APPA is Creating a Culture of Continuous Learning

As we continue to face persistent challenges with respect to recruitment and retention of skilled professionals, it is critical for organizations to invest in their teams. Investment is not only practical in the sense of staying modern and relevant with current industry trends, but perhaps even more importantly in re-affirming that our institutions are places that people want to be. Through this article I hope to discuss, at a high level, moving beyond just professional development and transitioning into building a culture of continuous learning, as well as how APPA has helped the University of Alaska, Anchorage and how APPA can help you.

 

Setting the Stage

According to a survey conducted during the 2022–23 academic year by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), full-time, exempt staff turnover has increased from a low of 7.9 percent in 2020–21 (the academic year after the pandemic began) to 12.0 percent in 2021–22 to 14.3 percent in 2022–23. Turnover for full-time, non-exempt staff increased from 9.4 percent to 12.8 percent to 15.2 percent during this same period.

Like many sectors impacted by staffing and retention challenges, higher education facilities administration is not exempt. Providing professional development opportunities is a powerful tool we can employ to both develop and retain members of our teams.

The Value of Professional Development

Each of us reading this article likely understands the value of professional development, but sometimes it is good to refresh our understanding. Professional development allows members of our teams to improve their skills, stay current in their respective industries, improve productivity, and improve job satisfaction. This is directly in alignment with APPA’s purpose.

Challenges to Employee Retention

Several of the items that professional development allows correlate to challenges in employee retention. Challenges such as perceived lack of growth, lack of relevance, and the feeling of being undervalued. The cost of employee turnover is significant and can include—but is not limited to—the cost of recruiting, hiring, training, increased workload, and the difficult-to-quantify loss of institutional knowledge.

APPA for Professional Development

As a strategy for professional development, the University of Alaska Anchorage facilities team leverages APPA as a vehicle for professional development. Through message boards, volunteer opportunities, and conferences, we have found peer mentors. Through Supervisor Toolkits, Leadership Academies, and CEFP certifications, we have found formal training programs and skill building. Through the Body of Knowledge, webinars, and offerings from our business partners, we can stay current with respect to industry trends. By partnering with APPA, we have found an avenue for building, maintaining, and developing our facilities organization.

Moving Beyond Professional Development

I often discuss with the team I lead the importance of understanding our business. One keystone of the “business” of education is learning. By embracing professional development, we are embracing learning, as we embrace learning we come closer to understanding our core business. This general approach allows our teams to provide a much higher level of service to the communities we serve by developing a shared understanding. A robust culture of learning creates a supportive environment for professional development, and subsequently will allow us to not only continue to be attractive places to work but reduce the impacts of turnover, helping us retain key members of our teams.

A Culture of Continuous Learning

As we continue to face challenges recruiting, motivating, training, and retaining skilled members of our FM teams, professional development is the tool belt and APPA is the set of tools, to use a facilities analogy. By making these tools available to our respective teams, we create a culture of continuous learning, build institutional resilience, and stay competitive in an increasing dynamic professional environment.

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Christopher C. McConnell is director of facilities, planning & construction at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. He can be reached at [email protected].