A day in the life of...a Training and Development Officer

Michelle Slater works as a Training and Development Officer in the Organisational Development team. The OD team helps the organisation and the people who work at YHN to improve, change and move forward to deliver excellent services.

The team is also responsible for designing, developing, delivering and evaluating learning and development activities, ensuring all activities are aligned to business need.  They work with both managers and staff to identify learning needs across the organisation, offering ways to address these needs.  Members of the team are happy to provide one to one coaching, advice, guidance and support to anyone who requires it.

"I’m based at YHN House but spend a lot of time at the different YHN offices. I’m the training and development contact for the Young People’s Service, NFS, Palatine, and Concierge, and work closely with these teams to ensure their training and development needs are met.

“I love the variety of my job as each day is different – one day I can be delivering Customer Service training, the next I could provide one to one coaching, assessing staff working towards an NVQ or researching and designing new training activities.

“Here’s my diary from a Wednesday in May…”

7:00am

I’m an early bird, I arrive at the office and check my emails over a cup of tea. I check my calendar and prepare for any meetings I have that day.

7.30 – 9.30am

I start working on a report that I need to submit to Management Team on Professional Training. YHN invites applications from staff who want to pursue training and qualifications and I manage this process. I need to evaluate the previous year’s take up and feedback, and assess how the training has benefitted individuals, teams and the organisation as a whole.  Once I’ve compiled all this information I’ll take the report to Management Team where they will decide on the budget.

9:30 – 11:00am

I travel to NFS for a team Learning and Development meeting with the manager, Jeff Wrightson.  Each team in YHN has a Learning and Development Plan that managers and OD update regularly. Learning and development needs may be requested directly by staff or they may be mentioned in one to ones or appraisals. I meet with managers every 4-6 weeks to go through team plans and check outstanding actions.  I talk through the NFS plan with Jeff and discuss appropriate in-house training and work shadowing for staff who have specific training requirements.

11:00 – 12:00pm

Back in the office I catch up on emails and return phone calls. I manage the ILM accredited qualifications in management, mentoring and coaching, and I take a phone call from a member of staff who is interested in developing her management skills. I give a quick overview of the different types of qualifications available and arrange a meeting for later on in the week to discuss in more detail.
I then make sure I am fully prepared for the training session I am delivering this afternoon and pull together the necessary resources.

12:00 – 12.30pm

Lunch

1:00 – 4:00pm

I’m delivering Appraisee Training to 12 new starters this afternoon. Appraisee Training is mandatory for YHN staff and is usually delivered in the first 6 months of employment. I enjoy the ‘hands-on’ side of the role and have found that each training session is different – it very much depends on the group.  I try to make training very interactive and participatory so it’s not just me standing at the front. You quite often have to think on your feet when delivering a training session and adapt your delivery to suit different learning styles. I make sure there’s a mix of discussions, presentations, group activities and individual work to interest everyone.

We discuss as a group different experiences of appraisal, what makes a good/bad appraisal, and run through YHN’s procedure so new starters to the organisation know what to expect. I facilitate discussions and prompt debate before staff complete a short test on what they have learnt.

4.00 – 5:00pm

I travel to Cruddas Park to meet a member of staff who is working towards an NVQ in Customer Service. I’m the NVQ Assessor and responsible for supporting staff working towards the qualification and assessing their portfolio of evidence. I observe the member of staff working in the housing office this afternoon as part of the NVQ assessment and I’m really pleased with how well they are doing. It’s a really rewarding part of the job helping people achieve qualifications – some staff who start NVQs haven’t done any formal training or qualification in years and it’s a great to support that person to prove their competence.

I organise my observation notes ready to type up tomorrow and head home. It’s been a long day but I really enjoy the variety and getting to meet so many people in the organisation. YHN staff show such passion for their work and it’s great helping them develop and learn new skills.