6 Planning to use National Occupational Standards

Some network organisations may plan the use of National Occupational Standards within their network membership. Other organisations may make their own plans for using the standards.

There are some key questions that every organisation should consider before using occupational standards. Answer each question frankly and honestly - either on your own or, better still, with your colleagues as a team.

Question 1. Why do you want to use National Occupational Standards?

It is vital to be clear exactly what you want to achieve in using National Occupational Standards. This is the only way to be able to measure whether your investment - of time, effort and money - has been a success. It is not enough that someone thinks it is a good idea or that there is funding available.

You need to have clear business reasons for committing to using occupational standards if the initiative is not going to fizzle out the first time you hit a problem. Some of these reasons may be

  • To meet standards of quality and performance targets
  • To provide staff with relevant training and career opportunities
  • To have confidence that people are competent to carry out the work entrusted to them
  • To demonstrate that your staff are professional and working to nationally accepted best practice
  • To work to common standards with partner agencies
  • To improve your human resource management and development systems

Question 2. Do you want to use National Occupational Standards for all staff?

Different strategies will be appropriate for different organisations. An effective strategy can be to focus on managers, and get them to cascade the use of National Occupational Standards to the staff they manage.

You may want to concentrate your efforts on those providing information and advice directly to clients, or on those with a supervisory role. You may need to focus on, for example, just advisers working in a particular specialist area, or those with identified development needs.

While it might appear fair and equitable to ask all staff to use National Occupational Standards, it may be that some already have had training and development opportunities from which others have been excluded. Financial constraints may also limit what you can do. You may have to identify which are the priority areas, agree to start with one group of people who may benefit most and then roll out occupational standards as opportunities present themselves.

Question 3. Which sets of occupational standards do you want to use?

When you have identified the people who will be involved, you need to identify which sets of National Occupational Standards are relevant.

These may be just the Legal Advice Standards, or they may include other standards, such as business and administration, customer service, fundraising, health and safety, information technology, learning and development, management and leadership, managing volunteers, personnel and trustees and management committee members.

Different sets of standards may be relevant because of the range of activities individual staff carry out. Again, it may be important to identify the standards that will give you the benefits you are looking for and, if resources are limited, prioritise these. (Section D of this guide helps you identify the standards that individuals need.)

Question 4. In what ways do you want to use occupational standards?

National Occupational Standards can be used to support organisational development and comprehensively underpin human resource management and development strategy and practices.

However, this may be an ambitious goal for the future and you want to start by addressing practical priorities, such as developing job descriptions and person specifications, planning and delivering training and development, assessing people or managing and appraising performance. (Section B provides step-by-step guidance on using National Occupational Standards for all these purposes.)

Question 5. What sort of expertise do you need to introduce National Occupational Standards to your organisation?

There is not an enormous amount of specialist knowledge required to use National Occupational Standards, but you will need the following.

  • Someone who understands National Occupational Standards and how they can be used
  • Someone who is familiar with people management and development practices
  • Someone with management skills to plan the introduction of occupational standards

Of course, this someone might be you! If not, you will need to identify who is going to help you.

Question 6. How do National Occupational Standards relate to other activities and initiatives?

National Occupational Standards are designed to ensure that individuals perform to the standards expected of them and therefore make their full contribution to the organisation's objectives. However, your organisation may be involved in a whole range of other activities or initiatives, either on its own or in partnership with others.

You may be pleasantly surprised to find out how occupational standards can support quality initiatives such as the Community Legal Service Quality Mark, BS EN ISO9001: 2000, Investors in People, Best Value or the EFQM Excellence Model, and how they can provide a set of common criteria to which all within a partnership can work. (Section B provides more information on this.)

Question 7. Who are the key stakeholders in using National Occupational Standards?

Stakeholders are those with a legitimate interest in your use of National Occupational Standards and may include volunteers, employees, line managers, senior managers, trustees, management committee members, inspectors, contract managers, partners and clients.

It is certainly worth considering what their interests might be, and planning how you can gain their active support.

Question 8. What are your plans for introducing National Occupational Standards?

If you are convinced of the benefits of using National Occupational Standards, you will need to make detailed plans, covering the following points.

  • Your aims and objectives
  • The tasks to be carried out
  • Who will be involved and their individual roles
  • The resources required
  • The timescale
  • How the introduction of occupational standards will be monitored
  • How you will know that using occupational standards has been worthwhile