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Managers, Supervisors and HR Professionals

Guide to Managing Human Resources

Chapter 11: Employee Development & Training

Contents

Summary
The challenges associated with the changing nature of work and the workplace environment are as real for the Berkeley campus as elsewhere. Rapid change requires a skilled, knowledgeable workforce with employees who are adaptive, flexible, and focused on the future.

As a manager, one of your key responsibilities is to develop your staff. The Philosophy of Human Resources Management (Appendix B) states that you can:

"Encourage growth and career development of employees by coaching, and by helping employees achieve their personal goals at Berkeley and beyond...[you can develop] human resources by providing adequate training... encouragement of staff development, and opportunities for growth."

The campus recognizes that employee development requires a shared responsibility among the institution, you, and the employee. In this partnership:

The institution

  • ensures that policies and programs facilitate the continuing development of staff

You

  • work with staff to:
    • assess and provide feedback on their skills and interests
    • select training and development activities that match their career development objectives and job needs
  • use The Career Place site as a tool to tell employees about training and development opportunities on campus and to create an annual development plan
  • stay informed of current policies and practices that support employee development
  • follow up with employees after a learning activity to integrate new skills and knowledge into their responsibilities

The employee

  • takes initiative to assess skills and interests and seek development activities that match needs
  • works with you to identify training and development objectives

Most employee development and training programs fall under the following categories:

  • Management Development
  • Career Development
  • Basic Skills
  • Professional Skills
  • Technical Training
  • Supervisory Skills
  • Tuition Reduction

Your support of training and development creates a "win" for the employee and for your workplace. You will have:

  • Employees with upgraded skills, working to their full potential and equipped to deal with the changing demands of the workplace
  • Employees with higher morale, career satisfaction, creativity, and motivation
  • Increased productivity and responsiveness in meeting departmental objectives

Management Development
The management and leadership development process is flexible and continuous, linking an individual's development to the goals of the job and the organization. Management development programs on campus give you the opportunity to develop a broad base of skills and knowledge that can be applied to many jobs on campus. The overarching goal is a comprehensive curriculum for managers and supervisors to develop the necessary core competencies to become excellent leaders. The Employee Relations Unit also provides training for managers and supervisors, along with performance management tools. Expanding management core competencies will enable campus managers to keep pace with the demands of a changing organization.

Guiding Principles
Management development activities can:

  • Encourage growth and career development of employees
  • Improve skills and knowledge that can be immediately applied at work
  • Increase motivation and job satisfaction
  • Create a network of colleagues for problem-solving and support
  • Promote communication and planning throughout campus and department networks

How to Support Management Development

  • Model the behavior you are encouraging; don't neglect your own development.
  • Discuss and create a development plan during the performance planning cycle.
  • Endorse employees attending classes and activities that support development plans and goals.
  • Discuss what the employee learned in classes and support integrating new ideas/methods.
  • Provide timely behavioral feedback on performance and discuss ways to improve and develop further.
  • Provide opportunities for your employees to develop through mentoring, cross-training, internships, campus staff organizations, professional associations, committee and task force assignments, skill assessment programs, and university degree and extension programs.

Career Development
Career development is the ongoing acquisition or refinement of skills and knowledge, including job mastery and professional development, coupled with career planning activities. Job mastery skills are those that are necessary to successfully perform one's job. Professional development skills are the skills and knowledge that go beyond the scope of the employee's job description, although they may indirectly improve job performance.

Since career development is an ongoing, dynamic process, employees may need encouragement and support in reviewing and re-assessing their goals and activities. You are in a key position to provide valuable feedback and learning activities or resources. Formal training and classes away from the job are effective in providing new information, but adult learners also need to practice new skills. Therefore, you can contribute significantly to your staff member's career development by supporting career development activities within your department.

Guiding Principles
Your support for career development is important because:

  • Current information about the organization and future trends helps employees create more realistic career development goals
  • Focus on skill development contributes to learning opportunities
  • Opportunities for promotion and/or lateral moves contribute to the employee's career satisfaction
  • A greater sense of responsibility for managing one's own career contributes to self-confidence
  • Career planning and development clarifies the match between organizational and individual employee goals
  • It's cost-effective to use your own staff talent to provide career development opportunities within your department
  • Career development increases employee motivation and productivity
  • Attention to career development helps you attract top staff and retain valued employees
  • Supporting career development and growth of employees is mandated by the Philosophy of Human Resources Management

How to Support Career Development

  • Refer to Employee Development Opportunities for the career development plan.
  • Annually, conduct an individual development plan and career discussion with employees and require other supervisors in your department to do the same.
  • Hold supervisors in your department accountable for supporting employee development efforts.
  • Create programs and activities to provide skill development, such as job rotation, cross-training, mentoring, internships, coaching, and career strategy groups.
  • Recognize that your role includes providing support and/or release time for staff members' development beyond their current jobs.
  • Support requests for flexible work arrangements from staff members.
  • Serve as a role model by participating in career and professional development opportunities yourself.
  • See staff members' applications for other positions as a healthy sign of a dynamic workplace.
  • Support lateral moves within your organization.
  • Create job vacancy listings that allow for the most diverse applicant pool while honoring transferable skills.

Roles You Can Play
COACH: Helps employees identify strengths, weaknesses, interests, and values by maintaining open, effective communication and ongoing encouragement. You can improve your coaching by:

  • Encouraging two-way dialogue
  • Showing employees how to identify their skills, interests, and values
  • Scheduling uninterrupted career development discussions

ADVISOR: Provides organizational information, realities, and resources to employees. You can improve your advising by:

  • Helping employees develop realistic career goals based on your department's needs and their individual development plans
  • Helping employees understand the current opportunities and limitations on the campus
  • Advising employees on the feasibility of various career options

APPRAISER: Evaluates employees' performance in an open, candid way and relates this to potential opportunities. You can improve your appraisal skills by:

  • Providing frequent feedback in a way that fosters development
  • Conducting performance appraisals that define strengths, weaknesses, and career development needs
  • Relating current performance to future potential in realistic ways
  • Using an individual development plan as a tool for continual feedback and development

REFERRAL AGENT: Helps employees meet their goals through contacts with people and resources. You can improve your referral agent skills by:

  • Helping employees formulate development plans and consulting on strategies
  • Providing opportunities for experience, exposure, and visibility, such as committees and task forces)
  • Using personal resources who you know and what you know to create opportunities
  • Assisting in seeking employees' placement lateral or vertical

CALS Project
The level of skills needed to function in the workplace is higher than it has ever been. Current statistics reveal that more than 47 million Americans are functionally illiterate, that is, lacking in basic reading, writing, speaking, and math skills which allow them to fully participate in their work, personal, and community lives. Many employees in our diverse workforce are struggling; they must keep up with increased overall skill expectations in their jobs while lacking the fundamentals of writing, reading, speaking and/or math skills needed to cope with increasing use of technology and greater workloads.

In response to the campus need, a confidential one-to-oneand small group tutoring program is now providing individualized instruction for employees who come forward requesting help in building their basic skills. Learners are encouraged to bring work-related materials to tutoring sessions, which are scheduled at times and locations mutually convenient to both learner and tutor. You are encouraged to grant learners the release time necessary for participation. Tutoring is provided by volunteers who are certified after participation in a tutor training program. (You are encouraged to grant learners the release time necessary for participation.)

Guiding Principles
Keep in mind that:

  • Strong basic skills enable an employee to better fulfill job responsibilities and contribute to the department
  • Strong communication (writing, speaking, listening) skills are necessary for workplace safety, good customer service, and campus operations
  • Employees are often embarrassed to discuss basic skill issues; they need your sensitivity and support
  • Lack of basic skills does not mean lack of intelligence

How to Promote Basic Skills Development

  • Invite the CALS Project Coordinator to make a presentation to your staff.
  • Encourage all employees to improve their basic skills.
  • Assure employees that tutoring and your conversations about it will be confidential.
  • When sending written communication to employees who may struggle with reading, keep the sentences short and the vocabulary limited; allow for a generous amount of space within the text for easier reading.
  • Model efforts to improve your own skills.
  • Use appropriate phrases like "improve your skills" or "enhance skills" and avoid making absolute statements like "you don't know how to write" or "you can't speak English".
  • Consider how basic skill issues may impact an employee's participation in other training opportunities such as reading a manual or listening to a lecture.
  • Volunteer to become a tutor with the CALS Project.

For more information, visit the CALS Project website

Other Resources

Ten Clues to an Employee's Literacy
(Adapted from the American Library Association Resource Center, March 1991)

Many people who struggle with basic skills try very hard to hide it because they are frightened that if discovered they will lose respect, if not their jobs. Frequently it is only with the support and encouragement of a supervisor that an employee will come forward and request tutoring. If you see some of the clues listed below, make program information available to the employee. Self-selection is a very Important element in the success of tutoring.

  • Does your employee ask you to fill out forms or try to do it and make many mistakes?
  • Does the employee take forms home to complete?
  • Does the employee ask a friend or coworker to help with forms?
  • Does the employee frequently ask you to explain what he has just read?
  • Does the employee frequently fail to respond to written memoranda, etc.?
  • Does the employee ask you to call rather than mail information to him?
  • Does the employee consistently forget appointments?
  • Has the employee turned down promotions or educational opportunities that require reading?
  • Does the employee make excuses for not reading written information he has received? Some excuses may include: I have had a headache; I didn't have time; My glasses are broken.
  • Do the employee's eyes move from left to right when reading?
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