Talent Acquisition:

The talent acquisition team within a company is responsible for finding, acquiring, assessing, and hiring candidates to fill roles that are required to meet company goals and fill project requirements. Talent acquisition as a unique function and department is a relatively new development. Talent acquisition professionals are usually skilled not only in sourcing tactics, candidate assessment, and compliance and hiring standards, but also in employment branding practices and corporate hiring initiatives. The Modern talent acquisition is becoming a unique skill-set. Because talent acquisition professionals many times also handle post-hire talent issues, such as employee retention and career progression, the talent acquisition role is quickly becoming a distinct craft. Some recruitment industry advisors even advocate for a talent department unique from the HR department, because talent acquisition and development is so intertwined with a companys ultimate success and effectiveness for meet the future challenges. Acquiring talent is an ongoing cycle of processes related to attracting, sourcing, recruiting, and hiring employees, based on what the organization is looking for, be it a particular set of skills or behavior. The main elements that comprise talent acquisition are primarily employer branding, outreach, networking, relationship building with potential candidate communities and continually building and enhancing the talent pool for an organization. The recent trend shows that there is an increasing demand for talented people and that talent acquisition has become a huge problem. In the next few years, there is going to be a severe shortage of talented professionals compared to skilled workers. Hiring the best talent is going to be a tough job for the recruiters.

Importance of acquiring the best talents

It is important for an organization to have the best talent acquisition, retention and development strategies. Most of the organizations fail because of hiring people who fail to meet the standards of the organization. The situation is going to be worse in the case of companies which are not well established. Talent acquisition is the process of finding and involving the best-talents in an organization. An organization can perform better in the industry only if it has a talented and skillful work-force. It is about putting in the right people, in the right place. Recruitment andtalent acquisition are different.

Designing and Implementation of Talent Acquisition Strategy

It is important to understand the employers choice before implementing a strategy. It also includes reviewing and utilizing talent acquisition tools and learning from best practices. Analyzing the performances like business impacts, financial strategies etc. It is also important to have a good knowledge about the recent trends and practices to acquire the best talent.

Talent Acquisition Strategies for the 21st century

It is important to become a good talent manager to pool in the best talents in an organization. It is also important to set high standards in a team and take necessary steps to strengthen the talent of a group. The manager is responsible for appraising his employees about their strengths, weakness and their performance levels. Strong performances must be posed with new challenges. The managers can also define sharp talent and performance differences among the employees. An organization must place its emphasis on the development of people. Every employee can push the limits to certain level even if everyone cannot be a superstar. Leaders who can assess the talent factor get involved in hiring and making decisions. People at that level may let their sub-ordinates know that they are capable of voicing their views and watching the performance and potential of his/her employees. Above all this, an effective talent review process is important to reap benefits. A talent review process is to be carried out in a disciplined manner. Good companieshave a stringent talent review programs and this helps them to grow faster. It is also a direct way to build the talent pool. Managers in the organization must be held responsible for accumulating and strengthening the talent factor in their respective divisions.

What does a future employer need to offer to attract the best talent?

A well regarded HR leader who has real credibility within the business A well regarded HR function - highly respected and valued by the business An environment where there is an emphasis on learning and career development There must be opportunities to implement initiatives for example change to manage/M&A and implementing new modern and progressive concepts into the workplace A competitive remuneration package including a variable component An HR team supported by modern systems and processes including quality HR information systems and outsourced recruitment processes and the opportunity to practice value adding HR every day A future opportunity - either to move into a general business management role or within the HR team to a more senior generalist or specialist role either locally or internationally.

Plan to succeed and explain your companys value proposition early in the interview. Have no doubt it is going to be a two-way conversation, so be prepared to illustrate the opportunities in the role as well as the responsibilities.

Ensuring Employee Fit

The traditional human resources management approach entailed either hiring people with the required skills or training employees to develop the skill sets required for the organization. The challenge for human resources in the new order is to ensure an employee-employer fit. Ways to ensure employee-organization fit include

selecting employees based on the ability to do the job hiring employees who value teamwork and who can work with other employees hiring employees whose personal values and outlook match organizational values and culture

Research by Dr. Christopher Collins at Cornell University's Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies indicates that firms do well to adopt a hiring strategy of attracting and selecting employees whose personal values and outlook fit organizational culture and values. Such firms have 7.5 percent higher revenue growth, 6.1 percent higher profit growth, and 17.1 percent lower turnover compared to firms that do not adopt this strategy.

Managing talent is deeply anchored within the Human Resources domain, and its growing importance for organizations in the face of the global talent shortage and the resultant talent war, places Human Resources in a unique position of influence within the organization. Loss of talent and the general brain drain is never in itself a problem, but a symptom to a problem. Focus has for long been placed on the entry and exit points of the talent management pipeline and a focus on these is tantamount to administering a remedy when it is too late. HR needs to adopt an integrated approach to the management of talent, which entails looking not just at the sourcing and compensation aspect, but at the total talent management value chain. HR managers should adopt the talent mindset and be the talent advocates in the organization. This implies creating the talent-friendly environments at the workplace and understanding what talent holders really want and value. HR needs to build an employer brand and ensure that the best people not only remain in the company, but are aggressively developed and trained, role modeled and promoted. These are the areas in which HR can lay claim to value addition and being a true Business Partner. It needs to be born in mind that decisions to leave one's country and go and live abroad away from a familiar social and cultural environment and dislodged from the network of family and friends are not decisions taken lightly. It is so much easier to dissuade people not to go simply by attending to issues personal to them. The above require that HR start thinking outside the box from the traditional way of practicing Human Resources. HR actions should be guided by the needs of the talent holders and be seen to be responsive to their special circumstances. Sometimes things that look simple, such as hours of work, fixed starting times, flexibility with lunch breaks, can make a huge difference for people in deciding whether to stay with an organization or not. Yet rarely do we visit these standing rules in our organizations to see whether they are conforming to the mood of the times and the interests of the holders of talent.

Talent Acquisition Strategy

There are many instances in which talent acquisition misses the mark in delivering upon its inherent value proposition and there is no one to blame but itself. One of those areas is strategy. Unfortunately, strategy for the sake of strategy does not work. A strategy built upon satisfying compliance requirements, posting jobs, and filling jobs is one destined for failure. It lacks vision, creativity, and it does not begin to solve any of the issues of internal stakeholders. A strategy like this will make you the eyesore of HR in the same way a haphazardly kept house does to a block of well-manicured homes. The key to a talent acquisition strategy that establishes and accounts for the needs of all involved is communication. Working in a vacuum or silo is a Personnel circa 1980 move. Get out of your cubicle or office and meet with your internal partners. Find out what is going on in the departments and understand their present and future needs for staffing. How can you begin to carry out a strategy without understanding the needs of the customer? Second, calibrate your internal stakeholders needs with any compliance or regulatory requirements. Evaluate what you must get done and what they expect of you. Through communication, ensure that your stakeholders understand what you are required to do so everyone is on the same page. Last but not least, create a strategy that is consistent with the needs of the business, compliance requirements, and the needs of the internal stakeholders. Meet with your internal stakeholders about the strategy. Make sure they understand it, buy into it, and observe it as a guide for interacting with the group. Any deficit in communication or execution is where talent acquisition becomes the eyesore of HR. If people know what to expect, it is consistent, and the strategy makes sense for what they need to get done you will find that your partners will no longer go against you but work with you. You will no longer be seen as a roadblock but a valued ally. With a customer-focused strategy you build credibility, which is vital to talent acquisitions success and continued existence. Thoughtful organizations and leaders build strategy around acquiring talent to meet both current and future business needs. Before adding staff or simply filling a vacant position, it is important to have clear sense of the gaps as they relate to the skill sets needed to meet current and future performance requirements. Otherwise, you are simply adding people that may or may not contribute to the organizations success. Having a clear sense of the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities within teams/work groups allows managers to make a more calculated decision about their next hire. For example, if your market and customers are demanding a more sophisticated product or service, you may need to adjust your recruitment and sourcing strategy to hire a more specific, technical skill set. Human Resources can assist business leaders with workforce planning to assess the supply, demand and gaps existing between currently available and needed skill sets required to deliver on the business plan. Once a gap analysis has been conducted and managers have a good sense of their staffing needs including the availability of talent, they are in a position to execute on a plan to acquire the needed skills and talent. Often organizations will use more than one method (e.g. recruiting, sourcing, training & development). Whether acquiring outside talent or developing talent from within the organization, ideally, managers should be building a network or hot file of candidates to draw from when the need arises. Recruiting and sourcing can certainly be outsourced to staffing & recruitment agencies, allowing businesses to focus more time on core competencies. With that said, good managers assume accountability for actively growing and developing their own people regardless of whether they use outside services to recruit or source candidates.

Employee Retention:
Now once you hire talent how do you keep it? We know that engaged employees are more productive and less likely to look elsewhere to meet their employment needs. Watson Wyatts 2006/2007 WorkUSA survey of more than 12,000 U.S. workers across all job levels and in all major sectors found an organizations financial performance strongly related to employee engagement. The same survey in 2008/2009 also indicated that companies with engaged employees have lower turnover risk, are more likely to attract top talent and yield greater financial returns to shareholders. Human resources departments face the difficult task of walking a tightrope trying to affect trade-offs between genuine employee concerns and the commercial imperatives of the organization. For instance, while employees remain accustomed to pay for performance, the new reality is to compensate employees to the extent of value they add to the organization in terms of profitability, regardless of their level of performance. Similarly, while that latest trend is towards contract or performance based tenures, employees prefer a more stable plan and are accustomed to timebased tenure with many benefits. The first, most important motivator in creating engagement is the work itself; followed by the need for work to be challenging and interesting as well as valued and recognized by the organization. According to Human Capital Institute, 83% of talent look for opportunities to develop new knowledge or skills, and 84% enjoy challenging work that will allow them to learn new skills. An important theme in intrinsic motivation also is the desire for autonomymaking decisions independently, and being trusted to do so! Feeling competent also means access to training, when needed, so that employees can obtain the knowledge/skill needed to gain mastery. Career development also plays into employee engagement communicate the potential career paths so employees can know (and strive toward) whats next if they want it. The key role of human resources in overcoming such challenge includes:

Devising and implementing various motivational approaches, heralding a shift from performance-oriented pay to results-oriented remuneration or gain-sharing. Changing employee mindset from a process-oriented approach to a customer-oriented approach. Initiatives such as Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, and the like play a major role in this regard.

In the current scenario, a major challenge for an organization is to retain its valuable and talented employees. The management can control the problem of employees quitting the organization within no time to a great extent but cant put a complete full stop to it. There are several challenges to it.

Challenges to Employee Retention:

Monetary dissatisfaction is one of the major reasons for an employee to look for a change. Every organization has a salary budget for every employee who can be raised to some extent but not beyond a certain limit. Retention becomes a problem when an employee quotes an exceptionally high figure beyond the budget of the organization and is just not willing to compromise. The organization needs to take care of the interests of the other employees as well and cant afford to make them angry. The salaries of the individuals working at the same level should be more or less similar to avoid major disputes amongst employees. A high potential employee is always the center of attention at every workplace but one should not take any undue advantage. One should understand the limitation of the management and quote something which matches the budget of the organization. An individual should not be adamant on a particular figure, otherwise it becomes difficult for the organization to retain him. Remember there is a room for negotiation everywhere.

In the current scenario, where there is no dearth of opportunities, stopping people to look for a change is a big challenge. Every organization tries its level best to hire employees from the competitors and thus provide lucrative opportunities to attract them. Employees become greedy for money and position and thus look forward to changing the present job and join the competitors. No amount of counseling helps in such cases and retaining employees becomes a nightmare.

Individuals speak all kind of lies during interviews to get a job. They might not be proficient in branding but would simply say a yes to impress the recruiter and grab the job. It is only later do people realize that there has been a mismatch and thus look for a change. Problems arise whenever a right person is into a wrong profile. An individual loses interest in work whenever he does something out of compulsion. The human resource department should be very careful while recruiting new employees. It is really important to get the reference check done for better reliability and avoid confusions later.

Some individuals have a tendency to get bored in a short span of time. They might find a job really interesting in the beginning but soon find it monotonous and look for a change. The management finds it difficult to convince the employees in such cases. Individuals must also understand that every organization has some or the other problem and adjustment is required everywhere, so why not in the present organization? It becomes really difficult for the HR Department to find out what exactly is going on in the minds of the individual. An individual should voice his opinions clearly to make things easier for the management.

Unrealistic expectations from the job also lead to employees looking for a change. There is actually no solution to unrealistic expectations. An individual must be mature enough to understand that one cant get all the comforts at the workplace just like his home. Individuals from different backgrounds come together in an organization and minor misunderstandings might arise but one should not make an issue out of it. An individual must not look for a change due to small issues. One needs time to make his presence feel at the organization and must try his level best to stick to it for a good amount of time and ignore petty issues.

Retention is a Herculean task for most organizations in the modern era of globalization and competitive business. Successful organizations realize employee retention and talent management are integral to sustaining their leadership and growth in the market place. Becoming an employer of choice by retaining high caliber employees in today's labor market should be the highest priority. HR professionals all over the world are breaking their heads to formulate Retention Strategies but nothing is working-out in their favor. Organizations that do not put their emphasis on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in dire consequences, as their competitors may be outlaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink: it will drink only if it is thirsty-so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. wheather it is to excel on the workshop floor ,they must be motivated or driven to do it either by themselves or through external stimulus, thus it is imperative on the part of an employee to be stay motivated and a productive workplace is maintained and developed and employees derive satisfaction from their job. Retaining quality workforce is a tough task for many HR professionals in today's aggressive job scenario. And now with the job market slowly opening up, the challenge now is to retain the best by offering incentives that ensure employee engagement and empowerment. Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of a business. HR professionals readily agree that retaining the best employees ensures customer satisfaction, product sales, and satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning. Now since the job market has become a battleground over talent. Now Indian corporations are busy weaving out new strategies to attract and retain talent. For bigger players, cash incentives and full variable payouts are the primary areas to concentrate upon. Whereas smaller players need to differentiate themselves by concentrating on performance-based variables and through empowerment. There are many tools used by the human resource (HR) departments across industries to retain and stimulate the best talents, which propel talented peoples to stay motivated and remain in the organizations.

Tools for Employee Retention:

o Golden hello and Golden handcuff: The golden hello as the name suggests, refers to a joining bonus and is an incentive offered to a select set of new recruits, mostly middle and senior level executives poached from rivals who are well known in industry or are skilled in a niche area. The bonus could be in the form of ESOPs, cash incentives, non-cash incentives or a combination of all three. The Golden handcuff refers to cash incentives and full variable payouts meant to keep important talent within the organization.

Career Planning and Growth strategy: Growth and development are integral part of every individual's career. If an employee cannot foresee his path of career development in his current organization, there are chances that he will leave the organization as soon as he gets an opportunity .Thus the HR professionals should provide to its employee's opportunity to grow, learning and implement. It includes continuous learning and improvement of the individual, certifications and provision for higher studies, etc. Do recognize the achievements if made any. Growth and development should be recognized and encouraged in order to make an organization a learning organization and making learning on an on-going basis. By providing various career oriented programs, technical certification courses, trainings in new fields can attract, motivate and retain talents in an organization.

Attractive Compensation Package: Compensation and various employee benefits, now-a-days are being shaped according to what the employee wants rather than what the employer can give. Compensation constitutes the largest part of employee retention process. Effective and sound remuneration policy must be constructed to attract, maintain and retain talented peoples in an organization. In the crisis of talent hunt HR professionals should design the compensation package as such talented peoples are attracted, motivated and retain in the organization. Attractive compensation package includes high remuneration, various monetary and non monetary benefits, bonus, incentives, fringe benefits, medical facilities, paid holiday vacation, retrial benefits like PF & gratuity, employee insurance, maternity leave, merit scholarship, company accommodation and transportation facility, company sponsored study, credit cards etc. Moreover many companies are offering innovative benefits in order to retain talent. Apart from such now a days other forms of pay are designed by companies like variable compensation, executive compensation, pay for performances, skill and competency based pay. LG Electronics has devised a retention bonus scheme for its middle and top level management whereby a person can receive 100-150 percent of his/her basic pay annually for three years. Wipro Technologies also introduced a stock option scheme for senior employees ,which is done to build a reward mechanism and offer opportunities to generate wealth along with growth in the company.

Employee Empowerment: One of the basic strategies to retain talents is to empower the employees by enlarging an employee's job responsibility by conferring him the authority to get things done without becoming over burdened or distressed. By empowerment, the employees are supported and encouraged to utilize their skills, abilities and creativity by accepting accountability for their work. Empowerment occurs when employees are adequately trained, provided with all the relevant information and the best possible tools, fully involved in key decisions, and are fairly rewarded.

Congenial Work Environment: An effective employee retention program is a systematic effort to create a good Quality work life by providing congenial work environment. People wants to work for an organization which provides: A friendly and cooperative environment, ample opportunities to grow, appreciation for work done. A congenial work environment includes: good organizational culture,values,company reputation, quality of people working, good working conditions, fostering employee development and growth, using leading technologies, flexible work environment that welcomes new ideas, risk taking, and doesn't carve all decisions in stone, trust, good employee relation. It also includes efficient managers, supportive co-workers, challenging work, involvement in decision-making, clarity of work and responsibilities, and recognition. The environment should be such that the employee feels connected to the organization in every respect. Other supportive work environments that can attract and retain talents in an organization are: flexible timings, alternative work schedules, vacations, wellness etc.

Reward and Recognition Scheme: There should be an effective reward and recognition Scheme inplace.High performers should be suitably rewarded and recognized by the management .Rewarding employees for their exceptional performance through incentives, gifts, free vacations, paid holidays etc can boost the employee morale. A high performer should be recognized by the management so as to get the best and stay motivated .Various recognition programs should be designed such as: On-the-spot award, Employee appreciation, Nominated recognition, Award of best employee of the month/year, peer to peer recognition, Anniversary/length-of-service celebration etc.

There are various non-financial motivators that also reinforce talents to retain in the organization such as * Issuing commendation letters to meritorious employees. * Sponsoring employee visits for advanced training and exposures. * Publishing their names in their in-house magazine or notice board. * Giving additional responsibility as a challenging assignment. * Recognizing for outstanding performance Best talent continues to aspire more as they achieve success and try to repeat the same experience at a faster and more ambitious pace. Organisations typically find it difficult to keep pace with the growing aspirations of its top talent and this is when the point at which companies needs to rethink the ways they plan to engage employees. As this article clearly outlines that when it comes to human resources, one size no longer fits all. One set of rules dictated everything from the kinds of benefits and rewards the company offered to how employees were trained and evaluated. That approach made things easier for the human-resources department and ensured a degree of efficiency, equality and fairness. Now some executives are finding that this model isn't adequate for getting the most out of existing talent or attracting and keeping new people. To be competitive in the marketplace and in the race for talent, companies must understand and address the diverse needs of their work force. In fact, they must treat each employee as a "work force of one." Following this efforts are being made by HR folks to ensure more flexibility, create more opportunities for career growth ,allow individuals greater space in deciding and planning different career paths within the organization .

Sun Microsystems Inc. asks employees to identify the type of physical setting that suits them best -- a private office, team room, satellite center or their home office. Microsoft Corp. goes so far as to ask certain types of employees to design their own career paths. The company offers software engineers both a management-focused and technical-specialist career track and allows them to move back and forth between the two. Surely this indicates a marked shift in the way talent is being retained and developed in organizations. Career decisions are not just being made on the challenging role and compensation and ESOPs being offered but how one gets the opportunity to plan his career and try different things in the same organization.

Development
As indicated by the phrase "Business lies in people," growth and development of business cannot be realized without the development of people. Human resource development should be carried out through daily management and it is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of managers. Managers should keep in mind that in order to bring innovation to others, the manager must take the initiative to bring innovation to oneself. It is important to carry out human resource development appropriately to enhance the quality of staff members and to stimulate their personal growth.

Issues in training and development typically involve the cost, quality, and utilization of programs. Developing customized training courses, seminars, workshops, and self-paced alternatives must truly meet the needs of the organization or the return on investment is small or non-existent. To measure success consistently, start by evaluating participants' reactions. By conducting surveys, interviews, and focus groups, you can judge participant satisfaction with course materials and modify courses accordingly to construct effective training programs. You should also include tests in courses to see if participants can demonstrate their knowledge. Additionally, observe participants back on the job later on to see if they are using their new skills. Also, examine operational metrics to ensure that your programs enable employees to improve business operations, such as sales, manufacturing, and customer service. The organization can use tools such as personality and aptitude tests to determine how well those recruited would fit in the organization. They should also be evaluated on their propensity to share knowledge. The training process can also influence knowledge sharing. Often workers do not use knowledge sharing technology and tools simply because they are not sure how they work or do not understand what behaviors they are expected to practice. Organizations should ensure that employees are provided with training regarding the technology tools to support knowledge sharing, as well as the behaviors that they are expected to exhibit. Fostering knowledge sharing through global assignments where employees can transfer their skills and knowledge to various parts of the organization as they move from place to place and also personnel transfers from one group to another as a means of sharing knowledge.

Ensuring Employee Competence:

The traditional approach to equipping employees to fulfill organizational requirements entailed training and developmental interventions. The scope of training and development has undergone much change in recent times noted for high labor mobility. Human resources departments need to balance the cost of training with the reality of such employees quitting before the organization realizes the investment from the training intervention. Organizations also give increasing preference to talent management over training. The dimensions of HR challenges in this regard include:

understanding the employees innate skills and competencies and providing employees with opportunities to apply these skills for the benefit of the organization skill enhancement of the workforce to promote adaptability, resilience, and agility adopting a market driven approach

Developing Employee Potential

Helping existing employees grow in their abilities benefits a companys ability to perform. Without fostering employee growth, a company can become stagnate and lose the ability to separate itself from competitive companies. Employees will also be unprepared for upward movement in the company, which can lead to failing at promotions or disenfranchisement over the lack of career advancement. HR can encourage growth by pairing employees with a mentor in their target position or moving out of their comfort zone - as their knowledge and experience base grows, the company grows as well. Managing Performance

Managing the workforce is more than encouraging high performers. The low performing individuals can spread negativity regarding the organization, potentially infecting others and bringing down the potential of an entire office. Without proper performance management, employees may not meet goals in a timely manner and cause

office-wide progress to slow, which can lead to higher than necessary terminations and new hire training costs. HR should attempt to build an understanding of the employees, setting clear goals and maintain timely reviews to create clear communication of what is required.

Identifying High Potential

High potential employees are those who demonstrate an ability to contribute at a greater level. Identifying these individuals, especially the high potentials who, for whatever reason, are not high performing employees, is vital to HRs success in getting the best contributions from the workforce. In a company whose product base involves employee performance, such as sales, allowing high potential employees to perform under their potential constitutes a monetary loss. Managers should use assessment tools including maintaining a high level of competence, consisting tangible results that exceed expectations and ensuring the completion of team goals to identify high potential employees. Engaging People

Disengaged employees represent a distinct challenge to workforce productivity which can be costly for any company. Keeping employees engaged in their jobs means keeping them comfortable in their positions, respected and engaged in furthering their own personal goals as well as the companys goals. Happy, engaged employees are more likely to have a personal stake in the companys progress, which, in turn, can lead to higher production, sales, or a better bottom line.

Components of a successful employee learning experience

Based on adult learning principles, here is a checklist for a successful employee learning experience:

The goals of the employee training or development program are clear The employees are involved in determining the knowledge, skills and abilities to be learned The employees are participating in activities during the learning process The work experiences and knowledge that employees bring to each learning situation are used as a resource A practical and problem-centered approach based on real examples is used New material is connected to the employee's past learning and work experience The employees are given an opportunity to reinforce what they learn by practicing The learning environment is informal, safe and supportive The individual employee is shown respect The learning opportunity promotes positive self-esteem

The employee training and development process

Learning happens all the time whether or not you are fully aware of it. Are you a person who forgets to save your work on your computer on a regular basis? If a power failure occurs and you loose some data, do you learn anything? If you say to yourself, "I must remember to save more often", you have done some learning. This type of learning is called incidental learning; you have learned without really thinking about it or meaning to. On the other hand, intentional learning happens when you engage in activities with an attitude of "what can I learn from this?" Employee development requires you to approach everyday activity with the intention of learning from what is going on around you.

Who is responsible for employee training and development?

Employee training is the responsibility of the organization. Employee development is a shared responsibility of management and the individual employee. The responsibility of management is to provide the right resources and an environment that supports the growth and development needs of the individual employee. For employee training and development to be successful, management should:

Provide a well-crafted job description - it is the foundation upon which employee training and development activities are built Provide training required by employees to meet the basic competencies for the job. This is usually the supervisor's responsibility Develop a good understanding of the knowledge, skills and abilities that the organization will need in the future. What are the long-term goals of the organization and what are the implications of these goals for employee development? Share this knowledge with staff

Look for learning opportunities in every-day activity. Was there an incident with a client that everyone could learn from? Is there a new government report with implications for the organization? Explain the employee development process and encourage staff to develop individual development plans Support staff when they identify learning activities that make them an asset to your organization both now and in the future For employee development to be a success, the individual employee should:

Look for learning opportunities in everyday activities Identify goals and activities for development and prepare an individual development plan

The individual development planning process

An individual development plan is prepared by the employee in partnership with his or her supervisor. The plan is based upon the needs of the employee, the position and the organization. A good individual development plan will be interesting, achievable, practical and realistic. It is implemented with the approval of the employee's supervisor. Step 1 - Self-assessment The employee identifies his or her skills, abilities, values, strengths and weaknesses. To conduct a self-assessment:

Use the many self-assessment tools found on the internet Compare your knowledge, skills and abilities to those identified in your job description Review performance assessments (performance assessments are often used as the starting place for developing individual development plans) Ask for feedback from your supervisor Step 2 - Assess your current position and your work environment The employee does an assessment of the requirement of his or her position at the present time and how the requirements of the position and/or organization may change. To conduct a position assessment:

Identify the job requirements and performance expectations of your current position Identify the knowledge, skills and abilities that will enhance your ability to perform your current job Identify and assess the impact on your position of changes taking place in the work environment such as changes in clients, programs, services and technology. Based on your analysis in Steps 1 and 2, use the sample Individual Development Plan form to answer the following questions:

What goals do you want to achieve in your career? Which of these development goals are mutually beneficial to you and your organization? Write what you would like to achieve as goals. Select two or three goals to work on at a time. Set a time frame for accomplishing your goals. Step 3 - Identify development activities Identify the best ways to achieve your development goals.

What methods will you use? What resources will be required? Step 4 - Put your plan in action Once you have prepared a draft of your individual development plan:

Review your plan with your supervisor for his or her input and approval Start working on your plan Evaluate your progress and make adjustments as necessary Celebrate your successes

Cost-effective methods for employee training and development

Employee training and development needs to suit your organization's context, job descriptions, employment contracts and collective agreements. When selecting employee training and development methods, it is important to remember the learning process. There are many ways to provide employees with learning opportunities, including: On-the-job experience Committees

Committees are part of every-day activity in any organization. They can also be effective learning tools, with the right focus Committees made up of staff from different areas of your organization will enhance learning by allowing members to see issues from different perspectives Set aside part of the committee's work time to discuss issues or trends that may impact on the organization in the future

Conferences and forums

Employees can attend conferences that focus on topics of relevance to their position and the organization Upon their return, have the employee make a presentation to other staff as a way of enhancing the individual's learning experience and as a way of enhancing the organization. (Some conferences and forums may be considered off-the-job learning)

Critical incident notes

Day-to-day activities are always a source of learning opportunities Select the best of these opportunities and write up critical incident notes for staff to learn from. Maybe a client complaint was handled effectively. Write a brief summary of the incident and identify the employee's actions that led to a successful resolution

Share the notes with the employee involved and with others as appropriate. If the situation was not handled well, again write a brief description of the situation identifying areas for improvement Discuss the critical incident notes with the employee and identify the areas for the employee to improve upon and how you will assist the employee in doing this

Field trips

If your organization has staff at more than one site, provide employees with an opportunity to visit the other sites

This helps your employees gain a better understanding of the full range of programs and clients that your organization serves

Field trips to other organizations serving a similar clientele or with similar positions can also provide a valuable learning experience

Give staff going on field trips a list of questions to answer or a list of things to look for Follow up the field trip by having staff explain what they have learned and how they can apply that learning to your organization. (Fieldtrips can also be an off-the-job activity)

Job aids

Tools can be given to employees to help them perform their jobs better. These tools include: manuals, checklists, phone lists, procedural guidelines, decision guidelines and so forth

Job aids are very useful for new employees, employees taking on new responsibilities and for activities that happen infrequently

Job expanding

Once an employee has mastered the requirements of his or her job and is performing satisfactorily, s/he may want greater challenges. Consider assigning new additional duties to the employee Which duties to assign should be decided by the employee and her or his manager Organizations with flat organizational structure are starting to give some managerial tasks to experienced staff as a way of keeping those staff challenged

Job rotation

On a temporary basis, employees can be given the opportunity to work in a different area of the organization The employee keeps his or her existing job but fills in for or exchanges responsibilities with another employee

Job shadowing

If an employee wants to learn what someone else in your organization does, your employee can follow that person and observe him or her at work Usually the person doing the shadowing does not help with the work that is being done

Learning alerts

Newspaper articles, government announcements and reports can be used as learning alerts Prepare a brief covering page which could include a short summary and one or two key questions for your employees to consider. Then circulate the item Include the item on the agenda of your next staff meeting for a brief discussion

Peer-assisted learning

Two employees agree to help each other learn different tasks. Both employees should have an area of expertise that the co-worker can benefit from The employees take turns helping their co-worker master the knowledge or skill that they have to share

'Stretch' assignments

These assignments give the employee an opportunity to stretch past his or her current abilities. For example, a stretch assignment could require an employee to chair a meeting if the person has never done this before

To ensure that chairing the meeting is a good learning experience, the manager should take time after the meeting to discuss with the employee what went well and what could have been improved

Special projects

Give an employee an opportunity to work on a project that is normally outside his or her job duties. For example, someone who has expressed an interest in events planning could be given the opportunity to work as part of a special events team

Relationships and feedback

Coaching

Coaching refers to a pre-arranged agreement between an experienced manager and his or her employee. The role of the coach is to demonstrate skills and to give the employee guidance, feedback, and reassurance while s/he practices the new skill

Mentoring

Mentoring is similar to coaching. Mentoring occurs when a senior, experienced manager provides guidance and advice to a junior employee The two people involved have usually developed a working relationship based on shared interest and values

Networking

Some professional specialties have informal networks designed to meet the professional development need of the members. Members meet to discuss current issues and to share information and resources

Performance appraisal

Performance appraisals are partly evaluation and partly developmental. In traditional performance appraisals the manager and employee evaluate the employee's strengths and weaknesses. In a 360degree performance appraisal, feedback is gathered from supervisors, peers, staff, other colleagues and sometimes clients. The results of an appraisal can be used to identify areas for further development of the employee

Classroom training
Courses, seminars, workshops

These are formal training opportunities that can be offered to employees either internally or externally. A trainer, facilitator and/or subject matter expert can be brought into your organization to provide the training session or an employee can be sent to one of these learning opportunities during work time

Off-the-job learning Courses offered by colleges or universities

Many colleges and universities offer courses relevant to employees in the non-profit sector. Employees may attend these classes on their own time or your organization may give them time off with pay to attend. Employees are often compensated by the organization for the cost of the course

Professional associations

Professional associations, like networks, provide employees an opportunity to stay current in their chosen field

Reading groups (also called learning circles or reading circles)

A group of staff meets to discuss books or articles relevant to the workplace/organization. Meetings usually take place outside normal working hours, such as noon hour or right after work

Self study

Self-paced independent reading, e-learning courses and volunteer work all provide learning opportunities. The employee engages in the learning activity by choice and at his or her desired pace of learning

Information and course offered by the internet are called e-learning. A variety of learning opportunities can be accessed this way. The choices range from formal training offered by colleges and universities, to an informal walk-through of a given subject, to reading reports on a topic. E-learning can take place on or off the job