CONTEXTUALISING WORKPLACE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT LIASA/CICD Winter Seminar 29 June-01 July 2009 Presented by Vivian Agyei

Introduction Skills to enable employees to perform to their best ability and to continue doing so for the institution to achieve its set goals Presupposes planning, provision of funding, implementation of skills acquired, assessment of the employees’ performance after training, continual awareness and assessment of factors affecting the library service provision, regular dialogue between the manager and the staff Legislation – skills development levy

Order of presentation Definition Why develop employee skills? Is there need for skills development in profession-based areas like library and information services? Issues in skills development Planning workplace skills development The role of CHELSA and regional consortiain developing skills of HE LIS staff Conclusion

Definition Workplace skills development is described by a number of words or phrases generally used interchangeably: Employee training Employee development Staff training Staff development Skills development Staff training and development

Why develop employee skills? Skills development is a key strategy for employers to achieve their goals/mandates The employers want: –Excellent work performance –Better/improved output –Save costs –Improve customer satisfaction –Prepare employees with potential for promotion Employees – do they need incentives for improving their skills: –Better knowledge of job –Better work performance and self-confidence in what they do (respect by fellow employees) –Salary increase –Improve prospects for promotion

IS THERE NEED FOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN PROFESSION–BASED AREAS LIKE LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES? LIS utilises technology a lot High rate of production of technology-based sources of information; e.g. –E-information resources –Utilisation of hand–held devices by clients and the challenge of rendering services to the cohort of students that we serve Move from TV/video recordings to TV/PC/Internet/ DVD’s; etc. Management skills: –Librarians need business administration skills –Institutions’ units are run as business centres

ISSUES IN SKILLS DEVELOPMENT Every year Human Resource Departments are required by law to submit workplace skills plans and reports to the Department of Labour. To do that, information must be obtained from the various units of the institution so that Human Resources Departments submit representative reports. At issue are included but not limited to the following: Whether departments submit reports reflecting actual training needs; perhaps the few questions below will help us address the issue: –Does your HRD call for inputs from individual units regarding training needs? –How much time are units given to submit their staff training needs? –Do managers just put crosses against given lists of examples of possible training needs? –Do employees get to express their real needs for training; e.g. voice training, people management or report writing skills? –And, if those needs are stated, does the employer agree to develop them? –Is funding a problem when units decide which skills to spend funds on? – How is it decided which training needs to spend funds and time on?

ISSUES IN SKILLS DEVELOPMENT cont’d Are they chosen by popularity of the request or depending on who indicated that they have that need? Are these needs as expressed or observed linked directly to the content of the employees’ jobs? Where do the needs which are not relevant to the employees’ jobs fit in?

PLANNING WORKPLACE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT Requirements for the job as in the Job Profile: –Compare requirements with employee’s skills –Identify gaps between them –Discuss the gaps with employee (in a good spirit) –Draw up improvement plan with target dates for completion and discuss with employee –Implement plan

PLANNING WORKPLACE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT cont’d –Explain to employee what the gap in skills is and what would help them do the job better –This would help in minimising expectations for promotion/salary increase and get them willing and ready to improve performance in order to earn their given remuneration.

PLANNING WORKPLACE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT cont’d Sometimes the gap is in attributes: the softer skills e.g. Attitude Respect for confidentiality Diversity issues (co-existing with colleagues of different cultures) Preparedness to go the extra mile Courteousness Phone etiquette General manners of communication Wastage –Paper –Pens Anger management –Tantrums –Banging doors –Silence, moodiness, etc.

PLANNING WORKPLACE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT cont’d Funding for training –Training needs are provided for in the libraries’ annual budgets –Government provides funds through SETAs –LIASA provides grants through CICD –The Centre for African Library Leadership at UP provides training at subsidised rates –CHELSA raises funds for training for HE library staff –Consortia provide training at subsidised rates –International agencies welcome applications for donor funds to develop capacity

PLANNING WORKPLACE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT cont’d After training: –Is there space for them to apply what they learnt? –Do they get evaluation of their performance before and after the training? –How do supervisors feel about empowering their subordinates – threatened? –Managers should make sure that training received was understood; e.g. assertiveness vs aggressiveness. –Is their performance evaluated in line with their new skills? Promotions/salary increases are not the only means of recognition for better job performance Inevitably, some employees many expect bigger things after training, i.e. managers must be prepared (maybe through training to deal with those expectations).

THE ROLE OF CHELSA AND REGIONAL CONSORTIA Libraries are known for collaboration by sharing resources. It is no different with regard to staff development. CHELSA, regional consortia and LIASA have established partnerships for optimum utilisation of available funds, training opportunities and sharing of expertise whenever there are opportunities for collaboration. We identify training needs, trainers, obtain funding and give our staff opportunities to attend. Between 2008 and 2009, staff were sponsored for training in institutional repositories and attending the leadership academy. In September we are there will be a workshop to establish a common framework for information literacy training.

Conclusion With proper planning for skills development, we can assist our institutions to reach their strategic goals and objectives and to meet government requirements. Planning should be done well in advance for the needs of each individual staff member rather than hurried submissions when a call is made by HRD. Funding is available from government and donor agencies, our institutions, consortia and LIASA. There is nothing preventing us from empowering our staff and ourselves to better our performance.