THE FOUR STAFF DEVELOPMENT GOALS
By Barry Sweeny, © 2003

When we consider that mentoring is a personal, one-on-one form of facilitating the professional growth of others, we will realize that looking at the general principles for staff and organizational development can inform our development of effective mentoring programs and of our practices in mentoring.

Consider your work in mentoring at both the program and practices levels to see how the following principles, the "Four Goals for Staff Development" can help you see improvement opportunities. Specifically, what are the mentoring equivalents for each of these elements?

• CLARIFY content knowledge learned in training
• INCREASE or update content knowledge and skills
• GAIN cooperative compliance for implementing in practice the essential program elements
• ENCOURAGE adaptation of flexible program elements
• MODEL what successful implementation looks like
• COACH for technical support and to resolve implementation problems

2. WORK SKILLS IMPROVEMENT

• IMPROVE technical skills
• INCREASE repertoire of effective work strategies
• DEVELOP employee's individual strengths
• BUILD competence and strengths in employee's weaker areas
• DEVELOP collaborative structures and supportive relationships

3. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• ESTABLISH Norms of:
  *Continuous adult learning
  *Experimentation & openness to new ideas and strategies
  *Openness to feed back from peers and supervisors
• ENCOURAGE
  *Responsible autonomous decisions that reflect organizational strategic goals & values
  *Client/customer-centered, effective work habits and practices
• BUILD a collaborative work culture
• DEVELOP skills of continuoius improvement:
  *Reflective self-analysis
  *Self-assessment against standards
  *Goal setting and action planning for improvement

4. DEPARTMENT / ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• CREATE clarity, integration & commitment to goals at all levels
• IMPROVE the quality of interactions & relationships to improve group effectiveness
• IMPROVE the professional work climate
• IMPROVE structures that facilitate improvement
• ELIMINATE dysfunctional structures and practices
• DESIGN processes to provide feed back for renewal

© 2003 by the International Mentoring Association

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