In October, OCASA offered a concept paper to the Committee of Presidents (CoP) in support of a system-wide Leadership Centre for college administrators, and other college leaders. OCASA requested a Working Group to further explore this concept and CoP supported this recommendation. After a meeting of Council, Colleges Ontario and OCASA, a Task Force was created in early 2016.
In May, after significant research, the Task Force offered a report to CoP recommending that, based on positive response for a system-side effort, further work to be done to conduct a market analysis and business plan for a potential system-wide leadership development and training service. In addition, there was general consensus that Council should lead the Task Force with support from Colleges Ontario, OCASA, the Human Resources Co-ordinating Committee (HRCC) and the College for Human Resources Development (CCHRD).
OCASA is pleased that this conversation is now at the provincial level and that we will continue to collaborate with our system partners in further research and planning.
This next research phase is now under way, preparing a Business Case for a possible central service available to all 24 colleges. This central office would work closely with HRCC, CCHRD, OCASA and other college system stakeholders to coordinate and promote the delivery of Leadership Training and Development courses, modules, workshops, seminars, webcasts and experiences.
This service would work with the colleges to identify ìbest practiceî training and development materials, targeted at, but not exclusively limited to, administrative staff in the colleges. It would have a small staff complement and would co-ordinate group purchases and the voluntary sharing of resources, would develop training materials if gaps exist, would package new programs for delivery to the college system and in time possibly external audiences, and would partner on behalf of the college system with other service providers and associations.
This small service would help to advance training and development opportunities across the Ontario college system, with a focus on Leadership Training and Development at least to start with. Along with OCASA, both HRCC and CCHRD have identified advancing Leadership Training and Development as a major strategic objective, especially critical now as colleges face unprecedented levels of retirements.
OCASAís membership is an important part of the Task Forceís information gathering process ñ college administrators will be the primary target for this service. As such, you are invited to complete this 10 minute survey to assist us in determining how a province-wide Leadership Training & Development Office can best help meet your individual training and development needs. Please complete it by October 30th.
Click here for survey link (members only, login access required).