Developing business and leadership skills is essential to NIB’s mission of enhancing opportunities for economic and personal independence of people who are blind. Launched in 2003, the Business Leaders Program has provided training and work experiences to more than 8,000 people who are blind or visually impaired to help them advance in their careers. The program, which until recently consisted of five tracks – the Fellowship for Leadership Development, Business Management Training, Leaders at All Levels, Business Basics and Effective Supervision – added a new track, Emerging Professionals, for 2017.
Emerging Professionals prepares high-potential employees at NIB associated nonprofit agencies who are blind for upward mobility using learning and development strategies from several Business Leaders programs – the hands-on work experience of the Fellowship, the formal training of Effective Supervision and the distance learning offered through Business Basics – while participants remain at their agencies, in their current jobs. During the eight to 12-month program, employees develop new skills through on-the-job training, job shadowing, coaching, and independent learning, and take on new responsibilities.
The desire for an agency-based talent development pathway using in-house, hands-on training had been percolating at several agencies for a while, but development was hampered
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by a lack of time and resources. At NIB, Business Leaders Program Director Karen Pal had the same idea, but didn’t know of an agency with the time and resources to devote to developing and piloting a program. So when Mark Plutschak, human resource (HR) director at Outlook Nebraska Inc. (ONI), called Pal to pitch the idea, she was all-in.
“We [at NIB] thought it was a great idea because it would help agencies attract and retain employees and would help us all achieve our missions – to improve the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired,” says Pal. “We welcomed the opportunity to collaborate and make the program a reality.”
The program is customized based on each participant’s skillset and developmental interests, and the timeline is flexible, allowing agencies to respond to unanticipated events. NIB provides various types of support, helping HR professionals gain leadership buy-in, clarifying roles and responsibilities, setting up enrollment and program launch, identifying appropriate workplace experiences and providing learning opportunities. Agencies carry out the program, which requires a high level of involvement by HR staff, the employees’ managers, and other supervisors throughout the organization.
The first pilot program launched at ONI in the spring of 2014. By fall of that year, two other agencies – The Lighthouse for
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the
Blind in St. Louis and Beyond Vision in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – rolled out pilot
programs of their own. After evaluating the success of the pilots, NIB added
Emerging Professionals as the sixth track in the Business Leaders program.
Piloting the Pilot
The required level of agency involvement didn’t deter ONI’s executive team from jumping on board. “We truly try to live our mission here at ONI – to help people who are blind or visually impaired reach their dreams, their career goals,” says Plutschak.
ONI used a multi-step application process: After first communicating the program, Plutschak invited anyone interested in learning more to meet with him individually. Of 13 employees who showed interest, six ultimately submitted applications, and one applicant – Johnny Botsford, then an entry-level machine operator – was selected as the program’s first participant.
Botsford’s supervisors at ONI had identified him as a highpotential employee when he told them of his desire to continue to learn, grow and move up at the agency. His drive and business background made him a perfect choice to pilot the program – Botsford opened a successful business selling protein shakes and healthy snacks at a gym on a nearby Air Force Base when he was just 18, and ran it for five years.
Although his business was successful, Botsford lacked the experience needed to grow it into something more. “Plus, I had been steadily losing my eyesight since I was 18, so I thought it was time to get a steady job and benefits,” says Botsford. He landed a job at ONI, where his commitment and work ethic led the agency to name him employee of the year in 2014.
Botsford entered Emerging Professionals with an interest in becoming a trainer and increasing his confidence in communicating with people in a professional capacity. He learned to run the machines in his division, shadowed supervisors throughout ONI to learn about their work, and took NIB-provided courses in communications, email and voicemail.
“The experience helped me see the big picture of what ONI does and why,” says Botsford. “I gained so much insight about what people do across the organization, and I learned how to interact with them in a professional manner. It was a great experience.” Shortly after completing the program, Botsford was promoted to machine operator III, a position with responsibilities that include training employees on all of the shop machines.
Leaving a Comfort Zone
HR Director Karen Nelson already had an employee in mind