The Stanford IT Experiential Development Program (IT EDP) is a CIO Council-sponsored talent development program that provides IT staff opportunities for hands-on learning, skills development, and career mobility. But the benefits don’t end there. If you’re a manager, read on to learn how IT EDP also benefits you and your team.
Hosting IT EDP opportunities
The IT EDP relies on hosts to facilitate informational conversations, meeting observation, and short-term development assignments. Explore the three opportunity types»
Hosting informational conversations and meeting observation opportunities provide chances to give back to the IT community for a relatively low investment of time, energy, and effort. By simply making yourself available for a conversation or enabling someone to observe one of your meetings, you can grow your network, gain new knowledge and insights, and build your pipeline of talent for future opportunities.
“It puts potential internal candidates on our radar should there be an opportunity one day,” said Sara Worrell-Berg, director of Stanford Web Services, who hosted a meeting observation opportunity called See Digital Product Strategy in Action.
Hosting short-term development assignments requires a bit more effort, but offers additional benefits, including:
- Supplementing your team during busy periods without needing extra budget or funding
- Gaining new perspectives and fresh eyes on a project
- Developing a business case to support hiring additional FTEs
- Meeting your team’s goals while developing someone at the same time
Shriram Krishnan, project manager in University IT, who hosted a short-term development assignment, said, “It was rejuvenating to see how the participants showed enthusiasm and were ready to carve out their time to help us reach the goal.” Of the things he most enjoyed about his hosting experience, Shriram cited “cross-team collaboration, mentorship, and brainstorming sessions.”
Enabling staff participation
When navigating high-priority projects, tight deadlines, and constant change, carving out time for your staff to step away from their work to engage in professional development can seem impractical. However, allowing staff members to participate in IT EDP and other professional development opportunities yields big payoffs down the road for you and your team, including:
- Skill enhancement: As staff develop new or refine existing skills, their value to the team and organization is enhanced. Erik Zarazua, who participated in a short-term development assignment, said he applied the knowledge and skills he gained in the assignment to transfer his team's old website onto the latest Drupal platform. “I will continue working on this website, and I think what I learned from this assignment will come in handy,” Erik said.
- Increased engagement: Employees who feel supported in their professional growth are more engaged and motivated, leading to higher job satisfaction and productivity. Encouraging your staff to participate is a great way to motivate and retain talent.
- Knowledge exchange: Exposure to different teams and departments fosters knowledge sharing and cross-functional synergy that can benefit your team in the future.
- Talent retention: Allowing staff to participate in development opportunities demonstrates a commitment to their long-term success, which can increase retention rates and reduce costly turnover.
- Innovation catalyst: Exposure to new challenges and perspectives stimulates creativity and innovation, which is invaluable in the rapidly changing environment of tech and IT
Get involved
Whether participating, hosting, or supporting staff involvement, engaging with IT EDP reaps numerous benefits for you, your team, and the entire IT community.
To host an opportunity, review these guidelines and complete the IT EDP Opportunity form by March 8. We are especially seeking hosts for short-term development assignments.
Learn more about and apply for the IT Experiential Development Program on the program webpage. For assistance with creating opportunities, or for any questions, reach out to it-edp-program@lists.stanford.edu.
