The Impact-based Decision Support Services
Professional Development Series: Unique Training to Improve Support to a
Diverse Set of Partners (198)
Megan Taylor, University
of Oklahoma-CIMMS/NWS Training Center, Kansas
City, MO
Jeff Zeltwanger, National
Weather Service Training Center
Abstract:
IDSS is key to building a
Weather-Ready Nation and evolving the NWS. As the IDSS movement grew, the need
arose for training to ensure NWS services were effective and consistent.
The NWS Learning Office spent
the past couple years creating a comprehensive training program designed to
help employees provide better IDSS to our partners remotely and onsite.
The training needed to be
diverse in delivery to meet the educational needs of all employees who would
complete it. The training needed to focus on a variety of communication
techniques to accomplish the most effective weather and water messaging.
Lastly, the training needed to focus on customized support services for a
diverse group of partners.
The final curriculum is a
three-tiered approach. The first tier is baseline IDSS training. This tier
captures the diversity in partnerships across the agency and provides numerous
skills to meet the needs of those partners. The second tier is for employees
who wish to deploy onsite to support partners. This tier is highly experiential
and includes the IDSS Deployment Boot Camp. The final tier (in development)
will focus on specialized deployment experience.
Creating this training
required exploring educational diversity - not everyone learns the same way,
but everyone needed to walk away with the same skills. The team also had to
consider diversity in communication both in how the trainees learned and in
what tools they use to communicate with partners. Lastly, the IDSS training
helps NWS employees provide effective support services to a diverse group of
partners with a variety of needs and goals.
Numerous NWS employees report
success using the tools from the training. The NWS Learning Office's IDSS Professional
Development Series is a unique, comprehensive training program that helps NWS
employees provide better IDSS, accomplish the NWS mission, and build a
Weather-Ready Nation.