What Motivates Staff to Participate in Professional Development?
Well, think about it. What makes YOU want to do something? What makes YOU want to participate in professional learning? Here are some of the ways PD is framed in our field. Which of these motivate you?
It’s free!
It’s required as part of your job.
You’ll get a badge or certificate.
It’s fun.
It helps you do your job better.
Even though most of the work I do is related to designing and facilitating professional learning, I am usually not interested in participating in PD and I’m typically a terrible participant. I don’t want to do the icebreaker. I critique the facilitator’s facilitation. I dread the breakout groups. (And, yes, as many of you know—my PD sessions do include icebreakers and small group discussion, always.) For asynchronous learning, I just want to click on the part that I need and then skip everything else.
Last spring, I participated in a cohort-based professional learning experience for women leading small-businesses. It was long—like several months. It cost money. It was not a job requirement, nor did I get a certificate. But, I didn’t miss a session—why not?
It turns out that I’ll do my own professional learning when I feel like I really need to know something right now (in this case, running my small business); and, that the only way I’m going to be able to move forward is by mastering this new knowledge or skill. I’ll engage when there are peer learners who offer their own perspectives and experiences that I can relate to. And I’ll stick with it when I feel like I’m actually learning what they said I’d learn.
Nod your head if this resonates with you.
I frequently run into clients who ask: “How do we get staff to attend professional development or take our online courses?” Many networks have built professional development strategies and systems only to have few afterschool staff participate. It’s disheartening. Deflating. We’re left scratching our heads: What can we do differently?
If we take a moment to reflect upon what motivates *us* to engage in our own PD, we can then consider how we use our own experiences to inform what we develop and offer staff.
Sure, just like us, there are staff who want the certificate and most will log the seat time if it’s required. But, if we’re truly trying to find ways to motivate participation—and learning—extrinsic consequences or rewards are not the answer.
“All adults want to make sense of their world, find meaning, and to be effective at what they value—this is what fuels their motivation to learn.”
Adults are intrinsically motivated to learn. We want to be effective at our work. Like Dan Pink concluded in Drive (2011), money and accolades are not actually what drives us. We’re motivated by having a sense of purpose; being able to master skills and having autonomy in our lives. [Here’s a video that summarizes his research.] So, what does this look like in relation to professional learning in our field?
Purpose
Professionals in youth-serving organizations are nothing if not committed to and passionate about their work. They know they are needed. They have a clear purpose: to serve young people. Youth-serving organizations typically have clear purpose as well even if there is a muddy mission statement or vision. At the core, youth-serving organizations are there to be young people’s guides-on-the-side, to work alongside young people as they grow, to offer the conditions and experiences needed for young people to flourish.
But, when it comes to PD, sometimes the purpose of the PD is not clear or not obviously linked to the organization’s goals. Make sure that every bit of PD your organization does is clearly linked to and in service of your greater goals. And explicitly call out the purpose or ask staff to make the connections. Here’s an example:
In your basic procedures training, you discuss scenarios about when and how to communicate with families. One scenario includes a staff member communicating with the family member at pick up about the child getting paint on their clothes.
As your team discusses the scenario, it might seem really boring or disconnected from working directly with young people. You might ask: “How does this relate to our organization’s broader purpose? Why is it important to communicate something so seemingly minuscule to a family member?”
As staff who care deeply about the young people in their programs, they need to recognize that some families are fine with clothing that’s been ruined; and other families may find it to be an overwhelming burden—if, for instance, this is the only clean shirt the child owns. Not communicating with families could trigger unintended consequences at home or other undue stress.
When staff know and understand the purpose for the PD, it’s more likely to stick and more likely to be heeded. Self-check: How well does your PD align with and contribute to your organizational or programmatic goals?
Mastery
Then, there’s mastery. Committed and passionate staff want to master their roles. They want to learn to better support, enrich and educate youth. They want to improve their practice so they can be better at their jobs. When they are better at their jobs, the jobs are easier and more enjoyable. Development and mastery of skills is a motivator to attend PD.
But, sometimes PD is repetitive and yawn-worthy. If you’re offering the same PD you’ve offered every year, staff are likely going to zone out. If you’re offering a 90-minute workshop with no follow-up, coaching or opportunity to practice, staff are likely going to shrug it off. But if you are offering an opportunity to learn something they want to know, practice it, develop it into an area of expertise or mastery, staff will be interested. Why? As humans, we like to learn and grow. It’s motivating.
For example, think about how you could provide opportunities for staff to develop mastery in their work with youth. While lists of competencies are not the end-all, be-all, they can be so helpful in planning PD scaffolds and builds knowledge, skills and practices for staff.
Look at your state’s or the National AfterSchool Association’s Core Knowledge & Competencies (currently being updated) to get a sense of what knowledge and skills need to be developed as staff gain more experience. To develop leadership mastery, consider competencies like DYCD’s Core Competencies for Supervisors of Youth Work Professionals. You could also help staff develop within specific areas like Social Emotional Learning (Look at CASEL’s Personal Assessment Tool for knowledge/skills on SEL), Trauma-Informed Practice (Look at Multiplying Connections’ Core Competencies for Effective Practice) or Family Engagement (See Relationship-Based Competencies to Support Family Engagement).
When staff know they are building skills toward mastery, that.is.motivating. Self-check: How well does your existing PD reflect and build upon identified competencies?
Autonomy
OK, what about autonomy? The ability to do things on your own. To not be micro-managed. To make your own decisions. As adults, in our work, autonomy is motivating: Getting to do what we want to do; prioritizing what we think is important; pursuing projects that hold interest to us. Through the pandemic, many of us have experienced a level of autonomy like never before and most people I’ve talked to LOVE IT.
In this profession, there can be a lot of autonomy from staff roles to program design and curriculum. In relation to PD, however, autonomy can be tough because the required PD takes up all the allotted time staff may have for professional learning. So, how could we change that? Um… either require less PD or allot more time for PD, right?
Consider what you could do to empower staff to choose their own PD, to learn something they want to learn. What if you offered a catalog of approved PD choices where each year staff have a handful of “must-do” sessions and then have a list of approved PD opportunities like our courses on LEARN>Without Limits where they can choose the learning that is most relevant to them?
From the professional learning provider perspective, I can assure you that staff who have chosen to take the course learn a lot more than the staff who have been forced to take it. Self-check: How much choice do staff have in the professional development they get to take through your program?
What Else Could It Be?
If we follow from this, it seems like professionals in youth-serving organizations do—at least in theory—have the intrinsic motivation to participate in PD. Then what else could be the hold up?
I came across this Pyramid of Employee Needs in the Harvard Business Review. Take a look—Thinking about staff in youth-serving organizations, what do you notice about how well your organization satisfies, engages and inspires employees?
Maybe you’ll reach the same conclusions I came to… In my experience, staff in youth-serving organizations can check off many boxes in the “inspired” and “engaged” categories…but cannot necessarily check off all the foundational pieces in the “satisfied” category.
And, of course we all know that without the foundation, the house crumbles. If we’re aiming to motivate participation in PD and real learning that is useful in the work— the call to action for us leaders is to first ensure the basics are in place. Yes, that probably means meeting with leaders in other organizations, the board, funders and your team. Or sending this blog post to board members, community members, funders to highlight the need(s) your organization has. It could mean advocating at the city, state and national levels to increase funding for youth-serving programs, safety at sites, tools and training. It might even mean that your job for the immediate future shifts to focus on ensuring staff a satisfactory work experience. If one of the foundational pieces is lacking, work on building attention and support there.
In the meantime, as a professional learning leader, you can zero in on the “have the tools, training and resources to do their jobs well” part of the foundation. Keep your attention on developing PD that offers purpose, mastery and autonomy.
