134 · Representative Documents: Strategies to Support Innovation and Research
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Library Review: Campus Consultation Document (excerpts)
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/libreview/documents.html
9 |P a g e
4.3 New Skills for New Times
The Library recognizes staff as its “greatest resource” and maintains a long-standing
commitment to staff training and development. To enable staff to respond effectively to
emerging campus needs, the Library invests in skills development and expands its training
infrastructure to positively impact staff at all levels. Library staff need to be able to incorporate
new skills and knowledge through frequent re-evaluation of how they approach their work. Staff
training and development is evolving around six themes: 1) priority-setting, 2) fostering a culture
of collaboration and sharing, 3) managing change, 4) enabling staff innovation, 5) planning
process for skills development, and 6) enhancing training processes in the Library.
Overarching recommendations to further this strategic direction:
• Ensure that priority-setting skills are learned and practiced at every level
• Foster active collaboration and partnerships among management, supervisors
and non-supervisory staff
• Foster knowledge sharing, skills sharing, and collaboration across departments,
across committees and peer-to-peer
• Ensure that change management skills are learned and practiced at every level
• Establish mechanisms and resources to allow staff to pursue new ideas and
ways of thinking
• Maintain a formal, ongoing commitment to assessment, identification, and
development of knowledge/skills as part of an overall planning process
• Develop succession planning guidelines
• Ensure that in-house staff trainers have well-developed training skills
• Create a central repository of training materials and training opportunities to
enable staff to access appropriate training at the time of need
• Develop a formalized follow-up process for all staff training that involves
reflection, practice, and assessment
Strategic direction: Foster creativity, collaboration, and pro-active skills development and
expand the infrastructure for staff training and development
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
Library Review: Campus Consultation Document (excerpts)
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/libreview/documents.html
9 |P a g e
4.3 New Skills for New Times
The Library recognizes staff as its “greatest resource” and maintains a long-standing
commitment to staff training and development. To enable staff to respond effectively to
emerging campus needs, the Library invests in skills development and expands its training
infrastructure to positively impact staff at all levels. Library staff need to be able to incorporate
new skills and knowledge through frequent re-evaluation of how they approach their work. Staff
training and development is evolving around six themes: 1) priority-setting, 2) fostering a culture
of collaboration and sharing, 3) managing change, 4) enabling staff innovation, 5) planning
process for skills development, and 6) enhancing training processes in the Library.
Overarching recommendations to further this strategic direction:
• Ensure that priority-setting skills are learned and practiced at every level
• Foster active collaboration and partnerships among management, supervisors
and non-supervisory staff
• Foster knowledge sharing, skills sharing, and collaboration across departments,
across committees and peer-to-peer
• Ensure that change management skills are learned and practiced at every level
• Establish mechanisms and resources to allow staff to pursue new ideas and
ways of thinking
• Maintain a formal, ongoing commitment to assessment, identification, and
development of knowledge/skills as part of an overall planning process
• Develop succession planning guidelines
• Ensure that in-house staff trainers have well-developed training skills
• Create a central repository of training materials and training opportunities to
enable staff to access appropriate training at the time of need
• Develop a formalized follow-up process for all staff training that involves
reflection, practice, and assessment
Strategic direction: Foster creativity, collaboration, and pro-active skills development and
expand the infrastructure for staff training and development