Mueller - Developing our staff

We are off and running this year and if we have not already designed some professional development days for the entire staff and particular individuals or teams É now is the time.

How do we go about planning successful, meaningful programs where the return on investment is guaranteed? It takes careful planning and coordination. First we need to go back and take a look at the job descriptions we discussed last month -- every job description will include a body of knowledge required for the position-holder. Often there are skills that the employee needs to fulfill his job description. Are these skills up to date and complete?

Next, everyone has a desired path within the organization. As leaders and managers we must ask ourselves, "What do we need to provide to allow for individuals to grow and move throughout the company?" We must identify weaknesses and strengths of our staff, and find the key result areas that we should focus on to develop our people.

Interesting idea -- if we have employees' skill sets that would be typically rated on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the most proficient, where do we start? John Maxwell, world famous business speaker and consultant, suggests that we identify the "7's and 8's" and develop them first. Think about it -- it is human nature that we will probably only develop upwards of a scale of two. So, we should focus on the strengths -- turn those skill sets from 7's and 8's into 9's and 10's and we will benefit the person and the organization better.

That is not to say we should not develop the skill areas that we rate our people lower in -- it just means start with the strengths first. When our staff has weaknesses we should always work to develop them, just after the strengths are tapped out. This is a difficult concept to understand, and it took me a while to buy into it. If we think about what a specialized society we are, it makes sense. I would much rather have a neonatologist take care of my premature newborn than a general practitioner. Think of the neonatologist as the person with skill sets rated in the near 10's in premature infant care.

When considering training, please consider the persons being trained. Have we asked them for their thoughts? Often times I am brought in to deliver training and the participants have not bought into the program or the fact that a particular area needs to be addressed. It is not near as productive if we "surprise" the participants with an initiative. Buy in and communication with the participants is crucial to the success plan of the training.

Many organizations invest large sums of money on training but do not invest in any type of system for accountability for the training. Sometimes by just having the training program be time-phased, that is delivered in short segments over a period of time, it becomes much more real-life, and allows for trainer follow-up and participant accountability.

Many times I have participants commit to using particular segments of the training to their supervisors, at the very time of the training. By writing it down, or immediately verbalizing it to someone else, there is a greater sense of follow through.

Some organizations have policies that anyone who participates in training must come back and "give a report" of their time spent. This simply means the participant was there and can recount the program-we must look for commitment and accountability.

Sometimes the supervisor can develop an "accountability grid" using the course objectives. This is accomplished by setting metrics and time deadlines to the objectives -- similar to evaluating an employee on their goals, using the course objectives as the goals. Periodic review and rewards are a must.

Sometimes we look at training as just hands-on skill development-critical training in areas such as safety, computers, or other technologies. We must focus on "soft-skills" as well. By this I mean the human side of professional development. We should always focus on being process-based, and yet we must remember it is the people who develop, drive, and manage the processes.

By developing effective human relations skills, leadership and communications skills in our employees, they will be equipped to build trust internally and externally. People buy from people they know and trust, and people will work for people they trust and understand. It is only when employees feel a sense of belonging and personal satisfaction within an organization that they become not just compliant, but committed. This allows for a true team to develop in the workplace.

Set aside some budget dollars, some time, and get creative with a skilled facilitator and plan the year's training. We must develop a comprehensive approach, one that builds on itself, and builds our people to their maximum potential.

Sharon Mueller is president of Success Skills, a staff development and training company committed to the success of a client's enterprise through improving the performance of employees and processes within the client's organization. She can be reached at 332-0900 or smuellerk@hotmail.com.