Setting Clear Objectives for Information Skills Development
Jinfo Blog

By Sophie Alexander

Abstract

With limited resources available for workplace skills development, there is an increasing need for information managers to make a more effective case to encourage senior management to invest in this area. A recent FreePint Webinar offered some useful advice on how to make the connection between skills objectives and larger organisational goals and improve your chances of obtaining funding.

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FreePint has already published many useful articles in relation to work-based skills as part of the Topic Series "Best Practices in Information Skills Development", as recently highlighted by Val Skelton, the series co-producer.

Lack of Investment in Information Skills

There are many training resources available but information professionals often lament the specific lack of investment in workplace skills development. However, a recent FreePint Webinar "Do You Know Your Skills Objectives?" underlined the point that without a clear strategy in place in relation to what information skills can and should look like, this is unlikely to change. FreePint Subscribers can log in to read my overview of the webinar. 

In particular, the webinar emphasised the need to clearly define your skills objectives and link them directly to larger organisational goals such as value and efficiency. Once you've effectively made this link you are more likely to convince senior management to invest more resources into skills development. There were many useful tips on how to define your objectives and the organisation's values.

Also highlighted were the initial results of a FreePint survey showing what respondents currently use for training and where to locate useful training resources once you've defined your skills objectives.

Ongoing Skills Development is Vital 

Communities of Practice were noted as a particularly effective way to surface issues within organisations of any size where there are groups of people who need to interact with information and share best practices. Video is another increasingly popular option.

With an ever-evolving workplace, ongoing skills development is crucial and information managers need to make the case for skills investment as clearly as possible.

Whether you need help developing your objectives, aligning them to your company's values or are looking for training resources to help you meet those objectives, FreePint resources can help and support you in the process. FreePint Subscribers can log in to view the webinar or read the accompanying Subscription Article.

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