I have been asked to investigate how we can clearly and fairly assess development funding requests from internal staff.
We have a small budget for local development and employees are able to request some of this budget. They would complete an application form stating what the skills they would gain, what the learning solution would be and what the benefit to the person and organisation would be.
When we receive these requests we need a way of assessing or scoring the request so they are all treated fairly, whether they are a £5000 for a professional qualification or £300 to attend a conference.
From my research I have found that we could link the scoring to the organisational strategic priorities, key competencies of the role, desirability for the individual and organisation and what ROI we would get.
I have now come to a bit of a brick wall. If anyone has any tool kits, scoring methods, hints, tips or advice from similar procedures you have worked with, I would be most grateful to hear from you.
Many thanks
Stuart
One Response
assessing requests for training
Stuart
It is useful to have a carefully considered approach that is fair and transparent. I guess it should also be easy to apply – so as not to exclude those who are less good at putting forward their case – and not too bureaucratic. I’d suggest just 3-4 key criteria, along the lines you indicate, and then have a small panel meet (tele or online would do) to decide whether the request represents good value and will deliver a benefit to the business as well as the person. I’d avoid complex scoring mechanisms as they may give the illusion of sophistication and objectivity, they are very hard to get right for every case and so can lead to perverse decisions if you are not careful.
Best of luck
Graham