ENABLERS IN THE WORK PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK

The WPF describes five categories of enablers—education and training, experience, associations, healthy living, and special programs. (See Figure 3-1, “Work Performance Framework—Enablers.”)

FIGURE 3-1 Work Performance Framework—Enablers

Education and Training

Education and training are perhaps the first terms that come to mind when we think of preparing ourselves for the job market. Higher education teaches professional and technical competencies. At the community college level, a person might train to become a technical expert such as a plumber, automotive technician, electrician, or licensed practical nurse. Education at a community college can also serve as a stepping stone to a four-year school at a manageable cost, an important benefit for families with limited financial resources.

At the undergraduate and graduate levels, a person might obtain the education and competencies to become a lawyer, doctor, engineer, accountant, computer analyst, registered professional nurse, scientist, or teacher, to name just a few. Educational programs in public administration or business administration provide training for positions in management and administration. While education in a professional or technical field provides a direct link to the workplace, degrees in the liberal arts provide a broad view of the world in preparation for a more rounded life.

Organizational training programs often address competencies related to staff supervision and operational information on the pertinent laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures of the field. Special training programs include orientation for new employees, training on employment laws and legal and policy prohibitions against discrimination, and traineeship programs for inexperienced workers not yet ready for journey-level assignments, which require a full understanding of the particular work duties, work environment, and operational procedures. Training programs may also target competencies related to interpersonal relationships, oral presentation, special computer software, and customer service procedures and techniques.

Professional associations provide continuing educational courses to keep the professional worker abreast of trends and new findings in the field. Some continuing education programs are tied to professional examinations and advanced professional certifications. For example, the International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR) offers two certification programs for the public HR community: IPMA-Certified Professional (IPMA-CP) and IPMA-Certified Specialist (IPMA-CS).

Standard education provides the opportunity to learn various kinds of information, including the data and details relevant to a particular subject and the context for interpreting the information. At a higher level, education develops the ability to reason based on understanding underlying principles and theories, and it provides the skills to apply reason to new situations. Reasoning skills enable a person in the public service to solve problems, envision improvements and innovations, develop better policies and procedures, and pursue changes to existing laws, rules, and regulations.

Experience

Experience can be gained directly through appointments and promotions, or indirectly through special assignments, internships, or even volunteer work. This experience can be valuable in developing interpersonal skills and influencing techniques in a work environment, delegating work to others and monitoring their performance, and managing resources and workload. Becoming the leader of an activity is an important way to understand what a leader is seeking from her staff, and the earlier this information is learned, the better.

Leadership requires important traits like loyalty, commitment, reliability, and friendliness. These lessons are very important to the worker when she seeks someone to champion her cause for that next promotion or special assignment, and people who fail to learn these lessons may find themselves disenfranchised from important organizational leaders.

A vital part of on-the-job experience is guidance from a mentor or coach who can share valuable lessons and assist the new worker in understanding the culture and values of an organization, including actions that get rewarded and can increase the likelihood of success at work, as well as the taboos that will mark a person as someone to distrust or avoid.

Associations

Involvement in professional associations, community and alumnae organizations, and political parties provides opportunities to work with highly motivated and capable people who can share lessons about their experiences. Professional conferences can help people keep up on new trends in their fields. Making a presentation at a conference can help a person develop oral presentation skills, while submitting articles to professional journals for publication can help refine the skill of communicating ideas in writing. Finally, networks from these associations often open doors to new opportunities; building networks and nurturing relationships are key attributes for leading an organization.

Healthy Living

Organizations often promote healthy living by sponsoring such activities as physical exercise, yoga, dieting, or programs to quit smoking. While private-sector organizations can generally place higher restrictions on unhealthy activities, government can influence behaviors by, for example, passing laws to restrict smoking in public places and to limit the sale of foods high in trans fats, which raise levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of good cholesterol (HDL).

Healthy living involves eating good food and maintaining a proper weight, exercising regularly, limiting the consumption of alcoholic beverages, avoiding the use of tobacco and illegal drugs, and getting regular physical checkups. Following these steps can reduce the use of sick time and increase a person’s energy, strength, stamina, and mental well-being.

It almost seems too obvious that these few steps to healthy living can make such a dramatic difference in the probability of a person’s living a long, productive life, yet many people make poor decisions that adversely affect their health and well-being. One reason is, of course, the addictive properties of tobacco, drugs, and certain foods, and poor habits taken up early in life are difficult to break.

Special Programs

Special programs provide assistance to targeted workers or groups. Affirmative action programs assist women, minority group members, and disabled workers in finding employment opportunities, while an employee assistance program (EAP) helps workers with special problems navigate through their difficulties before their work performance is negatively affected.