Talent Development

The Talent Development service area provides the planning, development, growth, recognition, and workplace program and advisory services to help UVA organizations achieve their mission. Our specialized units address the following areas:

Talent Management – The way we support employees through their UVA career.

Employee Relations – The way we collectively live our values, look out for our people, and address performance at the University of Virginia.

Policy, Risk Management & Compliance – The way we evaluate, manage, measure, and assess HR risks.

Talent Development Leader – Shernita Rochelle, Associate Vice President for Talent Development

Talent Management

Our vision is to proactively ensure a qualified, motivated, and engaged workforce at UVA. We anticipate future workforce needs, develop individuals, invest in a learning culture, sustain desired behaviors, cultivate a productive and positive environment for feedback and accountability, prepare high potential employees to fill future roles, and provide exceptional tools and programs to retain and engage a diverse workforce. We work in close partnership with the Office of the Provost to complement the faculty experience.

Leader – Carolyn Cullen, Director of Talent Management

Service Offerings and Key Outcomes:

Learning & Development
Learning & Development promotes effective learning that leads to greater employee motivation and satisfaction as employees feel valued and able to grow and develop throughout their careers. Learning and change are interlinked because learning enables organizations to respond to changes and adapt to an increasingly competitive and ever-changing market.

Our Services
- Facilitate and lead engaging learning experiences
- Identify and prioritize current and future organizational learning and development requirements
- Recommend University-wide, role-specific curricula programs and delivery approach
- Design content and materials for employee development and education
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Learning and development needs assessment
- Improved employee engagement
- More productive workforce
- Increased employee retention
- Tailored learning experience
- Identify skill gaps
- Practical application of soft skills
Organizational Development
Organizational Development is the creation of custom people solutions to support the most pressing organizational priorities. It is the blend of strategic alignment, leadership and team development, change management, and the coaching expertise required to influence behaviors and improve organizational effectiveness. Organizational Development helps UVA leaders and teams reinforce training, influence sustainable behaviors over time, realize their collective potential, and achieve outstanding results for the University.

Our Services
- Conduct organizational needs assessment to identify improvement opportunities
- Design and develop programs to support strategic initiatives
- Consult with leaders to identify improvement priorities and intervention approaches
- Facilitate team building and improvement activities
- Administer employee engagement surveys and recommend improvement action plans
- Offer leadership coaching services
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Improved leadership aptitude
- Increased team member engagement
- Enhanced accountability
- Active self-discovery and behavior change
- Improved team dynamics
- Targeted leader and team action planning
Performance Management
Performance Management is the ongoing dialogue between a supervisor and an employee that occurs throughout the year. With a primary focus on continuous development, these touchpoints go beyond the state/Joint Commission documentation requirements to include the individual’s specific contributions to the attainment of UVA priorities. Effective performance management creates a shared understanding of expectations, fosters constructive conversations, and ultimately fuels professional growth and individual performance. Performance management is a shared accountability that requires active engagement by both the manager and individual.

Our Services
- Communicate calendar of ongoing performance management activities
- Offer leading practices on goal setting, giving and receiving feedback, and determining individual development activities
- Provide training on performance management system, process, and tools
- Recommend ways to differentiate and reward high performers
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Differentiated and improved individual performance
- Support of talent readiness and career mobility
- Individual and supervisor toolkits
- Performance management program guidance and leading practice advice
- Performance management training materials
- Performance management communications and reminders
Rewards & Recognition Academic Division
Rewards & Recognition creates and administers programs to acknowledge the contributions and service of outstanding staff and team members who deliver exceptional results for UVA. This is a complementary, pan-University effort that supplements the current programs in place at UVA Health and in the Academic Division. Rewards and recognition programs strengthen the employment experience and improve our ability to retain talent as well as reinforce the behaviors that are central to our mission of world-class teaching, research, patient care, and public service.

Our Services
- Provide resources to foster a culture of peer-to-peer recognition and a sense of community
- Recommend rewards and recognition practices for high performers
- Design and implement recognition and discount programs
- Support service and UVA milestone achievement
- Support coordination of employee engagement events in your organization
- Administer the Rewards & Recognition system
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Recognition of employee contributions to UVA
- Rewards & Recognition program guidance
- Rewards & Recognition system
- Service recognition program
- Concierge and discount programs
- Employee engagement events
Learning Design & Technology
The Learning Design & Technology team provides instructional design, Workday technical training, and Workday Learning services for UVA Academic and UVA Health. We partner with schools, departments, units, teams, and individuals across Grounds to ensure people, teams, and organizations can do their best work every day.

Our Services
- Design and facilitate technical training
- Respond to system changes by implementing timely digital and instructor-led resources and courses
- Administrate the Learning Management System
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Educated and competent workforce who can comfortably use Human Resources systems
- Various training resources for all skill levels and learning types
- Maintain central Learning Management Systems to find and engage with training

Employee Relations

Working with various stakeholders (FEAP, EOCR, General Counsel, UPD, etc.), Employee Relations provides a quality work balance through fair treatment of employees and resolves employee matters and concerns in a fair and consistent manner.

Leader – Leslie Pierce, Director, Employee Relations

Service Offerings and Key Outcomes:

Respect @UVA
Our Services
- Dealing with disrespectful behavior
- Workplace guidelines
- Resources for creating and maintaining a respectful workplace
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Creation and maintenance of a fair and equitable work environment
- Resolution of employment-related disputes
- Equitable treatment by managers and co-workers
- Action plan if confronted with or accused of disrespectful behavior
Employee Toolkit
Our Services
- How to file a Respect@UVA complaint or EOCR complaint
- Alternative dispute resolution
- Appeals of annual performance evaluations
- Requesting an exit interview
- Child abuse and neglect reporting
- Grievances resources
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Disciplinary performance management
- Employee discipline and misconduct management
- Understanding of how to address disputes and conflicts in the workplace
- Recourse for perceived mismanagement or inappropriate conduct
Manager Toolkit
Our Services
- Corrective and disciplinary actions
- Guidance to Medical Center managers around staff requests for reassignment
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Policy interpretation
- HR investigations
- Assisting employees with contributing fully to UVA’s mission and goals
Employee Relations Workshops
Our Services
- Interactive, workshop-style training series that redefines customer service and collaboration with a proactive approach to developing core professional skillsets
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Understanding how to create a productive, safe, and welcoming environment for all those within our UVA workplace
- Skill-building in the management and application of employee discipline, while strengthening the organization through the strategic relevance of existing policy
- Understanding of the University grievance process and the State grievance procedure
- Appreciation of the forms, documentation, and business justification for layoffs
Medical Center Employee Relations Consulting Services
Our Services
- Interpreting human resources and Medical Center policies and procedures
- Advising on progressive discipline and/or employment separations
- Conflict resolution tools and mediation
- Advising on the development of Team Member Performance Improvement Plans (TPIPs)
- Coaching on having crucial conversations
- Leaves of absence and associated benefits, such as Family/Medical Leave, Short-term Disability programs, and accommodation of disabilities
- Grievance process
- Planning staffing strategies and consulting on Reductions-in-Force (RIF)
- Conducting workplace investigations
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- Understanding of the human resources issues confronted by Medical Center team members, managers, and leaders

Policy, Risk Management, and Compliance

The Policy, Risk Management, and Compliance unit administers a comprehensive risk management framework to evaluate, manage, measure, and assess HR risks, taking action as needed and providing appropriate education.

Leader – Leslie Pierce, Director of Employee Relations and Policy, Risk Management and Compliance

Service Offerings and Key Outcomes:

Policy, Risk Management, and Compliance
Our Services
- Monitoring and management of HR compliance and regulatory reporting
- Promoting sound governance through clear, consistent, and up-to-date policies and communications
- Providing education and understanding about risk and risk tolerance
- Counseling alternatives for consideration when assessing and mitigating risk
- Partnering with other compliance professionals at the University to advance a consistent, practical HR governance structure
The Outcomes for Our Customers
- A consistent approach to risk in decision making, investments and taking action
- More informed governance tools such as policies and communications
- Easier achievement and management of compliance
- Clear, up-to-date, and easy-to-understand HR policies
- Reduced liability, risks, and costs
- Increased awareness of risks and better understanding of risk tolerance

Talent Development

Talent Management

Learning & Development

Organizational Development

Performance Management

Rewards & Recognition Academic Division

Learning Design & Technology

Employee Relations

Respect @UVA

Employee Toolkit

Manager Toolkit

Employee Relations Workshops

Medical Center Employee Relations Consulting Services

Policy, Risk Management, and Compliance

Policy, Risk Management, and Compliance