Our Human Resources’ Leadership Development efforts were recognized last week by the Human Resources Association of Central California (HRACC). The entire HR team cheered on Dawn Cagle, Associate Executive Director, and Carmen Lopez, Human Resources Director, as they proudly accepted HRACC’s Best Practices in Sustainability Award.

For the past nine years, our HR Office’s goal has been to ensure our employees are successful in their positions; to achieve this, they have focused on the leadership development of our staff. In 2000, we underwent a retooling effort to increase communications and provide career growth and leadership opportunities for our dedicated staff. A team concept was established giving staff, management, and our directors a venue to express their ideas, exchange information, and provide leadership opportunities and trainings; these groups – Team Twenty-One, Leadership Forum, and Directors Council, respectively – meet, at a minimum, once a quarter.

It was during one of the first Leadership Forum meetings that the group, comprised of 60 management staff, conceptualized what is now our Community Action Leadership Academy (CALA). CALA, a 7-session course organized by the HR Office, provides leadership skills to those employees who are leaders or potential leaders within our Agency. Of those who have completed CALA, 31% have promoted into higher level positions within our Agency.

In that same year, our HR Director also saw a need for management development regarding human resources policies and procedures, and management of employees. A 3-hour, monthly management training program was launched to teach our management staff how to address human resources issues. Management staff has found these sessions to be very helpful in their day-to-day duties and have assisted in reducing phone calls to the HR Office. These training sessions have also assisted EOC in responding to employee complaints and legal issues.

Last year, our HR staff established another course aimed at improving skills and opportunities for first-line supervisors. This class, Community Action Supervisory Training (CAST), is taught by our HR management team and incorporates a writing assignment at the completion of each session to help improve the writing skills of our supervisors. We have seen a vast improvement in those participants’ performance evaluations and correspondences, and have seen more effective communication skills that have lead to fewer complaints from employees.

Another method we use to foster successful career growth is our new Manager Orientation. All new managers (hired externally or promoted internally) are required to attend this one-day orientation. The purpose of this class is to provide our employees with information regarding their new management responsibilities in relation to human resources, finance, and information technology.