A makeover for ACHIEVE, Dal's performance development tool

Recognizing employees’ contributions, and valuing employee growth and development are key to the success of any organization. The ACHIEVE program, a competency-based performance development tool, has been helping Dalhousie managers and supervisors to do just that, and now it is easier than ever to use.

The latest version, ACHIEVE Made Easy, is streamlined, shorter and you can complete it electronically through an improved fillable format. Although ACHIEVE has been in use for many years at Dalhousie, these changes were made based on valuable input from managers, supervisors, faculty and staff.

Implementing the performance development plan, ACHIEVE Made Easy, is one of the goals outlined in the university’s Strategic Priority 5.1: Develop a human resource strategy that allows us to attract, support, and reward the best faculty and staff. This strategic priority was introduced to the Dal community earlier this year.

ACHIEVE Made Easy is easier than ever to adopt for any manager, supervisor or employee. There are three simple steps to success:

1. In the initial phase, the supervisor and employee plan goals for the upcoming year.
2. Once goals are set, feedback is given and discussed on a regular basis.
3. The final step is the Annual Review, reviewing the past year and planning for the upcoming 12 months.
   

Early adopters of ACHIEVE include Information System Technology (ITS) and Research Services that can both attest to the program’s many benefits.

“The ACHIEVE program is an opportunity tool,” says Nancy Hayter, Executive Director, Research Services. “It provides the supervisor and staff member a framework to discuss work development, plans and expectations. Best of all, it is dedicated time for an honest discussion on where we've been and where we're going.”

Recently, the Faculty of Agriculture; Science, Information Technology, Engineering (SITE) Cooperative Education Program; and Dal Analytics have also benefitted from ACHIEVE.

“ACHIEVE is unique in that its focus is to provide a framework and tool for employees to identify and perform new tasks or projects that are of interest, and increase the skills of the employee,” says Margaret Savard, Department of Plant, Food and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture. “The initial proposal is by the employee and is then discussed and agreed upon by the employer. It is designed to be updated throughout the year, and to create a space for conversations and dialogues that not only enhance the workplace, but can provide inspiration and insight into problem solving for the new, proposed project.”

ACHIEVE Made Easy is now available under Learning & Development on the HR site on myDal. There are two tools supported by the guide that give an overview of the ACHIEVE process and supports the use and completion of the tools. In addition, Skillsoft Learning is a resource available to all university employees, which offers thousands of online offerings on various topics and courses that could be incorporated into employees’ ACHIEVE development goals.

If you have questions about ACHIEVE, contact talent.management@dal.ca or 494-1115.