Whether in person, online, via the web or a myriad of hybrid varieties, professional development (PD) is becoming a call to action for many. No longer reserved for the deep pockets and the “big wigs”, plenty of mid- and small-sized nonprofits are looking to PD to give staff and volunteers a leg up. It’s a worthy endeavour, says Michele Bicego of Vibe Strategies, a human resources, leadership and organizational development consulting firm.

“Learning forces you out of your comfort zone, it changes your perspective,” she explains. It helps people evolve in line with the ever-changing environment. Learning also deepens self-awareness in terms of where you’re at and how can you better adapt and connect with others, she adds. Its effects go well beyond your professional life.

Autism Ontario knows just how beneficial PD can be in reaching both career and personal potential. Running anywhere between 25 to 28 chapters in Ontario at any given time, they oversee 350 to 450 active leadership volunteers, in addition to their own staff at their Toronto headquarters.

The organization is crystal clear about their desire to maintain a highly educated voluntary pool and staff, making PD training a no-brainer, says director of chapter development, Karyn Dumble. She explains how the grassroots organization is constantly fielding calls from media, parents dealing with newly diagnosed autistic children or adults simply looking for support.

“We want to make sure when they answer the phone, they know what to talk about.”

So Autism Ontario adopted some progressive initiatives. Every June they bring together 100 people for two days of training on autism-related topics and in October another 100 folks gather for two days to discuss educational advocacy. “We want people to leave with the ability to be better advocates,” explains Dumble. And every winter Dumble travels the province to do training on operational issues, such as volunteer recruitment & management and fundraising.

The training has had tremendous benefits. “We’re a much more solid organization now,” says Dumble emphatically. Not only does it enhance their level of expertise on matters, she also explains how many of the chapter members are volunteers working out of their homes, which raises the potential for silo building and isolation. Having opportunities to learn from and engage with others is invaluable.

What’s more, many parents with autistic kids end up leaving their workforce to care for their children. When able to seek out employment again — oftentimes in the autism field — the ongoing training makes their resumes more attractive. “It’s worth it, it really is,” she states.

Another organization that recently jumped on the workshop bandwagon is North York Harvest Food Bank. Though they’ve been organizing such events since 2003, they weren’t regularly scheduled offerings. In February 2010, they launched the Harvest Academy. The program provides their 42 member agencies — as well as anyone in the community looking for training in the field — with 10 workshops a year.

The training is divided into two streams. Best Practices is focused on running effective community food programs, how to make food banks a more welcoming experience and includes workshops on volunteer management and fundraising. Community Empowerment covers such topics as nutrition and diversity/inclusion.

Each attendee can earn Harvest Academy certification as a “Community Food Program Leader” while nonprofit organizations themselves can be recognized with an “Excellence in Community Food Programming” certificate.

Interactive + practical = value

The buzz so far is positive. Just ask Bronwyn Underhill, a health promoter at Fairview Community Health. She attended a workshop on volunteer management and another on healthy eating on a budget. The first was geared toward helping her learn best practices, as her organization begins to coordinate and manage their own volunteers. The second was to gain some valuable tips for her cooking program.

Despite being an after-work activity which could potentially be exhausting, Underhill was grateful for the interactive and practical content. “We were encouraged to share our experiences and ask questions related to our work,” she says. The accompanying dinner was a nice touch, too. It’s an especially beneficial program for volunteers, she adds, many of whom are also clients of food banks. “It’s a nice way to upgrade skills and help them find work.” Aside from skill development, the networking opportunities can prove invaluable.

Most workshops are two hours but agency relations manager, Michael Friedman, is hopeful that once they secure more funding, they’ll also offer day-long training. Geared at general community members as well as member agencies’ staff and volunteers, the Academy hopes the program will help chip away at some common stigmas associated with food banks, in line with a recent re-visioning. “We have a new mission, vision and values that are significantly more progressive than traditional food banks’ charitable model,” Friedman explains. “It’s more of a community development approach.” Getting member agencies onboard is an important goal, ensuring a sharing of common values.

While not every organization will have the capacity to develop their own PD, there is a growing array of options available from external service providers that are in-line with nonprofit budgets.

In New Brunswick, for example, LearnSphere, which for ten years organized training programs for small business owners, recently expanded their reach. Though representatives of the nonprofit sector previously attended the ProfitLearn workshops — also licensed in PEI — it was obvious their specific needs weren’t being fully addressed. So with a renewed focus, LearnSphere launched a pilot program, Training for the Non-Profit Sector, in January. First stop: community of St. Andrews by-the-Sea, New Brunswick, for a three-hour workshop entitled Strategies toward Sustainability.

It was a success by all counts and already they offer ten full or half-day workshops, targeting what they call the top three areas of concern for nonprofits: governance & board development; project management; and practical and cost-effective HR strategies. “We looked at where the needs were,” says program coordinator Laura Maynard. “And we felt there were areas we could offer that others couldn’t; there’s no need to duplicate.”

Wanting to keep the groups intimate, a maximum of 20 people are allowed to register for each session. The fee for half-days is $30 and $55 for a full-day — lunch included. Hoping to reach as many in the province as they can by the end of their pilot year, they essentially follow demand. So long as a nonprofit expresses a need for training and an organization agrees to host the program, they’re there.

Get your online training here!

What about people who can’t schedule time away from work and/or home? There are many training opportunities for the time-sensitive employees or those who are located in smaller communities.

In addition to elearning, where individuals can study on their own schedule and at their own pace, another online training option is via webinars, interactive seminars conducted over the Internet. Autism Ontario, for example, trains their treasurers through webinars and finds this very successful. They also use online training to instruct their chapters on how to use web manager to create their own websites. And they purchased a year’s subscription to Citrix’s GoToMeeting which brings together up to 15 people in an online room (shared screen) at a time. At under $500 for unlimited use, the investment has proven extremely beneficial from a training standpoint. They also hope to use more teleconferencing, which allows people from across the region to share best practices and wisdom on specific topics.

A bang for your buck?

Of course there is an obvious question in all this: how do you know which training options are legitimate and valuable offerings? Marshall Thompson, for one, is wary. Executive director of Richmond Youth Service Agency, his organization offers two levels of PD: one to direct staff and the other to management. Despite limited resources, some staff members last year acquired major certifications through training and employees typically receive $200 a year or more for development.

The training opportunities they partake in run the gamut, and although that did include a couple of free webinars recently — he generally receives 20 to 30 email invitations a week — Thompson feels the need to be discerning. “If someone is skilled and needs updates, webinars could be helpful,” he offers. It could provide very focused and concise training. Or if it’s a longer series — say, fund development — offered over the course of a year, with participants checking in once a week, that’s also potentially helpful because it allows ongoing engagement and relationship-building with others in the field.

In short, there’s no one answer on how best to pursue professional development. Bicego often suggests blended learning as the optimum approach. Take a webinar or two, add a workshop, a couple online courses, throw in some coaching sessions, mix it with a dash of in-house training and voil?: PD at its finest. Thompson would agree.

“It’s best to tie training with a suite of opportunities. Building blocks are good.”

And make sure to poll your internal audience if you’re doing training in-house, says Dumble. “Know what they need.” If courses and workshops are based around staff and volunteers’ top requests, there’s a much greater opportunity for involvement and engagement.

Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance journalist, producer and communications consultant living in Toronto. She is also president of Elle Communications and can be reached at: info@ellecommunications.ca.