Career Development Plan Summary

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

Career Development Plan

Running head: CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN SUMMARY

Daniel Bonilla

University of Phoenix

Career Development Plan Summary

The business world is unequivocally a pool of constant change, more over change is integral and essential part of business because without change and adaptation the constant flow of profit would not be possible. When changes are needed a plan for the implementation of these changes will be needed to produce effective results. This plan will outline the job descriptions and qualifications for five new positions needed, including how these new employees will be trained for their positions and expected roles. The plan will also include methods for evaluating individual employees and team performance and ways to improve through progressive discipline action. Specific challenges of team performance will be discussed and assessed to determine the best course of action. A compensation plan with an incentive and benefits package for employees will also be addressed. The other point covered in this Career Development Plan is how to manage employees’ career development to facilitate each employee’s growth and encourage the retention of the talent pool.

The five new positions will form The Dual-Purpose Team, combining both enrollment and academic aspects of a student services team. This new team will consist of one manager and four advisors. This dual purpose team will act as a service team for all incoming calls from new and current students. The four Dual Counsels will answer questions regarding: general program information, most fitting programs, transferability of credits, program changes, schedule changes, navigation of the student website and other general student questions. The manager will oversee the counselor’s constant training, maintenance of compliance and assistance with escalated student issues.

When choosing candidates for these positions upper management must take into consideration knowledge of academia, information retention and a background in customer service. Promotion from within the organization would be ideal, as a current Enrollment or Academic Counselor already possess knowledge in one area minimizing the training needed. The manager for this team should have a passion for teamwork and team chemistry. This position requires strong leadership skills and the ability to handle sensitive situations to resolve escalated student issues over the phone and in person. Once the team members are chosen, orientation is imperative as the group will understand the focus of the team and will able to achieve the desired goals. Students need an available human voice to speak to regarding their numerous questions. Our current student services team is overwhelmed with special circumstances, researching all current policies and procedures to ensure accurate advisement will be imperative. This type of quality student service takes time limiting the availability of our counselors. The addition to the student services team will enhance our students’ satisfaction in regard to the level of service they receive. The individuals chosen must be trained in all aspects of student service, including listening skills, positive terminology, de-escalation techniques, and professionalism as representatives of an organization of higher learning. People with a calm demeanor and a genuine love for helping people will be the best fit for these positions.

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Cross-training will be essential in the training process. The Dual Counselor will train by observation and observed practice for two weeks prior to having to perform the actual job duties. The first day would be a general orientation for the new employees to become familiar with the operation procedures of a university. The education industry requires certain standards from a higher learning facility to maintain the school’s accreditation, which allows the school to receive Federal Funding therefore allowing students to apply for much needed financial aid. This is vital to the organization’s livelihood and each employee should be properly educated and assessed with a knowledgebase. The second day will conclude the general orientation and transition forward into an orientation for the dual purpose team emphasizing the focus on the student. The next six days will be split between training with the enrollment and academic departments. The Dual Counselors will observe an Enrollment Counselor at work for two days. Then on the third day they will answer phone calls with the Academic Counselor connected on the line listening to the call for direct assistance. The Dual Counselor will repeat this same process with an Academic Counselor. These same counselors will remain an assigned mentor for the Dual Counselor for 3 weeks, allowing ample time for the counselor to become familiarized with the general processes of each department. The last two days of the initial training will be spent on the floor executing what was learned previously with constant monitoring by a manager. The manager will undergo the same program with an additional week of leadership development training. This training program will produce a team that can see the big picture of what the organization is all about and how every employee works to help students achieve their goals of an education despite obstacles, challenges and the normal routines of an adult learner.

Evaluating the performance of a team is challenging. A new appraisal form will be needed since each counselor will be performing the job previously assigned to two positions. The individual counselor should be measured on productivity and customer service time. Productivity will be measured by the number of calls answered, unanswered calls and tasks completed versus tasks created to demonstrate what percentage of issues the counselor is able to resolve without further assistance from another counselor or manager. Customer service quality will be measured by service observance of the calls and customer surveys evaluating complaints and compliments. The evaluation for the dual purpose team will focus on the collaborative effort to assist students. The team will be judged on effective networking practices, active research to share found knowledge with the team, general team spirit and camaraderie.

Considering the university’s need to stay in compliance there must be a clearly defined discipline process. A progressive three-step process will ensure a fair and just termination procedure for all employees. The first time an employee violates a compliance policy there will be a verbal warning to the employee from the direct manager. Then the second violation will result in a meeting with the direct manager and director of student services, this conversation will be noted in the employee’s permanent record as a discussion memo. If a third violation occurs the employee will be terminated.

Considering the emphasis on teamwork for the Dual Counselors, the team is evaluated as one entity. When evaluating a team the appraisal must address how employees work with others rather than by themselves. This factor presents a challenge because most team evaluations depend on surveys completed by the individual team members. This practice allows for inaccurate evaluations of team members due to biased opinions. There must be a combination of evaluation methods to ensure the team is being fairly judged. A team appraisal must consider the team culture to maximize the performance and contribution of the employees. To transform and change the individualistic culture, each member should complete an assessment to describe a plan for working together. A team charter will guide the group in establishing a mission for the team with goals, ground rules, skill inventory, and guidelines for handling conflict management. Diversity within a team can create a united self-sufficient team with synergy that will allow for maximum performance in a relax environment. Social loitering can be discouraged by motivating team performance through friendly competition, fair delegation of tasks with assigned roles, accurate measure of individual input and weekly face to face meetings to strengthen accountability. The responsibilities of each individual to the team are to evaluate themselves, evaluate the other team members, and complete job duties within assigned role. The supervising manager should be a silent monitor for all communications to take a proactive role within the team.

The incentive package for this team will be based on the level of customer service provided by the team’s ability to be self-sufficient as a team. When the monthly goal for unassisted resolved calls, calls the team completes without further transfer, is reached the team receives an incentive bonus. The team will be rewarded on a Friday with a team lunch off-site at a restaurant; afterwards the team will have the afternoon off. Once the monthly goal has been achieved for six months consecutively the team will be awarded with individual rewards selected from the company’s rewards store. If the monthly goal is attained for an entire year then the team will be sent on a team building outing and earn some additional vacation time to take individually. The benefits for our team members will include health insurance, life insurance, 401k, gym discounts, tuition waivers, and corporate partnerships with discounted tickets to local events.

The compensation plan will allow for a maximum of 25% increase for every six month review period. Each employee will be judged on his or her individual performance with a consideration for team contribution. The score from the performance appraisal will be assessed according to the expectations chart. The expectations chart defines the six categories, from consistently exceeds expectations to needs improvement. Each category has a range for percentage increase in salary based on the employee’s performance. Every team member is allowed six months to establish a foundation of performance from which to base the goals for each member. Once the employee has set goals he or she will begin to be evaluated using this appraisal form and expectations chart.

Another component of this plan includes strategies to facilitate each employee’s growth; this will encourage each employee to attain personal goals of pay increases, promotions, or education opportunities. Every month the first-level manager for the team will meet with each individual for a one-on-one evaluation. In these meetings the manager and coach will discuss the employee’s strengths, areas for improvement, goals for professional development, strategies to reach salary goals, and any other area of concern. These one-on-ones will help the manager keep the employees focused and on task, because the team will see their vested interest in treating the students with professionalism and performing well. The six-month review will evaluate the employee’s progress towards the achievement of set goals. Then when reached the goals will be reassessed and re-set for the next review.

An obvious need to restructure our current Student Services Team has been realized. This proposal outlines the five new positions to be filled, including the job descriptions and qualifications. This plan includes a comprehensive training program to ensure this dual-counseling team will be successful in this new role. An evaluation process for both individual and team performance has been detailed with a focus on customer service. The team performance appraisal is designed to address the challenges of evaluating the performance of a group people versus one person. The compensation plan, incentive and benefits package connect salary and rewards to performance. The final part of the plan is the strategies used to manage the employees’ career development. All the components of this plan will contribute to the successful restructuring of our team to provide excellent service for our students when they need it, therefore guaranteeing that they will be satisfied and promote a our services to new students inn avertedly bringing new business to the company.