The Why and How of Professional Development for Associations and Non-Profits

From newbies to power users, onboard and enhance your team’s learning to ensure they are well-educated to use your software effectively and deliver value to your members, supporting your organization to continue to evolve and grow. 

Why staff education is so important

If you don’t support and promote professional development amongst your team, you may end up with: 

1. Staff that tend to stay in their comfort zone
2. Unhappy and unmotivated staff, which leads to staff turnover
3. Difficulty in achieving your organizational goals and reaching KPIs
4. Lack of improvement and lack of engagement 

Are any of these already happening in your workplace?

Benefits of professional development in the workplace

There are many benefits of staff professional development such as: 

• Career advancement – investing in professional development can open doors for staff career advancement. 
• Increased job satisfaction – providing learning opportunities enhances job satisfaction. 
• Skill development – develops new skills for staff to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving job market.
  

Strategies to support staff education

• Customized learning plans – tailor training based on individual employee needs and career goals.
• Mentorship programs – establish a mentorship program to foster continuous growth and development.
• Encourage Continuous Learning – promote a culture of continuous learning and self-improvement.
• Celebrate and reward – celebrate achievements completed and acknowledge employee’s efforts in professional development. 

Take your team on a learning journey

Professional development is ongoing. It doesn’t stop once someone completes a course…. 

• Develop individual learning plans and continue to monitor and update them.
• Define your team’s learning styles and map their training plan to that style.
• Consider Blended learning options with a mix of online learning, coaching, live training, or shadowing a colleague. 

Not every staff member needs to be an expert, but in today’s world, technology drives everything. 

Overcoming challenges in professional development

• Budget constraints – find cost-effective ways for employees to learn, like online learning courses, group training sessions, and mentoring. Find more ideas with Associations Now’s article, Three Budget-Friendly Strategies for Staff Professional Development.
• Time constraints – allow staff the time without distraction to include professional development in their weekly work plan, even if it is only 1 hour. 

Remember – if staff take the time to learn more efficient ways to do their job, it will help save costs and resources down the track!

Does your organization use iMIS? Take advantage of these learning tools:

ASI Training offers several opportunities to support your team’s learning needs. Get your team up and running with onboard training, develop their skills with a certification, and continue to support your staff with available professional development opportunities.

Contact ASI Training – training@imis.com – for support on your organization’s learning.