Transcript Staff Development - Nonprofit Capacity Building

Staff Development
Thomas P. Holland, Ph.D., Professor
Institute for Nonprofit Organizations
When should staff development
be done?
• Performance evaluations indicate improvement is
needed (reduce performance gaps)
• As part of an overall professional development program
• To help employees or volunteers prepare for planned
change in organizational roles (fill growth gaps)
• To train about a specific topic, such as
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Communications
Computer skills
Client/customer service
Diversity
Ethics
Human relations
Safety
Discrimination, harassment
Performance Diagnostic Questions
• Mission/goals: Are the mission and goals of the
individual congruent with those of the
organization?
• System design: Do individuals face obstacles
that impede their job performance?
• Capacity: Does individual have the mental,
physical, and emotional capacity to learn?
• Motivation: Does individual want to perform
well?
• Expertise: Does individual have the knowledge,
skills, and experience to perform well?
Needs Analysis
• For whole organization: What knowledge and
skills are required for organization to meet its
goals? Should we hire or recruit volunteers for
needed competencies or train existing staff or
volunteers?
• For projects: What demands will this project
place on our staff? What gaps exist between
current competencies and those required by
project?
• For individuals: What is needed for this person
to improve work performance (in existing role or
in new one)?
Web sites for
Training Needs Assessments
• http://humanresources.about.com/od/trainingnee
dsassessment/ht/training_needs.htm
• www.csc.noaa.gov/needs
• www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/training/archiv
es/page10072.cfm
• wwwgroup.slac.stanford.edu/esh/…/trainingProcedAs
sessment.pdf
• Search for other resources by putting “training
needs assessment” in Google search site.
Common forms of Development
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On-the-job experience
Formal or informal learning
Apprenticeships, internships
Career counseling
Coaching, mentoring
Continuing education
Professional conferences
Job rotations, cross-training
Peer learning, feedback
Forms of Learning for Individuals
• Training: helping person learn specific knowledge or skills.
• Coaching: guidance on mastering skills or solving interpersonal
problems (using, for example, 360 assessments, Johari’s window, MyersBriggs, stress management techniques)
• Goal setting: helping people formulate goals and priorities for
improving their own effectiveness
• Performance appraisal: modifying ways of assessing employee
performance more carefully and using feedback to improve.
• Job descriptions: useful when job duties are ambiguous and
expected results unclear.
• Cross-training: rotating individual to other positions in organization
• Career planning: for individuals who have outgrown their roles and
want new skills and challenges.
• Procedures manual: formalizing the approved methods for
handing common problems in work.
• Process improvement: steps to improve the effectiveness of ways
people do their work and interact.
Andragogy vs Pedagogy
• Addresses current, realworld problem
• Person highly motivated
to solve current problem
• Involves actual applying
new ideas and materials
• Exchange ongoing
feedback about trial
experiences
• Self-directed, learner
centered
• Based on competence
and trust
• Addresses pre-formulated
problems
• External motivations by
rewards and penalties
• Involves applying ideas
already provided
• Periodic feedback via
tests
• Learner is dependent on
the teacher
• Based on power and
control
Requirements of Adult Learners
• Must be willing to grow, take risks, face
new experiences
• Openness to ongoing feedback from trials
of new ideas
• Trust instincts, engage in self-directed
learning
• Requires high internal motivation to
pursue growth, mastery of new skills, selfimprovement
Phases of Adult Learning
• Adults engage in determining their own
learning needs based on their goals,
based on experiences and feedback.
• Adults want to create and implement their
own learning processes.
• Adults try/test their own earning in work (or
outside) to evaluate its usefulness.
Phases of Adult Learning
• Adults engage in determining their own
learning needs based on their goals,
based on experiences and feedback.
• Adults want to create and implement their
own learning processes.
• Adults try/test their own earning in work (or
outside) to evaluate its usefulness.
Requirements of Supervisors
• Include learners in development planning
to build engagement and ownership
• Schedule regular times to discuss
progress and concerns
• Provide ongoing feedback and support
• Maximize opportunities for feedback
focused on successful applications of new
ideas
How Supervisors Help Staff Learn
• Help person identify needed improvements in
performance
• Encourage person to see knowledge as contextual,
created together
• Create partnership via learning contract
• Foster atmosphere of trust, openness
• Offer ideas about inquiry, critical thinking, making
decisions, personal choice, self-assessment
• Recognize individual learning styles
• Use job experiences as opportunities to learn
• Promote learning networks, learning exchanges
Roles of Coach and Mentor
• Coaching focuses on a
specific job skill
• Agenda set by supervisor
• Short-term engagement
• Provides specific
feedback to improve skill
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Tell person how to do task
Watch as she tries
Give feedback to fine-tune
Person tries until she gets
it right
• Mentoring focuses on
overall career
development
• Agenda set by mentee
• Long-term engagement
• Provides more general,
non-directive interactions
– Explore work issues
together
– Discuss options, possible
consequences
– Offer suggestions, support,
encouragement
Kinds of Learning
• Single-loop learning: following the rules
• Double-loop learning: changing the rules.
Requires thinking beyond instructions,
understanding why one solution works
better than another to achieve a goal
• Triple-loop learning: learning about
learning. Understanding our own patterns
of learning how to deal with problems
Styles of Learning
• People have different approaches to learning, such as
– Visual, auditory, tactile
– Reflective, experiential
• Explore the differences by searching the Internet for
“learning style.” Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory is very
useful.
• Make use of several of the questionnaires to identify
your own style and to understand those of others.
• Identify the implications of these differences for the
performance of work teams.
• Identify approaches to staff development activities that
would take into account the differences among
participants.
Kolb’s Learning Styles
• Accommodator: feeling and doing
– Strengths: getting things done, leading and risk-taking
– Weaknesses: impractical, staying focused
• Diverger: feeling and watching
– Strengths: imagining, brainstorming
– Weaknesses: seeing opportunities, generating ideas
• Converger: thinking and doing
– Strengths: making decisions, solving problems
– Weaknesses: focusing, assessing ideas
• Assimilator: thinking and watching
– Strengths: making plans, creating models
– Weaknesses: learning from experience, seeing the
big picture
Formal vs Informal Learning
• Informal: Occurs naturally as people deal with
issues of work. Tends to be experiential,
unstructured, no specific goals, casual
assessments. Depends on individual
motivations.
• Formal: Based on standards, including
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Explicit goals and objectives
Variety of learning methods
Systematic assessment of accomplishments
Guided by supervisor
Steps in formal, systematic
staff development
• Assessing what knowledge, skills, abilities are
needed by learners
• Designing the learning activities, including goals
and objectives, methods for implementation, and
criteria for evaluation
• Developing the training methods, materials,
schedule, budget
• Implementing them
• Evaluating whether goals and objectives have
been reached (and may address the quality of
the training itself)
Self vs Other Directed
• Self-directed development: learner
decides about goals, what experiences are
to be sought, and how to do so
• Other-directed: Supervisor responsible for
setting goals, planning activities, applying
criteria.
• Mixes are common.
Combinations
• Formal, other-directed: typical courses,
focused on instructor as expert
• Formal, self-directed: learner voluntarily
follows pre-formulated plan
• Informal, other-directed: instructor
identifies goals and tasks while learner
sets own pace, explores other resources
• Informal, self-directed: casual learning
through work experiences
Planning for Staff Development
• Determine goals, based on assessments, gaps in
performance or job requirements, participants’ interests
• Identify competencies needed, set goals
• Specify knowledge, skills needed to reach goals;
formulate each into learning objectives
• Identify resources, activities, methods, and persons
needed to complete each objective
• Formulate learning activities for learning styles of
participants
• Specify criteria and procedures for assessing completion
of each goal and objective
• Set out the sequence steps for implementation, timetable
• Identify the costs for each step; formulate into budget
Implementation Principles I
• Test out the plan with participants, incorporate
their expectations
• Design seating to encourage discussions, eye
contact
• Test out audio-visual materials and equipment in
advance
• Be clear about expectations; invite formulation of
some “ground rules”
• Keep participants involved, energized,
contributing
• Use stories, examples, practical applications
• Encourage participants to collaborate, share,
give feedback
Implementation Principles II
• Challenge and support participants, give constructive,
non-judgmental feedback, encourage others to do so too
• Keep the structure informal, keep climate open
• Let things unfold naturally without heavy control
• Use open-ended questions and demonstrations;
avoid lecturing at length or giving uninvited advice
• Call on everyone; don’t let a few dominate discussions or
avoid discussions
• Build flexibility and free time into agenda
• Review and summarize at end of each section
• Ask for (and use) evaluative feedback often, monitor the
climate, pay attention to nonverbal cues, invite ideas for
mid-course corrections
Design Options by Learning Style
• Accommodators: coaching, debate,
demonstration, games, being on panels,
practice, behavior modeling, dialogue, role
playing, leading
• Divergers: watching demonstrations, listening to
panels, listening to stories, field trips, imagining
possibilities
• Convergers: case studies, projects, discussions,
programmed instruction, solving problems
• Assimilators: lectures, developing plans,
quizzes, reading, study guides, analysis of
problems, reflections, examining polarities,
Q & A, creating models or theories
Aspects of Training to be Evaluated
In order of difficulty
• Reactions: how does learner feel about
the training?
• Learning: what facts, knowledge did the
learner gain?
• Behaviors: what skills did the learner
develop?
• Results or effectiveness: how well did the
learner apply new skills to work and what
results are seen in productivity?
Times and Ways of Evaluation
• Before training: What evidence is there that
identified methods will really result in
participants’ mastery of needed knowledge and
skills?
• During implementation (formative): monitor
engagement; collect feedback from participants;
use short tests
• After completion (summative): compare current
skills with prior levels; supervisor observes work
performance; use outside expert evaluators
Examples of Assessment Tools
• www.washington.edu/oea/services/course_eval/i
ndex.html
• www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/assmt/resource.htm
• www.businessballs.com/freeonlineresources.ht
m
• www.ifrc.org/docs/pubs/health/psycholog/pspma
nual_evalution.pdf
• Search internet for other tools for evaluating staff
development programs.
Discussion Exercise
• Let’s assume that this course is a staff
development program.
• What ideas about learning have you seen
– Demonstrated
– Missing
• What suggestions do you have for making
the course more effective/productive for
you?