Workforce Capability Development for Innovation and Culture Change – Key Messages
Workforce capability development focuses on the importance of having the skills and capabilities that will enable individuals and organisations to be part of a sustainable, innovative and growing economy.
We have learnt many lessons over the years in regards to workforce capability development in vocational education and training (VET) in Australia - we share these with you through the following key messages.
Key messages
Key message 1: Overcoming tensions to move forward
A flexible approach to maximising business opportunity, growth and innovation may cause conflict when new ideas clash with established procedures and expectations. Control of some processes and freedom in others is required. The tensions created by these conflicts will be felt and need to be managed at various levels as they occur.
Some of these potential conflicts are:
- Innovation and creativity v’s standardisation and compliance
- Business imperatives v’s educational objectives
- Workforce development v’s training
- Sharing v’s autonomy
- National policy v’s local needs
- Entrepreneurship v’s accountability
Key message 2: Everyone plays a part
If workforce capability development for culture change is to succeed, every staff member (including senior managers) needs to:
- Be clear about their role, and
- Become involved and take responsibility for change, ie. walk the talk
As well, all staff must:
- Be aware of the business directions
- Understand the elements of workforce development
- Show commitment to expanding knowledge and refreshing skills that relate to new business priorities
- Be confident to apply new skills and knowledge
The following list of actions is a guide for considering which roles within the organisation are accountable for what:
- Developing a workforce capability development plan
- Advocating the importance of effective workforce capability development
- Implementing the workforce capability development plan
- Providing resources in line with priorities and budget
- Identifying and providing enabling systems and processes
- Translating the new directions and what workforce development means to individuals
- Actively encouraging sharing of materials and ideas across the Institute
- Evaluating and identifying gaps in skills, knowledge and capabilities
- Ensuring staff receive opportunities for development throughout the year
- Identifying development needs of staff and matching needs to activities/strategies
- Providing contemporary leadership and modelling continuing professional development
- Being an active participant in a range of developmental activities
- Engaging in development of individual learning plans
- Having a clear and realistic view of strengths and competencies against the key capability areas
- Recognising current competencies and gather evidence for recognition of learning towards a qualification
Key message 3: The implementation - to be flexible and customisable
Plan for and encourage the use of various learning options and approaches to achieve a highly skilled and creative capable workforce. Adopt flexible and customised solutions to meet local business priorities. A continuous development approach to individual learning is paramount within an environment that demands immediate responses and requires the workforce to work differently.
Place emphasise on a strength based approach by focusing on the positive aspects of individual practices and building on these aspects. Recognise that both expert centred learning and work based learning theories play a significant role in the learning process.
Life based learning also plays a critical role by recognising that learning, no matter the source, influences our thinking and our practice at work. Because all learning is an interrelated and multi-dimensional experience, a diverse and personalised range of “design-it-yourself” options will provide flexible pathways to learning. The goal is to recognise, capture, support and utilise this open-ended approach for the benefit of both the individual and the organisation.
Key message 4: Identifying and establishing the enablers
Organisational enablers play a critical part in opening up opportunities and pathways for individuals and teams to adopt innovative and flexible practices that reflect the organisations commitment to continuing workforce capability development.
Enablers which nurture and assist the learning process in the organisation include the following:
- Welcoming diversity and capitalising on the strengths of different people
- Recognising multiple pathways and learning options for acquiring and updating skills
- Encouraging the sharing of resources and knowledge
- Valuing creativity and ideas and encourage thinking outside the normal boundaries.
- Recognising the importance of innovation for future profitability
- Allowing opportunities for people to come together for sharing of resources and ideas
- Agreeing to recognise the skills and knowledge gained
- Recognising that individuals are capable of developing their own learning pathways
- Building and extending networks locally, nationally and internationally
- Establishing and moderating strategic learning networks between TAFE, industry, universities, research centres, entrepreneurs, industry skills councils and industry networks
- Capturing and capitalising on new thinking and ideas
- Expanding the focus from skills development to include innovative capability and leadership development
- Open dialogue on all issues that impact on business
Learning and development practices in the workplace
The workforce needs new or newly emphasised skills and capabilities to support an innovative economy. Innovation is not a skill or capability of its own – it is the application in a specific context of a combination of skills/capabilities and knowledge. (Innovation and Business skills Australia, 2007)
All of us in vocational education and training (VET) need to embrace working and learning practices that are integral to the rapidly changing and diverse environments in which they operate.
Continuous life based learning and development, business know-how and rapid and innovative responses to client needs should be a regular part of working and learning in our complex and ever-changing environments. We can:
- Embed learning and development practices in our day-to-day work practices
- Reflect on the nature and preference for learning which is suitable to the individual and/or team
- Focus on experimentation, leading to new and unexpected knowledge, outputs and outcomes
- And of course, link all practices to the business goals of the organisation.
TAFE NSW is at the forefront of providing leading edge workforce capability development initiatives and strategies for staff. TAFE’s focus includes:
Fresh and diverse approaches
TAFE NSW’s workforce capability development initiatives and strategies offer new and diverse approaches that clearly focus on innovative customer service, new and emerging key capabilities of staff, and integration into organisational workforce development plans. It needs to be clear that it’s not “more of the same” and that the approach is different and customised to emerging staff needs.
2. Service delivery focus
The priority for service delivery changes the focus from ‘training’ to an emphasis on customer driven service and business response across all parts of the organisation. The customer may be an individual in a classroom learning environment, or an organisation needing staff trained, or a complete training solution to an enterprise, and as such, will be the centre of all operations. The standard business practice will be to focus on innovative and responsive operations in a timely manner.
3. Core capabilities
TAFE NSW has identified core capabilities for all staff within the organisation. The aim is to develop a workforce that can respond to:
- Global competition
- New information and communication technologies
- Speed of change and the speed of expected business turnaround
- Workforce diversity. eg, age, gender and cultural background
- Cultural priorities. eg, quality of life, workplace flexibility and security
- Climate change and social responsibility (Innovation and Business Skills Australia, 2008).
Commitment to the development of staff
The TAFE NSW Workforce Development Guarantee outlines a commitment to staff by:
- Identifying targets of 3500 staff per year for 3 years for capability development
- Committing funding for capability development
- Developing future leaders of TAFE NSW
- Changing systems to support a service oriented response.
Australia’s future economic prosperity requires sustained productivity and growth… Investment in the education, skills and training of our people is the single most important thing we can do as a nation to lift productivity (Skilling Australia for the Future, 2007)
References
TAFE NSW Workforce Development Guarantee is on the Department of Education and Training’s website
https://www.tafensw.edu.au/news/workforce_development_guarantee.htm
ARTICLE | Workforce Development - a whole-of-system model for workforce development, Maret Staron, TAFE NSW International Centre for VET Teaching and Learning (ICVET)
http://icvet.tafensw.edu.au/ezine/year_2008/sep/thinkpiece_whole_system_approach.htm
ARTICLE | Capability development – a model for supporting workforce change and innovation, Maret Staron and Robby Weatherley, TAFE NSW ICVET
http://icvet.tafensw.edu.au/ezine/year_2008/sep/article_capability_development_model.htm
ARTICLE | Workforce capability development: tactics for change initiatives, Maret Staron and Janet Hewson
http://icvet.tafensw.edu.au/ezine/year_2008/dec/article_workforce_capability.htm
Life based learning: a strength based approach to capability development in vocational and technical education. Final report on the national research project Designing Professional Development for the Knowledge Era conducted by TAFE NSW ICVET with Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).
Executive Summary
Full Report
TAFE NSW Promoting Emerging Practice website – life based learning resource area
http://www.icvet.tafensw.edu.au/focus/life_based_learning.htm