Encouraging Ongoing Professional Development Conversations Between Staff and Supervisors
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In higher education, professional development is critical for employee growth, yet it can be challenging for staff members to approach this topic with their supervisors. Oftentimes, supervisors and supervisees wait to have professional development conversations once a year during a performance review. However, this once-a-year timeline does not allow for in-depth, consistent discussions.
In this article, we will discuss how employees and managers can approach professional development conversations with more intentionality. As a result, we hope both supervisors and supervisees feel more comfortable in establishing meaningful check-ins throughout the year to engage with this topic.
Performance Management vs. Professional Development
Many people don't differentiate performance management from professional development or see the connection between the two concepts. While the specific language may be different in institutional contexts, we consider career conversations to be the same as . At most institutions, performance evaluations are structured and are often conducted on an annual basis, strongly tied to the employee's job responsibilities, and focused on aligning the employee with strategic goals of the unit or the campus.
Professional development is a broad term that can be related to upskilling for an employee's current position or simply based on their professional interests. Unlike performance, professional development can be deeply personal, short- or long-term, and not bound to an institutional timeline. As a result, professional development is also often unmanaged, leaving it to individuals to figure it out. As career development professionals, we argue that both parties can benefit from co-creating professional development opportunities centered around the supervisee's needs and goals.
Why Prioritizing Professional Development Matters
Working in staff roles can be extremely fulfilling, but there are some realities of higher education that underscore the importance of prioritizing professional development.
- Lack of clear advancement opportunities: Many staff in higher education find themselves in relatively flat administrative structures. This allows individuals to acquire a broad range of skills and experiences, but it also leads to fewer opportunities for advancement within a unit or department. The lack of clarity often results in turnover as individuals move to another role in order to receive higher pay, a title change, or managerial responsibilities.
- A strain in resources: People working in higher ed are feeling the strain caused by shrinking budgets, turnover, and expanding responsibilities when roles do not get backfilled. If you find yourself feeling this strain, it can be difficult to identify opportunities for professional growth when you are trying to keep up with daily tasks and meet metric goals.
- Inconsistent training: With the prevalence of turnover in higher education staff positions, there is a wide range of variations in how new or existing team members are trained on roles and responsibilities. This can lead to a feeling that they are always playing catch-up rather than making steady progress in their work.
These are just a few of the challenges that staff may be encountering in their work. To help alleviate these pain points, supervisors and supervisees should consider how they can proactively work together to cultivate purposeful professional development that sets the supervisee up for success in their current role -- and even their next steps.
Advice for Supervisees
We want to take the remainder of the article to highlight a few key pieces of advice for supervisees and supervisors, beginning first with supervisees. We believe it is crucial for supervisees to take ownership of their professional development and advocate for opportunities, particularly if they find themselves in situations where it is not overtly discussed or encouraged.
For supervisees, professional development is a matter of self-investment and can lead to a wide variety of opportunities, both within and beyond your current roles. Investing in it can result in upskilling (which can improve performance in your current role) or reskilling (which makes you competitive for your next role).
So, what actions can you take to make progress in your own professional development? To start, it is important to engage in self-reflection to identify what your personal values, interests, and goals are. Where do you see yourself in the next six months? A year? Five years? The answer to this question can help you map out whether you want to invest in strengthening existing skills or developing new skills.
Next, you will need to purposefully optimize your time to . This may look like taking a virtual class or listening to a podcast during your commute/lunch break, or it could mean finding ways to apply what you're learning in your current work. Ultimately, for supervisees it is important to set goals and utilize resources in order to understand how professional development can lead to career growth and opportunities.
Advice for Supervisors
Given the challenges mentioned above and employees' feedback on the lack of opportunities to share their professional development needs, we strongly encourage managers to initiate these conversations. As managers, you can leverage your scheduled 1:1 meetings with your employee to help facilitate the exploration, decision-making, and goal-setting around this topic to provide both guidance and structure.
By doing this, you demonstrate the importance of professional development and show tangible support since the topic is often deeply personal, giving your employee the space to engage in this conversation more thoughtfully. While we encourage managers to initiate these conversations, keep in mind that supervisees can also bring topics up, as the drivers of this process.
It's also important to familiarize yourself with your professional development resources at your institution or professional association and policies related to tuition remission. While employees may want to reskill or upskill, they are often unsure where to begin. If you can share an overview of what exists and what may be possible with your budget, that can help remove barriers and create open doors for your employees to brainstorm the type of professional development activities they want to engage in.
For managers, supporting professional development among your team can also lead to improved performance, engagement, and job satisfaction, especially when your employees know how their goals contribute to the unit's mission and your vision. As higher education collectively struggles with talent retention, investing in talent development will undoubtedly contribute to organizational effectiveness and long-term succession planning, avoiding rapid turnover and the loss of institutional knowledge.
Conclusion
Ultimately, engaging in professional development conversations as an ongoing practice benefits both managers and employees. When both parties feel comfortable sharing their challenges, successes, and goals with each other, it fosters stronger relationships and belonging among everyone. Giving employees the opportunity to engage in thoughtful planning and reflection about their growth not only supports them as individuals but can lead to a more positive workplace culture.
