Human Resources Management Course by ATG Educational - HTML preview

STEP 1Identifying development needs

Development needs should be identified at both organisational and individual levels. At an individual level, these will be the areas where a particular person need to grow in order to be more effective in their work. This growth could be in knowledge, skills or experience. Development needs are not necessarily due to weakness. A member of staff can be strong in an area, but still benefit from development in order to be even more effective in their role. In fact, building on strengths usually produces the greatest improvement in someone’s performance. However, there may also be areas of poor performance that need to be addressed.

Growth may be needed in one or more of the following areas:

 

To identify our development needs, we all need:

 

  Clear objectives so that we know what we are being asked to deliver (see Section 6).

 

  A good understanding of the skills, experience and knowledge that are needed to deliver the objectives. Some of these will be included in the job profile.

  Feedback about how well we are doing – this helps us to understand our strengths and areas for improvement. It is the role of the line manager to make sure these three things are in place and to help the staff member to identify their needs. This could happen during a regular catch-up or formal appraisal.

The tool below may help staff to reflect on their own development needs. This can then be used to start a conversation with their line manager.

 

Development needs may arise out of poor performance. When faced with poor performance, a manager should always try to find out the root cause of the problem in case there is a need to grow the individual’s knowledge or skills or experience. However, be aware that poor performance could be caused by other factors as the example below shows.
Writing objectives: after identifying an area for development, it is helpful to write a ‘development objective’. This should describe what you want to achieve.

Easy steps to writing development objectives:
STEP 1 Identify: the area you want to improve.
STEP 2 Clarify: be as specific as you can about the learning.
STEP 3 Define: what you want to be able to do with the learning.
STEP 4 Test: how you will know you are able to do it.
Writing a development objective: after identifying an area for development, write a development objective by using this structure:
To be able to ……………… so that ……………… by ………………

Avoid using vague words like ‘understand’ or ‘know’. Instead, use words that explain what can be done with the understanding, such as: describe; explain; train others; apply; demonstrate; advise.