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6023 results in Facet Publishing

Page 135 of 302

  • 40 - Coaching

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 100-103

  • Summary

    COACHING AND MENTORING have similarities and the terms are often used interchangeably. They employ similar techniques, sometimes blurring the boundaries between the two approaches (Webster, 2014; Brewerton, 2002). Coaching derives from the sporting community and the coach is particularly concerned with improving performance and finding solutions. Coaches do not need to work in the same field as the person being coached, but rather bring a skill set which they use to help the individual to achieve their goals. A mentor is usually a more experienced professional working in the same field who will share their knowledge and skills with the individual being mentored.

    Coaches use their skills in listening, questioning, challenging and being supportive, to focus on solving a specific problem or achieving a clear outcome, often within a short timeframe. This differs from a mentoring relationship, which is usually longer-term and more likely to be concerned with the learning elements of the relationship rather than performance. Hadikin (2004) states that there is no universal definition of coaching, that it is ‘simply helping others to realise their potential’ (Hadikin, 2004, 1).

    Coaching is not necessarily career-focused and can be applied to all aspects of an individual's life. In the context of this book, we will emphasize the way that coaching provides a structured framework for an individual to work with a skilled professional to improve their performance and solve problems at work. Within this model of coaching, Whitmore (2009) indicates that the coach uses their expertise (without necessarily having knowledge of the coachee's specialism) to explore perceptions, unlock learning and draw new or unknown conclusions. CIPD (2009) states that coaching focuses on the individual and is not always work-related, so can be used to explore selfperception and personal responses to situations.

    The GROW Model

    Coaches often use frameworks to structure their sessions and Whitmore's (2009) GROW Model (Figure 40.1) is a simple yet common approach. This model is useful for keeping coaching sessions on track and ensuring that the individual being coached leaves with a tangible action plan that they can implement.

    Employing an external coach for an individual or group may not be an option for your LKS, but some organizations have in-house coaching schemes to provide individuals with support.

  • 43 - Communities of practice – external

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 107-109

  • Summary

    LKS STAFF CAN become involved in communities of practice (CoPs) with staff from other sectors or other organizations. These are different to internal CoPs, which exist within the boundaries of a single organization, as they bring people together who have shared interests and a common purpose and tend not to be dictated by organizational priorities (van Wyk, 2005).

    Connecting with people from outside the organization can be extremely beneficial for the personal development of the individual. By encouraging your staff to join external CoPs, you create opportunities for them to learn from others and to bring new ideas, perspectives, knowledge and innovations into your service. These groups are often informal and membership is likely to change as new people join and others leave when their interests change. External CoPs tend to be more flexible and all members usually have equal status. There is no hierarchical structure, even when people have defined roles within the group.

    CoPs can provide opportunities for junior staff to work with senior staff from other organizations on an equal footing. Cohen (2006) states that the remit of external CoPs tends to evolve as new people join and according to group members’ consensus. These differ from internal CoPs, which are likely to be driven by the need to fulfil organizational objectives; external CoPs are much more fluid and the relationships between members is of great value.

    There are a large number of CoPs in the LKS sector, many of which exist in the virtual environment using mailing lists, forums and social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) to connect. In some cases these CoPs exist only in virtual spaces, but often will include some face-to-face contact to supplement this. The Michigan Library Association (2015) has developed a number of online ‘Communities of Practice (CoPs) to create and archive knowledge, develop and document best practices, solve problems and build relationships among professionals’. These CoPs are not only about learning, but also about storing knowledge for reuse and are organized according to members’ priorities.

  • 5 - MBTI® – Myers Briggs® Type Indicator

  • from Section 1 - Theories
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 12-14

  • Summary

    DEVELOPED IN 1942 by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katharine Briggs, the Myers Briggs® Type Indicator (MBTI®) is a well known system for understanding and interpreting personality. It uses the three dimensions from Carl Jung's ‘Psychological Types’ ideas with an added, fourth dimension of Judging–Perceiving which explains how individuals handle the information they obtain. MBTI® identifies 16 personality types, each made up of four letters, called the Psychological Scales. To see how this works in practice and to learn more about the personality types follow the links in the Further Reading section below (p. 14).

    The assessment is done by use of a questionnaire which is carried out by registered practitioners. This is usually undertaken through group sessions, though there is an online version which can be completed. Each of the 16 different types is developed from the side of the scale which is dominant and a certain set of characteristics is associated with each combination to describe what the individual is like. For example an ISTJ is dominant in Introversion, Sensing, Thinking and Feeling which translates as that individual usually being quite serious, practical, quiet and dependable. They will be responsible and determined and will provide accurate work, coping well with high-stress situations. However, they can be impatient and appear to be unappreciative of the efforts of others.

    Whilst individuals tend to have a preference for one or the other side of the four scales we all contain both areas within our brains. The measurements show our more innate preference, but we can, and do, develop the opposite where and when we need it. Even if we are more dominantly focused on a particular side of a scale it does not stop us from using the opposite side – so, for instance, just because you rely on your feelings a lot does not mean that you cannot use objective data to make a decision. The same applies to all the individuals that make up your team.

  • 48 - Conferences – sharing the learning

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 119-121

  • Summary

    CONFERENCES ARE RICH learning events, where individuals participate in a range of activities, including attendance at workshops or presentations, participation in debates and networking with colleagues from different organizations who have similar professional interests. There is no doubt that the individual who attends a conference is likely to find the experience rewarding and will return to the workplace with a multitude of ideas that they can be put into practice. If you are sending a member of staff to a conference, they can do a number of things to share their learning to the benefit of the wider team.

    Social media

    Social media provides informal learning opportunities and conferences often tap into these platforms to disseminate information before, during and after the conference. These days, if there is a conference we want to go to, but can't afford it or if it clashes with something else, it doesn't matter; we can read the resulting articles, blog posts and tweets and watch videos and presentations, without leaving our desks.

    Most conferences have Twitter (2016) accounts and use a designated hashtag (#) (see Tip 87, p. 231, for more information). Delegates are encouraged to post tweets about the conference using the hashtag, so that they can network and meet up with other delegates. They enable individuals to take notes, which can be referred back to, and to make comments about the things they are hearing. All tweets which have used the hashtag can later be saved or archived using a content tool like Storify (2016) or Paper.li (2016).

    Tweeting from a conference is a good way of raising a team member's profile and will provide opportunities for others within your team or your LKS account to follow, comment and interact with the attendee. Social presentation tools such as Prezi (2016) or Slideshare (2016) provide the opportunity to share presentations via Twitter and other social media channels, enabling your staff to share their work.

    It is a skill to take notes using a hashtag and it takes practice. You could encourage individuals to use a note-taking tool on their device and cut and paste what they want to tweet.

  • 53 - Exchange of Experience events, TeachMeets and Unconferences

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 132-135

  • Summary

    TEACH MEETS, UNCONFERENCES and Exchange of Experience events provide opportunities to share good practice and to discuss issues, problems and potential solutions. They are largely informal events which encourage active participation from attendees. They facilitate networking, as attendees are sharing these experiences with those from outside their workplace. Attendees are able to gain an insight into different sectors and roles, due to the variety of topics covered. Such events offer a number of development opportunities, ranging from attendance through to organizing an event.

    These types of events have gained momentum amongst the LKS community in recent years as an inexpensive means of bringing together likeminded people to discuss new approaches, share ideas and solve problems. The format of these events can overlap and it can be difficult to clearly identify differences between them. They often consist of a mixture of informal and formal sessions. Table 53.1 gives a brief overview of each of the formats but none of them are set in stone and they are interchangeable. The guiding principle for all of them is that attendees are given as many opportunities as possible to contribute and to engage with each other.

    Exchanges of Experience, TeachMeets and Unconferences are an effective and inexpensive way, given the emphasis on informality, to enable sharing of experience and networking of colleagues locally across the various sectors. They offer a convenient opportunity to meet up with colleagues outside (expensive) conferences or other large-scale training events (Tumelty, Kuhn and Birkwood, 2012). With no big-name speakers there is a greater sense of collaboration and a level playing field, removing hierarchies and the idea of learning from experts (Lawson, 2014).

    The knowledge/skills gained from the sessions can immediately be put into practice by attendees or followed up with speakers to find out more if needed. They support continuing professional development for the organizers as well as the attendees, and the welcoming and accessible format of these events can be a supportive environment to encourage first time presenters (Tumelty, Kuhn and Birkwood, 2012). The quotes below are from one of the organizers and two attendees at LibraryCamp and demonstrate the development value of such events. LibraryCamp is a UK-based unconference which has been running since 2011.

  • 33 - Effective handover

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 77-80

  • Summary

    WHEN AN EMPLOYEE leaves your service a good handover is an essential part of the process. By applying an effective handover process you can ensure that the outgoing employee does not leave with crucial knowledge which is critical to the continued smooth running of your service (Agarwal and Islam, 2015). In an ideal scenario, when an employee has handed in their notice a replacement will commence employment as soon as possible.

    Ideally the new employee should have the opportunity to ‘shadow’ the outgoing employee for a week or so to learn the ropes. This takes the pressure off the new employee and can help them to settle in. It will also mean that they will understand the requirements of the role and become a more productive part of the team more quickly.

    Unfortunately, lengthy recruitment processes and delays can often mean that the outgoing employee has left your service weeks or even months before a replacement is appointed. However, as a manager or supervisor there are still a number of things that you can do to ensure that an effective handover process can still take place when the new employee begins. Arranging for someone within the existing team to shadow the outgoing employee before they leave and be trained in crucial elements of the role is the second-best thing to having the outgoing employee train their replacement. You may need to redistribute other work within the team to ensure that the person picking up extra work does not become overloaded, but you will have someone who can fill the role of the outgoing employee and keep important elements of the service running.

    Finally, a good collection of written documentation about the post and its duties should be produced by the outgoing employee and saved in a shared drive or digital repository. Often job roles change over time, and when an employee leaves this is a good opportunity to review the requirements of the post. Involve the outgoing employee in writing the job description for their replacement, to ensure that it accurately represents the role that they are leaving.

  • 58 - Learning logs and journals

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 148-151

  • Summary

    LEARNING LOGS AND learning journals are often used as part of educational programmes or courses to monitor learning and identify areas for improvement. They can be an equally useful tool to promote a learning environment in the workplace and to capture and monitor both individual and team learning as it occurs. Whilst a learning log will probably have a more defined structure than a journal, the principles of maintaining them are the same. They are both used to keep a record of all learning experiences, not just those acquired through formal routes, and should also provide a space to encourage deeper critical reflection of experiences which can be used by both managers and individuals to identify areas for improvement on an ongoing basis. These insights can feed into both personal development and team planning processes.

    As a supervisor or manager, you could build learning logs or journals into your programme of staff development by encouraging your team to keep records of all learning activities. They can be particularly great for analysing learning experiences which are not formal, but may result in a personal change in practice or improvement to how services are delivered. Logs and journals are not just about keeping a record of activities and incidents; individuals need to be prepared to be open and honest about their experiences and their role in what happened. By supplementing the record with focused critical reflection, individuals can identify where the real learning occurred and plan to make future changes. It is useful for each learning event to draw conclusions and include an action plan to ensure the application of this knowledge in the future.

    Learning from experiences

    Learning from experience is central to Kolb's cycle (McLeod, 2013) which is discussed in Tip 2 (p. 4) in more detail, but essentially includes a four-stage process of experience, reflection, learning and action. This is demonstrated as a continual cycle of learning, rather than a linear process. Barclay (1996) suggests that activities be recorded in a structured way, one based upon Kolb's learning cycle. If individuals prefer to work in a less structured way, the journal approach may work better for them, but guidance should be provided to facilitate deeper learning.

  • 28 - Team building

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 65-68

  • Summary

    A LARGE PROPORTION of the work carried out in LKS is carried out by teams. Teams are important because they can achieve more than individuals working alone and can allow those individuals to play to their strengths. Being a member of a high-performing team allows individuals to develop, provides motivation and can make work more satisfying and fun.

    What makes a team?

    Teams can be made up of different numbers of individuals. In some organizations the team may be as small as two people, in others it will be much larger. In many places people can be a member of more than one team. Teams can have clearly defined roles such as working on a specific project or function, for example managing stock or running information literacy training. Alternatively they can have a broader remit, particularly where there are only a small number of individuals employed to undertake this type of work and be responsible for all the tasks carried out in respect of LKS. Increasingly individuals may work in geographically dispersed teams where the only communication is digital or they may be working on specific projects with people employed by other organizations.

    Effective team working

    If you are in the position of bringing a team together then it is important for you to think about what is the objective of the team and the skills, knowledge and experience you require from the individual team members to fulfil it. More often you will be inheriting a team from someone else or you might be promoted to lead a team of which you were previously a member. Whatever the circumstances, as a manager of a team you have a responsibility to ensure the individuals work together in an effective and efficient manner. For teams to work effectively, individual members need to have a clear understanding of what they are expected to contribute and what the roles of the other members are. Team leaders need to understand the individual strengths and development needs of the team members whilst offering guidance and direction to ensure that the task in hand is completed to a satisfactory level. Communication from and to the manager and amongst team members is crucial to success. How this is facilitated should be agreed early on and then should be subject to regular review.

  • 47 - Conferences – presenting

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 117-119

  • Summary

    PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR your team members to present at conferences or events can be great for both your organization and the individual concerned. It raises the profile of your work and can help to develop the individual's skills and confidence.

    Presenting at small events can provide good opportunities for staff to practise their first presentations. At larger conferences, short presentations or posters can also be less intimidating ways to present for the first time. Look out for TeachMeets (Tip 53, p. 132), PechaKucha (2003) or lightning talks to get a first taste of presenting.

    Create and encourage an ethos of peer review within your team so that staff might practise on their colleagues and receive feedback. Provide other safe opportunities for staff to practise their presentation at team meetings or other local events.

    If individuals are to have an impact when they present, they need to produce professional-looking presentations and posters. This means not overfilling slides or posters, not adding too much text and using quality images to illustrate the presentation. It is strongly recommended that you avoid using cartoons and cartoonish fonts. Presentation skills training can be invaluable in giving staff more confidence in their performance. There are courses staff can go on that will show them how to create great PowerPoints or how to use Prezi (2016).

    Presenting at any conference helps the individual to develop skills in abstract writing, poster design, film production, negotiating, influencing, presenting and public relations (Blagden, Pratchett and Treadway, 2014), which can only be good for your service.

    Example from practice: Tracey Pratchett – LKS manager (NHS, FE and public)

    I've presented at the Health Libraries Group Conference (CILIP, 2015) twice and have returned to the office with a new vigour, full of ideas and enthusiasm to try new things. On the other hand, I also felt guilty about the cost (I was lucky enough to obtain a bursary) and concerned about the impact that taking time away would have on my colleagues, as we were a small team.

  • 22 - Team development plans

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 52-54

  • Summary

    A KEY COMPONENT of successful performance management is to ensure that individuals are equipped with the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to do the job in hand. As a manager you will need to understand clearly those areas where individual team members and the team as a whole are competent and any areas which require further development. You will then need to draw up a plan to address any development needs you have identified. This plan should take into account the aspirations of individual members of the team.

    The first step in drawing up an effective development plan is gaining an understanding of what the development needs are in terms of the individual, the team and the organization. This needs to take into account a number of factors, including:

  • • the requirements of the task/job/project

  • • the current skills, experience and knowledge level of the individual

  • • the current skills, experience and knowledge level of the team as a whole

  • • how individual team members like to learn.

    • As a line manager you will have numerous sources of information from which to gather this information. These include, but are not limited to:

  • • your own observations of the skills, knowledge and experience of individual team members and the team as a whole

  • • information obtained through more formal avenues such as personal development plans, one-to-ones and appraisals

  • • your knowledge of the tasks individuals and the team are currently expected to perform

  • • your knowledge of forthcoming projects

  • • horizon scanning, both internally and externally, to identify future trends and developments which may have an impact on your service.

    • In addition to this information you might have access to organizational information, such as a training needs analysis conducted by HR or, if your team is part of a larger LKS team, an analysis carried out for the service as a whole. The CILIP Professional Skills and Knowledge Base (CILIP, 2013) can be a useful tool in helping to identify individual development needs.

    Armed with this knowledge you can begin to put together a development plan. The priority is to get the current work done, followed by work coming up and then look at the longer-term needs of the individual, team and organization.

  • 96 - Writing e-mails

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 254-257

  • Summary

    Writing e-mails

    THE USE OF e-mail is central to most business operations and LKSs are no exception. It is one of the quickest and easiest methods of communicating with colleagues and users. The language used and the way that e-mails are written and managed can have a huge impact on the recipient. Many organizations have an e-mail acceptable use policy, which is likely to outline how e-mail should be used and whether there are any restrictions on employees, for example, whether they can use work e-mail for personal use. As a supervisor or manager, you need to have a good understanding of your organization's email policy so that you can direct your staff to these documents if there are any issues with the way they use it. However, a policy will not outline how you use e-mail within your LKS and, to a large extent, how you use it to communicate with your employees and direct reports will set the tone for your service.

    Your employees will use e-mail to communicate with each other, colleagues throughout the organization, LKS staff outside your service and crucially with your users; it will be an integral part of their working lives. E-mail may be used in one-to-one conversations, including a select group of people or on a distribution list where many of the recipients are not known to the sender.

    Issues

    However, just because e-mail is quick and easy to use, Morgan (2013) states that it can become a source of misery for staff. We are all too familiar with the overloaded inbox or wading our way through a long thread within a forwarded message to try and find the crux of the conversation. Also, the immediacy of email has changed our expectations about turnaround and the e-mail inbox can soon become a pressured environment. Morgan (2013) suggests that we are prone to overuse e-mail, which can have a negative impact on the way our employees see us and the way we see them. Sometimes we should just talk to each other rather than e-mailing colleagues sitting two feet away from us.

  • 79 - Shadowing

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 204-206

  • Summary

    Shadowing

    JOB SHADOWING IS an informal process where one staff member works alongside either a more experienced colleague or someone who is doing a different job. Individuals can shadow colleagues within the organization, or arrangements can be made to shadow in external organizations within either the same or different sectors. The benefits of shadowing for the individual are that they gain experience, make contacts, expand their knowledge and may develop a greater understanding of a different area of work. Taylor (2013) writes about her experience as a teacher librarian in an Australian school, about using job shadowing to overcome isolation, share experience and network with others.

    As a manager or supervisor of staff, you can use shadowing to keep existing staff engaged, helping them to develop new skills or services. You could also offer opportunities to students or staff from other organizations, inviting them to shadow one of your team. This is a good way of contributing to the profession, but also of scouting for new talent and growing your own team. In larger organizations, you could make arrangements for LKS staff to shadow other professionals to gain a greater understanding of user needs and to spot opportunities to develop new services. For example, in a university an LKS professional could shadow an academic member of staff or, in the NHS, shadow a clinician.

    Shadowing scenarios

    Below are a number of scenarios where shadowing could be considered:

  • • A new staff member shadowing an existing staff member doing the same job is a good way to learn the ropes, understand organizational values and get them up to speed. Shadowing the person who is leaving the post can be an excellent way of keeping the organizational memory and maintaining former staff talent (About Money, 2015).

  • • A new or existing staff member could visit a different organization which is offering a similar service to learn about the role, develop new skills and implement revised processes. This could be a good way of building networks and finding a mentor.

  • • An existing staff member could shadow LKS staff from other departments. This would work really well in a large higher educational service, where staff could work with other teams to develop their own skills, bring in new methods of working and generate ideas (Foley, Barbrow and Hartline, 2015).

  • 84 - Training courses – attending

  • from Section 3 - Activities and tools
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 220-222

  • Summary

    Training courses – attending

    TRADITIONALLY DEVELOPMENT OF staff was associated with attendance at a formally taught training course. Hopefully this book will have demonstrated that there are many other ways of developing staff, but formal training courses still have their place.

    Monster (2016), the employment website, identifies formal training as bringing the following four main benefits to individuals, teams and organizations:

  • • improved productivity and adherence to quality standards

  • • employees develop skill sets that allow them to undertake a greater variety of work

  • • improved ability to implement and realize specific goals outlined in a company's business plan

  • • increased ability to respond effectively to change.

    • Broadly speaking, this type of training can be divided into internally and externally delivered courses. Some of the internally delivered courses may be mandatory and staff will have no choice as to whether or not to attend them. It is still important to discuss mandatory training with your staff to ensure that they have learned what they were supposed to learn and to feed back to the training providers any issues or unmet needs. With other types of internal training individuals will have the option to attend or not.

    For both external and self-selecting internal courses, a discussion will need to take place between the staff member and you as the line manager to agree why the individual wants to attend the training. This discussion should include the benefits that the training will bring to the individual, the team and the organization. It is important to be clear about the time commitment required and how the learning will be applied after the course is completed. Some courses will require pre- or post-course work and arrangements will need to be made to accommodate this as appropriate.

    There are often cost implications associated with this type of training. Some internal courses might be charged back to your training budget, depending on the system in operation at your organization. For many external courses, though not all, there will be a fee and there could also be associated travel and accommodation requirements, depending on the location and duration of the course. Training budgets in many organizations have been cut in recent years.

  • 14 - Person specifications

  • from Section 2 - Infrastructure
  • Tracey Pratchett, Gil Young, Carol Brooks, Lisa Jeskins, Helen Monagle
  • Book:
    Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    09 June 2018
    Print publication:
    21 November 2016, pp 34-36

  • Summary

    THE PERSON SPECIFICATION should be drawn up after you have undertaken the role analysis and put together the job description. In some organizations you will be required to base this upon an agreed competency framework. This might be one put together internally or a nationally agreed framework such as Agenda for Change (NHS Employers, 2014) or the Higher Education Role Analysis (ECC, 2014). Your HR department will be able to advise you on this.

    The person specification should clearly list the qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience which an individual should possess in order to be successful in a role. The specification is usually broken down into those attributes which are considered to be essential to the role and those which are desirable. Most organizations indicate how the candidate will be expected to demonstrate that they are the right person for the role, the most common being an application form or CV followed by an interview which is often supplemented by a presentation or practical test.

    Best for

  • □ Clarifying the competencies required by an individual to undertake the job.

  • □ Enabling those short listing and interviewing for a post to assess a candidate's suitability and ability to carry out a specified role.

  • □ Providing a framework to feedback to applicants and candidates why they were unsuccessful or successful.

    • More

  • □ The person specification can be used as a framework for developing the person once they are in a role. The successful candidate can use it, in discussion with their line manager, to identify those areas where they require further development.

  • □ If you are drawing up a person specification for a new role then do ask managers in other roles and organizations if you can see examples.

    • To think about

  • □ Be realistic. Only classify an attribute as essential if it really is. Strictly speaking you should not be making a job offer to someone who has not demonstrated that they possess an ability which you declared was essential to the role.

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