Professional Development
The role of leaders
Vanderbilt leaders have a responsibility to invest in the development of their employees to help them be successful in their current roles and to prepare them for future opportunities. This can best be accomplished by having conversations with employees about their career goals and working with them to create their professional development goals.
Having an individual development plan in place for each employee and having quarterly check-ins to talk about progress on their career goals are crucial to ensuring their success.
The role of employees
Employees must take ownership of their professional development. Employees should work with their leaders and mentor(s) to talk about their goals and to help them create an individual development plan. The responsibility to take steps to ensure the plan aligns with their development and that goals are achieved lies with the employee. Employees should use resources available through their leaders and below to establish and meet professional development goals.
Resources
Vanderbilt University offers a wide variety of professional development courses and training opportunities designed to help employees build their knowledge, skills and abilities and to help them meet their professional development and career goals.
ELE (Employee Learning and Engagement)
The Employee Learning and Engagement (ELE) team unlocks the potential of every Vanderbilt employee by offering innovative and meaningful learning experiences, creating space to foster conversations and connections and encouraging a culture of learning and growth.
Our vision is for every employee to feel connected and integral to Vanderbilt’s mission, empowered to invest in themselves and succeed in their role, engaged in the campus community and inspired to design their best future.
Employee Learning and Engagement has launched a full lineup of professional development experiences.
HR ELE offers live learning experiences on a variety of topics and a curated list of self-paced learning resources .
- Our live learning experiences include Design Thinking, Upskilling and Experimenting for Career Growth (workshop); CliftonStrengths; Conversation Circles for managers and leaders (peer-to-peer learning series); and more.
- Our self-paced resources list includes career growth, leadership, new leaders and more.
Tip: Have a coaching conversation with your team member to identify their career goals, skills they would like to further develop, etc., then help them to identify resources to move forward.
ELE believes that every member of the Vanderbilt community can grow and lead, regardless of title or position. Its goal is to provide the opportunities and resources that equip employees to be their best while succeeding in their roles and as members of the larger Vanderbilt University community.
Whether you hope to develop a new skill in your current role, advance your skills to progress in your career journey or connect with fellow employees who are focused on professional growth, ELE is ready to support you.
Employees are invited to engage with ELE during new live virtual learning experiences designed exclusively for the Vanderbilt community and led by the ELE team. To register for any learning experience, visit the links below, or search for “ELE” on SkyVU under Learning.
Additional resources:
- How to motivate a top performer - when you can't promote them (Harvard Business Review)
- Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go (book)
- Designing Your New Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness – and a New Freedom – at Work (book)
- Big Ideas Book Club (LinkedIn): Stanford’s Dave Evans and Bill Burnett (recording)
- Squiggly Careers Podbook: 100 Worksheets to Support Your Self-Awareness and Help You Take Action (from AmazingIf and the Squiggly Careers Podcast )
- 21 Coach Yourself Questions