Employee Development on a Shoestring

Halelly Azulay

Description

It has been estimated that 70 percent of employee development takes place through informal learning, rather than through formal learning events. Employee Development on a Shoestring offers insights and lessons for leveraging non-training activities for on-the-job employee development. This hands-on resource delivers specific implementation techniques for developing motivated, engaged employees in today’s “do more with less” business environment. A handy toolkit for any employee developer, this book provides templates and detailed guidelines to help busy managers develop their workforce in a way that is tailored to each employee’s strengths, development needs, and constraints without breaking the bank.
Employee Development on a Shoestring provides general employee development best practices as well as in-depth descriptions of the how-to specifics of 11 different employee development methods, including:
-Step-by-step guidance for initial goal-setting and preparation for effective development planning for every employee and development method.
-Templates, worksheets, checklists, and guidelines to make your employee development efforts effective and sustainable.
-A modular, customized approach to developing employees by tailoring the development method to each employee’s unique needs and each organization’s budget and constraints.
-Ways to capitalize on development ideas that are easy to implement immediately and cheaply such as self-directed learning, volunteering, sabbaticals and mentoring.
-The hidden value of job rotation, stretch assignments, and special teams for addressing your employees’ development needs while enhancing organizational results.
-The benefits of peer teaching and how to turn development into fun games and contests.
-Tools and techniques for developing employees by letting them turn stories from the frontlines into digital content for everyone’s benefit and why developing “innovation zones” within your organization may bring huge learning and development rewards.
-An examination of social learning and the use of multiple collaborative online tools for real time, on-the-job employee development.
Employee Development on a Shoestring is a comprehensive tutorial for all managers, supervisors, trainers, human resources (HR) personnel, coaches, and other professionals who are involved in developing employee competence efficiently and cost-effectively.

Sujets

• Efficacité professionnelle
• Efficacité
• Business
• Economics
• Training
• Employabilité, métiers et formations

Informations

• Publié par: Association for Talent Development
• Date de parution: 23 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781607287841
• Langue: English

Extrait

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT ON A SHOESTRING

© 2012 the American Society for Training & Development
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please go to www.copyright.com , or contact Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 (telephone: [phone], fax: [phone]).
ASTD Press is an internationally renowned source of insightful and practical information on workplace learning and performance topics, including training basics, evaluation and return on investment, instructional systems development, e-learning, leadership, and career development. Visit us at www.astd.org/astdpress .
Ordering information for print edition: Books published by ASTD Press can bepurchased by visiting ASTD’s website at store.astd.org or by calling 800.628.2783or 703.683.8100.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012930634 (print edition only)
Print edition ISBN-13: 978-1-56286-800-0 PDF e-book edition ISBN: 978-1-60728-784-1 2011-1
ASTD Press Editorial Staff: Director: Anthony Allen Senior Manager, Production & Editorial: Glenn Saltzman Project Manager, Content Acquisition: Kristin Husak Associate Editor: Heidi Smith Editorial, Design, and Production: Abella Publishing Services, LLC Cover Design: Ana Ilieva Foreman
CONTENTS
Foreword
By Elaine Biech
Introduction
Why This Book?
Who Can Benefit From Reading This Book?
How Should You Use This Book?
How Is This Book Structured?
Acknowledgments
Resources
Chapter 1. Ready, Set, Aim! Goal Setting and Preparation
Stages of the Development Process
What Are Development Goals?
How to Identify Development Goals
Writing SMART Goals
Types of Performance Measures
Developing Specific Measures
Examples of Measures for Development Goals
Implications, Dependencies, and Prerequisites: Overcoming Obstacles
Drafting Your Goals
Competencies
Tracking and Measuring Progress
Making Your Business Case
Implementation
Transferring Learning Back to the Job
Resources
Chapter 2. Flying Solo: Self-Directed Learning
What Is It?
Reading
Listening
Watching
Doing
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Resources
Chapter 3. Doing Good: Learning by Volunteering
What Is It?
Job-Related Volunteering
Context-Changing Volunteering
Teaching or Mentoring Volunteering
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Study
Resources
Chapter 4. Taking Time Out: Learning on a Sabbatical
What Is It?
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Study
Resources
Chapter 5. Two Can Do It: Learning by Mentoring or Being Mentored
What Is It?
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
Benefits to the Mentor
Benefits to the Protégé
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Study
Resources
Chapter 6. Move and Stretch: Learning Through Rotational and Stretch Assignments
What Is a Rotational Assignment?
Who Should Try Job Rotation Assignments?
Self-Assessment: Rotation Readiness
How Does a Rotational Assignment Benefit the Learner?
How Does a Rotational Assignment Benefit the Organization?
What Is a Stretch Assignment?
Who Should Try Stretch Assignments?
How Do Stretch Assignments Benefit the Learner?
How Do Stretch Assignments Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can Job Rotation and Stretch Assignments Develop?
How Do They Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Studies
Resources
Chapter 7. Team Effort: Learning in Special Teams
What Is It?
Action Learning
Who Should Try It?
Self-Assessment
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Study
Resources
Chapter 8. Teaching to Learn: Learning by Teaching Others
What Is It?
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Resources
Chapter 9. Fun and Games: Learning via Games and Contests
What Is It?
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Study
Resources
Chapter 10. Digital Storytelling: Learning by Creating Videos and Podcasts
What Is It?
Videocasting
Podcasting
The Content Possibilities
The Technology
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Studies
Resources
Chapter 11. Zoning Out: Learning Through Innovation/Creativity Zones
What Is It?
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Resources
Chapter 12. Getting Social: Social Learning Tools
What Is it?
Wiki
Workplace Online Social Networking Tools
Video and Podcasting
Who Should Try It?
How Does It Benefit the Learner?
How Does It Benefit the Organization?
What Competencies and Skills Can It Develop?
How Does It Work?
How to Prepare
Ways to Track Progress and Results
Implementation Tips
Required Resources and Supports
Concerns/Downsides
Case Study
Resources
Summary—Now What?
Tying It All Together
Next Steps

Index
About the Author
FOREWORD
Developing employees is “job one,” to paraphrase an American carmaker. And that “job one” belongs to supervisors.
As Halelly points out in the introduction, it is estimated that 70 percent of leadership development takes place through informal learning as opposed to formal learning events. More learning probably occurs in the break room than the classroom, and more skills may be learned from a co-worker than an instructor. Think about your own experiences. You probably learn more by accident than intentionally. If this is the case, supervisors can be more deliberate about how employees learn to ensure that they are as productive as possible. Supervisors (and employees as well) need to intentionally seek out not only what they need to learn, but also how they will learn. Supervisors can enhance this critical part of their jobs by consciously creating informal developmental opportunities for their employees. Halelly shows you how.
Numerous alternatives exist for informal development. As a supervisor, consider which learning strategies and developmental assignments you wish to use and why. The biggest advantage of informal learning is that each experience can be customized for the needs of the learner. This isn’t usually the case with classroom or online training. Four considerations help guide your choices.
Honor your employees . Starting with their individual development plans (IDPs), consider what your employees know, what they are proficient at, and what they need to experience in both their current and future jobs. Factor in their learning styles as well. For example, you may not want to assign the shyest person in your department the task of designing a brown-bag presentation as a first informal learning experience.
Build in variety . Just because you had a great experience as a protégé does not mean that a mentoring experience is necessary for every employee. As you consider variety, match the need-to-know with the how-to-learn. For example, someone who needs to learn to communicate better will do better with a team assignment than reading a communication book.
Seek what’s natural . Identify developmental experiences that arise naturally from the employee’s work or departmental needs. Do you have an employee who needs experience leading a team? Does your department need to solve a workflow problem? Perhaps you can address both existing issues with one developmental assignment. When an assignment solves a naturally existing need, everyone benef