StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 14

Individual development plan Name: Manager Name: Developmental objective #1 for the coming year Relationship of the goal to the organization s goals Competencies to be developed Developmental activities Date for completion Resources Developmental objective #2 for the coming year Relationship of goal to the organization s goals Competencies to be developed Developmental activities Date for completion Resources StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 15

Employee s signature Date Manager s signature Date StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 16

About StepUp BC The non-profit sector contributes as much to this province as traditional sectors such as construction, mining and agriculture and its greatest resource is its people. StepUp BC supports British Columbia s non-profit sector in finding creative solutions for attracting, retaining and developing the talent it needs to thrive. We focus on six key areas: Developing existing talent. We provide a range of strategies to help non-profit organizations maximize their existing talent. Recruiting new talent. We help potential candidates see the exciting opportunities a career in the non-profit sector offers. Preparing for leadership succession. We provide guidance on formal succession planning and long-term sustainability. Increasing workforce diversity. We support improved representation through greater gender, age, ethnic and cultural diversity. Ensuring employee satisfaction. We promote the appreciation, recognition and development of varied skill sets. Telling a new story. We re changing perceptions by spotlighting the non-profit sector as a catalyst for revitalization and growth. Whether you are leading a non-profit organization, working for one or considering the non-profit sector as a career choice, StepUp BC can connect you to the tools and information you need to succeed. Learn more at StepUpBC.ca Funding provided through the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement StepUp BC Train and Develop Employees 17