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Staff Development
A program that prepares staff to assume future responsibilities by enhancing or creating competencies. Staff development readies the employee for promotion or a new position; in contrast, staff training seeks to enable the employee to perform his or her current job. Staff development can give employees opportunities to retrain and keep current skills. Through cross-training, where employees learn each other's jobs, development programs can ensure consistent produc tivity. Development programs can train current employees to ready them for future management vacancies and encourage employees to plan a career and gain the skills needed to progress. Staff development takes into consideration individual potential and talent and the staffing needs of the organization (Buford & Lindner, 2002). For more information, see Buford and Lindner (2002).