Training and development refers to the practice of providing training, workshops, coaching, mentoring, or other learning opportunities to employees to inspire, challenge, and motivate them to perform the functions of their position to the best of their ability and within standards set by local, state, Tribal, Federal and licensing organization guidelines.Training and development activities provide all involved system of care parties with the tools they need to develop professionally, increase their knowledge, effectively work with families, and build their capacity to perform the tasks associated with their positions within the system of care.
Since a system of care operates within an existing human service agency, it is expected that most human resource issues, such as hiring, benefits, staff recognition, and performance appraisal issues, would be handled within the agency’s human resources department.It would be important to make sure that system of care principles are infused into the day to day practices of human resources personnel. It is worth noting that many systems of care have developed recognition and award programs for individuals who have exceeded expectations in their system of care efforts. Training and development play an important role in the effectiveness of organizations and to the experiences of people in work.Training has implications for productivity, health and safety at work and personal development.
All organizations employing people need to train and develop their staff. Most organizations are cognizant of this requirement and invest effort and other resources in training and development. Such investment can take the form of employing specialist training and development staff and paying salaries to staff undergoing training and development. Investment in training and development entails obtaining and maintaining space and equipment.It also means that operational personnel, employed in the organization’s main business functions, such as production, maintenance, sales, marketing and management support, must also direct their attention and effort from time to time towards supporting training development and delivery.
This means they are required to give less attention to activities that are obviously more productive in terms of the organization’s main business. However, investment in training and development is generally regarded as good management practice to maintain appropriate expertise now and in the future.• Relate concepts and principles of training and development to real occupational issues in order to make a constructive contribution to organizations. • Recognize the psychological assumptions made in making training and development decisions and to manage these assumptions appropriately. • Appreciate the contextual factors of real organizations and work situations that affect decisions concerning the application of training and development concepts.
• Provide a basis for making useful training interventions within organizations and evaluating such interventions.In doing these things, this learning material aims to enable students to develop appropriate understanding of using occupational psychology within organizations with respect to issues of training and development. Why Use a Training, Development and Human Resources Toolkit? A system of care training and development agenda necessarily will have to involve families, community agencies, the faith community and other community partners. It will have to look at the various needs and requirements of all stakeholders involved.Some of these factors can be addressed through specific agency trainings, but in many cases new methods of training will have to be developed that go beyond any one agency’s agenda or curriculum.
For example, training may need to be created that addresses the family involvement aspect of a child and family team meeting. In today’s social media driven world the way in which training can be delivered is much more varied than in the past. For example, Webcasts, Webinars, and computer-based trainings are the order of the day to ensure maximum participation in a cost effective manner.Another aspect of a modern training and development effort within a systems of care is that of ensuring that all events give participants the ability to evaluate and offer feedback.
Data is then analyzed and, if necessary, future training and development activities are modified, enhanced, or eliminated. A number of evaluation forms are listed as resources in the Continuous Quality Improvement Section of this toolkit. Moving from a traditional training program that is focused on the employees of one agency to a more dynamic interagency and family involved training program can be challenging.A system of care requires reevaluation of how to go about building a training and development program that is open to all involved partners. With one of the systems of care focuses being on family and youth involvement, your local system must think about new presenters and co-presenters, assuring cultural diversity in your presenters and cultural competence in your presentations. Inevitably you will have to look at policies that prevent interagency partners from participating in more department focused trainings and look to find solutions to those issues.
This toolkit will provide you with some answers to these difficult issues as you begin to build your system of care training and development program into the daily operations of your work. Systems of Care Principles and Values The following are just a few ways systems of care principles and values might be evident in training, development, and human resources in your community: Staff members of systems of care agencies and organizations regard children, youth, and families as priorities within the community.For certain positions within systems of care, life experience is considered equal to, or in some cases more important than, a degree or other credentials. Outcomes are developed that measure and identify changes generated from systems of care principles into training, development, and human resources functions. A culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse and competent staff is evident in training, development and human resources activities.
Family and youth involvement is evident in positions (employees or contractors) within the system of care.An interagency training and development committee with family membership creates a cross-agency training and development agenda to address system of care personnel needs. Ongoing training and development occurs across all systems of care partners to enhance performance of interagency teams. Goals Training and Development Create a continuous learning environment throughout the life of your system of care that encompasses all levels of personnel involved including: biological, foster, and adoptive parents; youth; parent partners; service providers; front-line interagency agency staff; and high level administrative positions.Consistently reach out to all stakeholder groups through needs assessments to gauge the training and development needed to aid further knowledge acquisition.
Create, if not already doing so, training and development opportunities across agencies and departments, to other stakeholder groups, and to families, youth, and other community partners. Ensure that the latest evidence-based practices are incorporated into all training and development activities. Ensure interagency teams with family representation are utilized to complete tasks associated with systems of care.Develop a reward structure for employees and/or contractors who demonstrate an adherence to systems of care principles. Staff involved in your system of care should have their performance appraisals in part be based on system of care principles.
Ensure that policies related to your system of care encourage and promote training and development for all people involved in your system of care. Human Resources Develop performance appraisal systems that support systems of care principles. Hire, promote, and retain culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse individuals consistent with the cultural and ethnic makeup of the involved community.Hire systems of care staff in a timely fashion. Incorporate systems of care principles into job descriptions and consultant contracts.
Hire as employees or consultants, where possible and appropriate, qualified youth and family members who have been service recipients. Develop consistent personnel practices across agencies involved in systems of care. Consistently and adequately fill administrative and program positions responsible for performing activities within the system of care. Develop a performance system that is quantifiable, includes system of care principles, and accounts for continuous professional development.Use a strength-based, positive performance approach to affect recruitment, hiring, retention, supervision, and professional development.
Pre-planning Planning Phase Implementation Phase Continuous Quality Improvement The relevance of occupational psychology to training and development Contributing to training has long been one of the main concerns of occupational psychology – this is not surprising given that training involves learning and that learning is a central issue in psychology.Training is one of the core skills of occupational psychology. People with qualifications in and experience of occupational psychology have been employed in different capacities in training and development roles in government organizations, private companies and consultancy groups. The discipline offers many benefits and perspectives to help resolve training issues and problems and has also been at the root of many methods and techniques that have now become part of the routine practices within human resource management.
Training specialists must be alert to the wider issues regarding the problems presented to them and need the skills and confidence to deal with them. They must understand how training fits into the wider organizational context. An occupational psychology perspective is extremely beneficial in helping the practitioner to understand how training relates to other interventions aimed at improving job performance.
