Mark Lynch Lighthouse Resources PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENT PLANNING – AN ANTIDOTE TO TRADITIONAL YEARLY PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEMS

Professional Enhancement Planning Presented by Mark Lynch Lighthouse Resources Email: info@lighthouseresources.com.au Website: www.lighthouseresources.com.au © Lighthouse Resources 2005

Learning organizations While all people have the capacity to learn, the structures in which they have to function are often not conducive to reflection and engagement. Furthermore, people may lack the tools and guiding ideas to make sense of the situations they face. Organizations that are continually expanding their capacity to create their future require a fundamental shift of mind among their members. Peter Senge  

“…an irrelevant annual ritual, which is often uncomfortable for those on the receiving end and for those charged with its execution. … The outputs only become relevant to the individual where they relate to pay and promotion.” (Reference: Jones, P., Palmer, J., Osterweil, C. and Whitehead, D. 1996 Delivering Exceptional Performance: Aligning the Potential of Organisations, Teams and Individuals, Pitman, London.)

strengths-based approaches to supporting staff

Think about plants … in some conditions plants will flourish and bloom and in others they will wither and die. We want to support people to flourish and bloom.

PEP is about partnership, growth and supporting people PEP is a model of supporting people to develop their skills, interests and passions, to obtain feedback about areas on which they would like to focus and to develop a plan for working towards their own goals, whilst ensuring that these goals are congruent with organisational goals.

Reviewing Progress of the Plan Initial PEP Meeting Collaboration Identify key learning areas/areas for feedback Identify people to approach Timeframes Preparing for PEP Themes from supervision and position description Reviewing Progress of the Plan Discuss progress Initiate process for new plan OVERVIEW OF PROFESSIONAL ENHANCEMENT PLANNING PROCESS Obtaining Reflections/Feedback from Other People Relevance Strengths-based Concrete/specific Putting the Plan Together Discussing themes from reflections Strengths and resources Who’s responsible Timeframes

Key Steps and Tasks of PEP Process 1. Preparing for PEP To discuss themes which have come up in the person’s work - Supervision - Position description

Key Steps and Tasks of PEP Process 2. Initial PEP meeting (manager and staff person) To identify key learning areas To identify people to approach for reflections/feedback To identify the process for obtaining reflections/ feedback To allocate tasks

Example Letters

Dear Nathan I am writing to invite you to be a part of my Professional Enhancement Planning. I have been developing a number of areas of my work. These include: Developing my supervision skills…. What is it that I do that makes you feel supported? Are there other things that I could be doing that would enhance this support? Continuing to focus on people’s strengths… In what ways do I work with families/Family Support Workers/other staff that focus on their strengths and capacities? What other ways could I be doing this? Developing my training and presentation skills – (for example, through my involvement in working parties and other projects). Do you have any concrete suggestions or feedback about how I could enhance this? I would like to hear your feedback about these and any other areas and particularly your ideas on ways that I may continue my development. You are under absolutely no obligation to participate in this process. I understand that some people may prefer not to or are unable to do so at the moment. If however you are happy to be involved, there are a number of ways that this feedback could happen, depending on your own preference. These include talking directly to me, talking to David or by writing your comments and forwarding them to either David or myself. David will be in touch with you in the coming weeks to discuss your preferences. Yours sincerely Dianne Hughes

Strengths-Based Feedback What? From a strengths-based perspective, feedback may be viewed as the invited, respectful provision of information to another person about your perception of their actions. Why? Strengths-based feedback is a resource additional to the person’s own perceptions, strengths and resources which may be used by the person as they establish and work towards goals.

Professional Enhancement Plan Name: Dianne Key Learning Areas Picture of the Future What’s Been Tried? Resources What to Try Time-Lines Supervision skills Continuing to develop skills in strengths-based supervision Supervising a number of people in a range of roles; Being available for both formal and informal supervision; Flexibility in way supervision is carried out Other managers; Readings; Training in strengths-based supervision Reflecting team approach (using management team); Providing clear feedback with regard to expectations; Obtaining feedback from individuals after supervision sessions (eg. What worked? Was that useful?); Continue to explore strengths-based supervision Check progress in 2-3 months