Non-Training Findings

2. Non-Training Findings Career Advancement • Key competencies are mapped to only a handful of internal positions. • Relatively flat internal hierarchy. • Few explicitly defined career paths. • What does this mean within the context of performance evaluation?

3. Non-Training Findings Policy Consistency regarding self-training • Departments have their own informal policies for employee-facilitated training. • Requests are handled on a case-by-case basis. • The ‘hands-on’ nature of some work makes schedule flexibility difficult. • One department reported that employees use leave time.

4. Non-Training Findings Dissemination of knowledge • An informal survey of non-ITS VU tech support personnel yielded positive opinions of ITS’ improved customer service. • The streamlined support model also left LSPs (Local Support Provider) feeling ‘in the dark’ or ITS was ‘behind a wall’.

5. Non-Training Recommendations Career Advancement • Specifically map competencies to positions beyond job description. • Include competencies as part of defined career paths. Roll into performance evaluations. • Define the ‘carrot’ in context. Salary increases reward high performers. Can advancement between tiers ‘sweeten the pot’? • Promotion as long-term incentive.

6. Non-Training Recommendations Policy Consistency regarding self-training • Formalize policy for all employees desiring schedule flexibility for learning purposes. • Discourage use of leave time. • Consider schedule flexibility requests for non ‘line-of-sight’ technologies/disciplines.

7. Non-Training Recommendations Dissemination of knowledge • Create enrollment-powered online knowledge centers. • Host forum for discussion of non-critical technical questions/concerns. • Publicly viewed team blogs/wikis. • Virtual worlds as collaborative tool. • Heavily promote use of these tools among Vanderbilt community • Encourage ITS employee use. Consider anonymity as a means of maintaining current support model.