Team Activity

Take the time to develop personal growth plans with each staff and/or faculty is your team – both at the time of hire & at regular intervals (ex. Quarterly / bi-annually / annually). This should be a collaborative process where staff and faculty are able to identify particular areas of passion within their work, set personal goals, and identify areas whether they would like to improve or expand their knowledge. Here are questions you can reflect on:  

• How important is the development and growth of your staff and faculty?
• How do you support and encourage your staff and faculty to develop, learn and take on new challenges?
• What opportunities could be considered?
• What resources do you make available to help them?
• What resources does the University offer that would be useful to them?  Do they know about them?
• How often do you provide constructive feedback to your staff and faculty?
• How often do you take an interest in the career development of your staff and faculty?
• How often do you have a performance dialogue with your staff and faculty?

Performance management is a focus on work priorities and what staff and faculty require to grow, develop and deliver. For more information on performance management visit the Human Resources Performance Management webpage & visit the Performance Dialogue webpage.  

Finally, in your preparation, we recommend viewing the growth and development video prior to the meeting your staff and faculty. 

Personal growth and development are dependent on staff and faculty’s personal goals and needs. Take the time to ask what type of opportunities are most important and meaningful. Here are a few questions you can consider:  

• Tell me about the projects you have worked on that you are most proud of?
• What activities in your job motivate you to excel and are the most interesting to you?
• What do you think your talents and skills are?
• Would you like me to share with you some observations I have made about your skills and how they contribute to the organization's mission.
• What are your short, medium and long-term career goals?
• What projects, committees or other responsibilities would you like to be involved in?
• What competencies would you be interested in developing?
• I have some names in mind of people who might be helpful to you.  Would you like me to introduce them to you?
• What more can I do to help you in your growth and development? What do you need?
• Let's set up a schedule of follow-up meetings so that we can check in on your career progress regularly.
• How can I help you in your current role? 

This step is about working towards a desired goals.  Here are some suggestions for this step:   

• Provide the necessary resources to your staff and faculty (when possible) to enable them to achieve their goals;
• Give them permission to take time to develop at their own pace;
• Review the workload as needed and have a constructive conversation about it with them;
• Inform your staff and faculty of the various learning supports that exist to help them achieve their goals;
• Offer them opportunities related to their developmental and career goals that may arise along the way that may be of interest to them (e.g. what projects can you give them? What meetings or committees can you include them in?)
• Encourage your staff and faculty to speak up about the challenges and concerns they face along the way and see how you can help them; 
• Remember, it is recommended that at a minimum, quarterly discussions are held to review goals and support for performance management;
• Celebrate their learning and achievements. 

• Take stock of your accomplishments;  
• Reflect on your career path to date;  
• Define your short, medium and long term growth and development objectives as well as your career goals; 
• Have a good understanding of what you bring to the organization and where you can improve;
• Decide on the best time to have a discussion with your manager. 

Resources:  

• Performance Management Resources
• Competency framework
• Performance dialogue
• Learning supports to develop competencies
• Fixing goals

Target the best time to discuss growth and development with your manager and ensure follow-ups to ensure progress;  

Discuss your desired short-, medium- and long-term career and development goals and how they contribute to your development and the organization;  

Ask your manager questions: 

• What do you think are my strengths that I should focus on? What is the one thing I bring to the organization that has the most impact?
• What am I doing that needs to be changed, done differently or stopped?
• What future roles do you see as a good fit for my skills and career progression?
• What skills do I need to develop to do my job better? To support my career progression?
• What other responsibilities can I take on as part of my career progression or network/experience building? Are there people I could be introduced to benefit from their expertise and expand my network?
• Would it be possible to have X number of responsibilities or work on X number of projects or serve on X number of committees (because I think I can do a good job at that level or because it will develop my experience/network)?
• Can you support me in learning X?
• What do you think are my blind spots that are holding me back?  

Be mentally prepared to receive constructive feedback.  

Performance form with targeted competencies and career goals.   

Fixing Goals

Identify barriers to success and possible solutions.

This step is about working on your development plan.  Here are some suggestions for this step:   

• Remember that you are responsible for your development and career;
• Do everything you can to meet your commitments;
• Don't hesitate to contact your manager if you have any questions, seek his or her advice, discuss challenges, obtain support and keep him or her informed of your progress;   
• Don't hesitate to share with your peers or other experts; 
• Make time in your schedule to develop yourself; 
• Be open to feedback; 
• Share your development resources and learnings with others; 
• Celebrate your progress. 

• Regularly set aside time in your calendar to engage in conversations with your manager;  
• Make every effort to keep appointments, follow-ups and try as much as possible not to cancel or reschedule them.  Let your manager know that growth and development is important to you; 
• Make sure the other person is also willing to have the dialogue about it. Find the right time;
• Once the deadlines have passed, identify what has and has not been achieved, what has worked well and what has not and think about next steps.