Professional Development

15 questions to ask your organisation

Building skills impacts upon your work today, but it also helps plan for future growth and change.

Think of your organisation's work today and ask yourself the following:

1. Is your organisation held back from new opportunities because it feels it doesn't have the right mix of skills?

2. Do employees have training budgets (and if not, why not)? Do they use them?

3. Is there specialist training that you can't find anywhere, or if you have found it, can't afford?

4. Finish the following sentence: "I wish my organisation was better at..."

5. What skills and abilities do you admire in other similar organisations?

Now think about work over the next 12 months and consider these questions:

1. How will my job have changed one year from now?

2. What skills do I need to start building now to be ready for change?

3. What training is necessary in the next year to bring new board members or new staff up to speed?

4. What are the risks for our organisation in the next year, and can any of those risks be offset by learning new ideas and skills?

5. How will your networks have changed and how will you keep up to date with those changes?

Last, if you work closely in partnership with other organisations to deliver programmes, think about their training needs too:

1. What skills would your partner like to build?

2. Are there areas that you have both identified as skills gaps, either in your organisation or your partner?

3. How will the partnership change in the next year and are you both prepared for that change?

4. Are there skills that you have, or your partner has, that would be beneficial to share?

5. Does your partner want to deliver training or learning events to a third party, but doesn't know where to start?

Contact Development Action and let us know what you've discovered.