Learning & Professional Development

Yes! Start by articulating your professional development philosophy. As noted in the insights above, many partners are using the 70/20/10 approach, which doesn’t require an additional budget. Start by bringing people together to draft the the key principles of your strategy, and generate a list of questions that will need to be answered in order to execute the strategy. For example, managers might ask “what is my role in developing my staff?” You might empower a working group to start answering some of the open questions and to drive alignment on what the 70%, 20%, and 10% look like in your organization.  You can work with your Teach For All PE lead to understand what conferences and other global learning opportunities are available to your staff this year, and generate a list of “10% options.

Traditionally, someone from the Human Resources or Organizational Development staff might oversee a professional development program. However, many of our partners don’t have dedicated HR staff and have come up with alternative ways to “own” this work. Some partners ask interested staff to form a task force, and empower the group to own the design and implementation of a professional development strategy. Others partners have one or two staff members who are particularly interested in professional development and who are able to dedicate some of their capacity to owning the work. Other partners think about the ways their fellows' leadership development framework might overlap with staff professional development needs, and encourage staff to lead internal workshops.  Regardless of who owns the work, it’s important to set expectations about how much time and energy staff can dedicate outside their core responsibilities (example: 10% of someone’s time).

It depends on the size of your organization and the complexity of your development program. A simple strategy that focuses primarily on on-the-job-learning and asks staff to own their own learning might take 5-8 hours to develop and incorporate feedback and launch. If you are stretched for time, choose the simplest possible approach, and rely heavily on managers and coaches to help connect the dots for the on-the-job learning. You will want to reserve several hours each year to step back on the outcomes of the approach and to make adjustments. You should also factor in the training and upskilling you may need to provide for your managers and/or coaches, if your strategy relies on their participation.   

Many organizations find success with using competency models. See our insights and resources here.

If budget is a concern, you might think about ways to get the content you need without having to pay an external facilitator. Some examples include: surveying staff to see if they have the skills to offer a specific workshop; check the partner learning portal to see if there is content that you might be able to adapt; speak with your Organizational Development contact at Teach For All to see whether it makes sense for them to support you in facilitation. When using an external facilitator, it’s always best practice to meet with the facilitator ahead of time to help them fully understand your mission, context, and ways of working so that they can be sure to tailor the experience for you.

There is no one-size fits all approach when it comes to professional development plans. First, you’ll need to decide if it’s important that all staff have the same approach to professional development planning, or if each staff member fully owns their own development and therefore proposes their own approach.  Partners who choose a more standardized approach will share expectations via a meeting or written document, and offer a timeline for completion of the development plans. Regardless of what approach you choose, it’s important to name who is responsible for what actions, and to set up systems that enable routine progress checks.  To view sample development plans, see here.

While a clear promotion may not be possible given your organizational structure, it is still important to invest in staff's growth within their role, their personal leadership, and their professional skills.  Review our resource on Career Conversations, to explore the use of these regular check-ins for aligning on an employee's growth plans, even when a promotion isn't possible. 

You can start by asking your Organizational Development Director or Partner Engagement Director for the list of Teach For All coaches. If you’d prefer to have someone locally, you may try asking members of your Board if they are willing to coach or know someone who might be. Alternatively, there may be coaching organizations in your country that could link you with certified coaches.

Many professional coaches offer pro bono or discounted rates for non-profit organizations, so it is worth asking if this is a possibility. In addition, Teach For All maintains a list of volunteer coaches--reach out to your Organizational Development specialist to learn more. 

You will need to decide this together with the person you choose as your external coach. This Coaching Guidance provides some ideas about how to document an agreement. If you are working with a certified coach then it’s likely they will have their own guidance to share with you.

Yes: coaches and managers play different roles. While both managers and coaches can support growth and leadership development, a manager is  often responsible for overseeing the structural and technical aspects of someone’s work (progress to goals; performance evaluations; vacation time, etc). But keep in mind that the best managers have excellent coaching skills.

Start by discussing some of the questions in the Learning Organization Survey (linked above), or better yet, have all staff take the survey to see successes and opportunities for improvement within your organization. You may find it easiest to pick one of the three pillars of a learning organization to focus on, or to spread your energy across all 3 at the same time.