Excellent People Embracing Every Opportunity: General Staff Participation in Professional Development ATEM Aotearoa Regional Conference, Rotorua July 2009

Mihi Jenni Tupu Shelley Catlin Airini

Our Organisation NZ’s leading University One of the world’s major research Universities Largest provider of tertiary education in NZ One of the largest employers in Auckland

Our Staff University profile lists 3474 Academic Staff 3311 General Staff Education is 1 of 8 Faculties Based on 1 of 5 Auckland campuses Faculty of Education lists 251 Academic Staff 377 General Staff Approx 252 are Team Solutions

2005 – 2012 Strategic Plan: Objectives 13, 14 & 15 list goals: “To be innovative and flexible in our efforts to recruit and retain the best staff and students, creating an environment where excellent people thrive.”

Method Desire to support staff to be Excellent People Investigate if staff where participating Online survey circulated among FoE staff Anonymous Excluded Team Solutions Excluded Managers Approx 100 staff met the criteria 22 responses

Survey What is professional development? Were they aware of PD opportunities? How accessible? Hurdles or Help?

Demographics Staff surveyed –36-45 year age group –95% female –Likely to be stable employees –Reasonable period of employment –With higher education –Range of ethnicity

Ability to attend PD opportunities Time release Workload Travel Funding Relevance

Communication Communication about PD through Annual General Staff Development Review Majority encouraged to participate Sometimes later hindered after Development Review

Participation Staff indicated participation in some form Response of participation in last year varied Attendance reflected by same restraints

Training v PD Majority views training as professional development Research identifies the difference – Rudman (2002)

Qualification Formal qualifications deemed to be PD 13

Qualified Staff 76% of surveyed staff hold an Undergraduate Diploma or higher 14% of surveyed staff hold a PG or Masters qualification Career progression goals Need for more than one level of support in PD 14

Is it possible? Work Life Balance becomes important with the difficulty of workload release for General Staff

A Partnership? Tug-of-war between organisational support, professional development opportunities and personal desire for empowerment Personal “I don’t have time!” Organisational “Participate in PD!”

Summary: Key messages for Line Managers Line Managers hold one key Definition of PD made by Managers Access to PD is through consultation with your Manager Help staff to understand difference Organisational Leadership programmes available like Developing High Performance Teams Work Life Balance is possible

Summary: Key messages for General Staff Staff hold the other key Development own responsibility Organisation has wide range of PD opportunities PD is personal and professional development not just course attendance Colleagues are an inspiration - your efforts also set precedence Work Life Balance is possible! Join a professional organisation like ATEM!

Further Research Are Managers participating? How do we grow as a learning organisation? –“I love to learn and I am supported to learn” How to appreciate General Staff efforts in higher education? Meeting with Senior HR personnel to discuss and develop findings from survey

Questions?