Employee Development
How do successful people get that way? What is employee development? What is the OU manager's role in developing the workforce of this dynamic institution?
The University is committed to hiring people with the technical and organizational skills to succeed. Our commitment to excellence requires that we will work with our employees to help them maintain, update or improve those skills.
Managers play a key role in this effort by:
Creating conditions that motivate |
A survey found that motivators usually deal with job content, while employees are demotivated by job context.
Supervisors and managers have control over the motivators. They normally have authority to
- delegate high-level tasks
- increase opportunities for achievement
- increase level of discretion by allowing employee to make decisions
- assign projects that will cause learning and growth
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Observing and documenting performance |
Critical incident log – piece of paper, spiral notebook or form provided – make a brief and informal note, recording date, the facts and details of the incident, the specific behavior or the employee and the effect on the work or the people involved.
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Providing feedback and coaching |
“Feedback is information that has the ability to assist the performer to make midcourse corrections that increase the probability of goal attainment.” (Dick Grote)
Coaching before an event: prepare the employee by coaching on what to be aware of and the clues the manager will be reading. Develop more effectively by coaching in advance that by critiquing and debriefing afterward.
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Providing developmental experiences
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While employees are responsible for their own development, managers can make developmental opportunities available:
- encouraging participation in workshops and development programs
- creating opportunities “in place” that offer more occasions for genuine development
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Reinforcing effective behavior and progress toward objectives |
We seek information concerning what activities are rewarded, and then seek to do (or at least pretend to do) those things, often to the virtual exclusion of activities not rewarded.
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