Beyond Manitoba
It’s important to analyze your company’s skills and knowledge needs prior to beginning a work-based learning initiative. A detailed analysis of how your employees actually deliver value and what they need to do so will drive solutions that provide the greatest impact for the fewest dollars
Derrin Kent has been training staff, at all levels from Director to groundsman, in the corporate sector since 1992. His company, The Development Manager, specializes in building work-based learning systems and corporate communities of practice using open-source technologies.
Kitchen Craft Job Re-Classification Using Principles of Recognizing Prior Learning (RPL)
Overview of Project
Kitchen Craft envisioned a Recognizing Prior Learning (RPL) model to support competency-based job placement and advancement. The process would identify the competencies required and associated training for advancement from point of entry through each family of job classifications .
Overview of Project
Kitchen Craft envisioned a Recognizing Prior Learning (RPL) model to support competency-based job placement and advancement. The process would identify the competencies required and associated training for advancement from point of entry through each family of job classifications .
Needs/Opportunities
Kitchen Craft recognized that existing and new employees have skills and training not necessarily reflected in their current job descriptions.
Kitchen Craft wanted a transparent process that supported employees being placed at appropriate levels and to develop training which assisted employees in advancing to the next level of placement.
Applying RPL
RPL assisted in developing and implementing an occupational map as the first step in a multi-phase project. This map clearly identified the skill set for each level in each Job Family, including specific new skills required to progress to the next level.
Impact
Clear, well-documented paths and plans ensure that employees feel respected, treated fairly and demonstrate that progression is possible, encouraged and within reach. The process led to the streamlining of 256 job descriptions into five job groups. Each job group was organized into four levels that clearly identified progression.
Lessons Learned
The occupational mapping clearly identified the competencies and related skills knowledge or behavior required at each level.