Center for Strategic Training and Development 
Members review their notes at a recent Center Meeting. |
Center for Strategic Training and Development participants are those concerned with human capital, particularly in the area of creating and implementing training and development programs that support the accomplishment of agency mission. Participants include chief human capital officers, human resource (HR) executives, directors of training and development and their staff, congressional staff, union leaders, academics, and members of the consulting community.
In today’s business world, it is commonly recognized that training and development needs to be strategically linked to an organization’s mission and strategic goals. It is also recognized a robust training program is critical in order to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce, especially in tight labor markets.
Historically, however, federal HR work has focused on transactions, such as processing promotions, disciplinary actions, and paychecks. Non-transaction functions included hiring, job classification, employee relations, and basic skills training. Traditionally, none of this work was specifically tied to achieving agency mission and goals.
Two factors are changing the face of federal HR work. First, there have been significant cuts made to HR staffs. Second, federal HR professionals are now being called upon, as are their counterparts in the private sector, to develop HR strategies that are directly linked to achieving agency mission and strategic goals. At the same time, HR personnel still have transactional work that needs to be done more efficiently because of lower staff levels.
In order for the HR community to achieve success in refocusing its training and development programs, all the stakeholders in the process must collaborate to create processes that align employee learning and development with the strategic direction of the agency. Challenges facing stakeholders include aging employee populations, tight competition for qualified new employees, and the need to maintain agency productivity. In the past, some of the issues discussed at the Center for Strategic Training and Development include
- how to get a seat at the strategic planning table
- how to identify employee competencies
- how to calculate the return-on-investment of training programs
- how to deal with poor performers.
By working together in a forum that encourages the exchange of ideas and provides an opportunity to share successes and failures in a safe, facilitated environment, Center for Strategic Training and Development members foster collaboration among stakeholders that leads to increased agency productivity and higher levels of employee and public satisfaction.
The Center for Strategic Training and Development meets about every six weeks at the Brookings Institution in downtown Washington, D.C. To reserve a space at the next Center for Strategic Training and Development meeting, click on isppi@american.edu. To review the summaries and presentations of previous Center for Strategic Training and Development meetings, please select the "Prior Meetings" tab at the top of this page. If you would like to suggest a topic of discussion for a future Center for Strategic Training and Development meeting, please select the "Suggest a Topic" tab.
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