Skilling your staff

Skilling up your staff and volunteers

Every member of staff will need or want learning and development (L&D) in some areas. Organisations should have clear guidelines to identify and meet L&D needs. L&D needs analyses may be conducted with staff, and away days are useful to highlight team strengths and weaknesses.

Every organisation should have a personal and professional development policy detailing processes, options and opportunities. Formal training may include courses, qualifications and event attendance, but alternative methods such as mentoring, coaching, shadowing or secondments are also useful.

Employees will not stay in one organisation forever, so consider personal, aspirational development as well as specific job training – this may even encourage an employee with itchy feet to stay longer. Allocate each member of staff a small budget to spend on training of their choice. Check on L&D effectiveness by monitoring through supervision and appraisal.

Offer volunteers similar opportunities but with more flexibility. Volunteering is a choice and individuals will have different motivations. During an induction interview check out what each volunteer wants to do, if they want to develop and how. Some volunteers will be happy with no skill development whereas for others it will be the prime motivator, in preparing for a career.

Specific volunteering roles, such as counselling will require supervision and L&D. Outline this in a rights and responsibilities document (ensuring that this is not read as an employment contract). As with staff, allocate volunteers an L&D budget, remembering that a volunteer should never be used to do the job of a paid staff member.

Useful Websites

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Business Link
Investors in People
National Council of Voluntary Organisations
UK Workforce Hub
Volunteering England
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service