bout de papier, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1985) — March 1985 // Mars 1985, p. 27
The following is the first of a two-part article on Training and Development in the Department of External Affairs. This segment describes the training environment at present; the second will address the results of a consultant’s study that will recommend improvements in training and development.
The Training and Development Division (ADT) is just winding down a complete overhaul of the Department’s approach to training. With the collaboration of a management consultant, a series of 180 interviews with employees in all major rotational and non-rotational groups has been conducted to determine how training may be improved. The establishment of a written training policy, management framework and needs assessment are primary objectives of the study. Preliminary feedback from many interviews reveals that current training activities and processes are not well known nor understood. Did you know that:
– in 1983/84 External Affairs committed 3.5 per cent of its salary vote to training, thus ranking in fourth place among departments and agencies in Ottawa with training budgets of $1 million or more;
— in 1984/85 2.1 per cent of the salary vote of Foreign Service Officers was committed to their training; this is well above the one per cent Treasury Board norm for training cost to salary vote ratio;
– in terms of absolute dollars spent on training, External Affairs ranked 11th out of 57 government departments and agencies ($5 million in 1983/85);
– in 1983/84 the Department registered 3,609 separate training occurrences (i.e. inclusive training events) affecting 82 per cent of its total population. Of those government departments reporting, more than 1,000 training occurrences in 1983/84, External Affairs ranked sixth in percentage terms;
– the Department devoted 64.4 person-years to training in 1983/84. At 1.4 per cent of its person-year base, External ranked third among other government departments with a person-year base of 1,000 or more;
— the Department accomplished this training with fewer trainer person-years than most other departments. Only two others proved “more efficient”
Planning for Training
In 1982 “stream management” was fully implemented for the first time. Stream Personnel Divisions were established inter alia for the Commercial/Economic, Political/ Economic, Social Affairs, and Aid and Development groups of Foreign Service Officers. Within these divisions officers have been identified as those persons responsible for the substantive training requirements of employees within each stream; for linking these with the appraisal process; for planning training; and for preparing training budget estimates. Each September/October, Stream Training Officers liaise with “clients” and line managers to: identify current and emerging requirements; review appraisals; and develop a plan for the forthcoming fiscal year, that includes training for recruits; management training; and specific training events. These plans are submitted to ADT and rolled up as the Branch’s overall training requirements.
On April 1 ADT assigns notional budgets to each stream that allow implementation of training plans. The division provides advice to assist in implementation of stream training plans; it identifies training vehicles according to specific needs and develops appropriate in-house curricula.
The supervisor-employee dialogue that normally initiates requests for training evolves through the following steps:
– identification of a specific training need, usually performance-related or in anticipation of future responsibilities. Information as to what courses exist is available either in the stream or in the Training and Development Division. A Treasury Board Form (330-179) is to be completed by the employee and should be routed through the employee’s supervisor for signature. Then the stream and ADT must also process the request for approval and financial commitment. From there, the Training and Development Division registers employees on courses, confirms their acceptance, and arranges for travel authorities, where necessary. In 1983/84 there were 837 departmental participants in training that included managerial improvement, technology change, administrative improvement, professional/ technical orientation, and health, safety and pre-retirement courses. The division is projecting an increase in 1984/85 to 1,330 participants or an increase of almost 60 per cent. These increases can be ascribed to the introduction of better orientation courses for non-rotational and rotational staff, the establishment of a comprehensive secretarial Re-entry Program, and the FS Officer Reorientation course instituted in the fall of 1984. Professional/technical training has also more than doubled during 1984/85.
The Training and Development Division is sensitive to the interests of PAFSO’s Professional Committee vis-à-vis training and will be considering these elements at the time that the results of the current study are available. It may be of interest to note, however, that where in-house professional packages have been non-existent or ad hoc at best, during 1984/85 the Training and Development Division has offered, or will be offering, among others the following: a. Up-graded Consular Policy training; b. Negotiating Skills — five offerings at the Norman Paterson School of International
Relations, Carleton University;
c. Export Financing at EDC – three offerings in 1984/85;
d. Economic Reporting (already offered in June, 1984) as part of the “pre-posting college”; to be repeated in spring, 1985; e. International Banking — one module,
January, 1985; to be followed by a second on part of the “pre-posting college”,, spring, 1985;
f. In-house professional courses designed by the University of Ottawa to be offered in spring, 1985, including an International Business Seminar; Applied Economic Analysis; and Analysis of the Canadian
Economy.
g. Lastly, ADT is preparing an enhanced
Re-entry Orientation for returning officers in September, 1985, to be followed by a course for managers on Policy and Expenditure Management; Personnel Management in the Department; Financial Management including the FAA; Time Management; and other department/ government specific elements that returning or newly promoted officers normally require to improve basic management skills. This managers’ course will either be accomplished through mandatory Public Service management curricula or handled in-house, resources permitting. The events average between three and five days’ duration.
Training outside Ottawa is also a key factor. Professional Development courses at the Universities of Western Ontario, Queens, Calgary, York and McGill are regular curricula for External employees as are the Banff School of Advanced Management and the INSEAD at Fontainbleau, France. Education Leave is co-ordinated in ADT. In 1984, five departmental employees were granted such leave, three from the FS group.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 3, No. 1 (1985) — March 1985 // Mars 1985, p. 27. Read the rest of this issue →
