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BestPractices in Employee

Development

Competency models play a key role in defining desired skills and abilities

for which individual business units may require employee training and

development.High-performing organizations share several characteristics when it

comesto how they think about and approach employee training and

development.

The many challenges associated with the changing nature of work

and the workplace environment are very real for every organization.

Rapid change requires a skilled, knowledgeable workforce with

employees who are adaptive, flexible and focused on the future.

But high-performing organizations share several characteristics

when it comes to how they think about and approach employee

training and development. Specifically, here are six key areas of

commonality:

1. Shared Service Model

A shared services model draws upon training resources from the

central human resources or training department, as well as

individual business units. But unfortunately, the training budget is

one of the first items on the chopping block in times of financial

stress. This makes it increasingly important to find synergies and

economies of scale within your organization.

Competency models play a key role in defining desired skills and

abilities for which individual business units may require employee

training and development. These models allow the business unit to

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determine which critical skills are needed to meet business goals,

and then the central learning and development or HR department

can provide potential solutions or vendors with whom the business

unit may engage.

2. Leverage Online Systems

Leveraging online systems can enable the deployment of common

training needs to a wider audience. This is particularly true for

global companies with international operations, as well national

organizations with satellite offices and geographically dispersed

employees. Having the flexibility to engage in training via an

intranet or Internet connection helps reduce overall costs, improves

access to learning resources, and improve consistency of

messaging. Online training can also improve the results and

efficiency of face-to-face training because participants are better

prepared with a baseline of knowledge.

3. Formalized Leadership Development Program

High-performing organizations typically have a formal leadership

and/or management development program in place to prepare the

next generation of leaders. The identification and development of

competent supervisors and managers is crucial to the achievement

of many business goals. Having a common executive-level

management training program helps to ensure that all business

units are following common strategic objectives and leads to the

sharing of best practices. Identification of high-potential employees

is typically accomplished through a nomination process, a 360-

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degree process or other purposeful method to ensure that the best

and brightest are identified and given an opportunity to participate.

4. Augment & Adjust

No business is static. It must respond to market forces, adjust and

changeor be left dead in the water. Training and development

programs must be augmented, adjusted and changed. If your

company has a successful track record with leadership and

management training, great. But keep your eyes toward the horizon

and be mindful that the agile business will grow and face new

challenges better than the monolith.

Maintain ties with your training providers and ask questions: What

are other high-performing companies doing? Whats new in

leadership and management training? Perhaps there is something

new or different out there that is right for your latest challenges.

5. Comprehensive Career Development

High-performing organizations typically provide comprehensive

career development services to employees, integrating the process

into the overall performance management system. Work with

employees to develop individual career development plans that

provide opportunities for professional advancement. A clear plan for

employees long-term development helps to ensure that personnel

remain at your company rather than look for other job opportunities.

High-performing organizations typically have a formal leadership or

management development program in place to prepare the

next generation of leaders.

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Some organizations offer a career center for employees, using a

Web-based portal or intranet to post internal positions, maintain a

library of resources and job descriptions for current roles within the

organization. Some go as far as defining career paths within the

organization. If an individual is seeking to transition to a new role

within the company, she can clearly see which competencies are

needed and strive toward attaining the skills for that desired

position/path.

6. Manage Knowledgeand Keep It!

High-performing organizations create a culture that facilitates the

retention and sharing of organizational knowledge. It can start with

something as simple as a company wiki where people go to find and

share knowledge, or as comprehensive as team members addressing

specific company issues throughout their training experience and then

presenting their solutions to top management. An added bonus: ROI

can be assessed by the success of these projects.

Harnessing and sharing the knowledge of workers is also critical to

the long-term success of operations. Knowledge management

encompasses two areas: i) the sharing of knowledge within the

organization to identify best practices and find synergies among

operating departments and business units, and ii) the retention of

organizational knowledge, which is increasingly important in the

face of impending retirements.

Here again we find the Internet playing a large role in providing a

place for Communities of Practice to emerge and grow. These

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communities are not bound by location and time differences, as

people can post whenever they want and get answers later.

Knowledge sharing can also be done using more formal tools and

social networks. Different groups or departments can share what

they learned in training that may have applications elsewhere in the

company, thereby encouraging cross-departmental dialogue and

solution creation.

Achieving & Maintaining High Performance

High-performing organizations share several characteristics when it

comes to how they think about and approach employee training

and development. Becoming (or continuing to function as) a high-

performing organization requires that the leaders of several

groupsincluding HR, training and business unitswork together

with a common understanding about business goals, how to

achieve them, and the importance of everyone involved in

employeedevelopment.

High-performingorganizationscreate a culturethat facilitatesthe

retentionand sharing oforganizationalknowledge.