Professional Development Program: A Long-Term Investment for the Future

Curriculum designed for proven leaders with a mindset for growth.

Over four years ago, Jennifer Skelly, Director of Pennsylvania Operations, knew she wanted to develop her team members in a more intentional way by providing them with leadership skills that would prepare them for the next steps in their careers.

“It hurts me when we have to hire supervisors and managers from outside the organization,” she said, “when we already have amazing team members that simply need encouragement to believe in their abilities and the opportunity to develop their talent.” 

And while Penn-Mar offered training programs for team members, she was looking for “yet another tool in our toolbox” to help support the organization’s Leadership Philosophy’s commitment to develop each team member’s capacity and provide a long-term investment for the future.

Penn-Mar Professional Development Program graduating class of 2024.

This vison and persistence resulted in an invitational Professional Development Program (PDP) that was officially launched in 2020.

Jen partnered with her counterpart Vanessa Whitman, Director of Maryland Operations, to develop a program that invited supervisors to identify “proven leaders” on their team who had shown great potential and had “a mindset for growth.”

“We weren’t looking for ‘perfect’ people,” said Jen, “but rather for those who were willing to give the time and commitment to develop their leadership skills.”

The 10-month program involves initial one-on-one conversations with Jen and Vanessa, followed by 4.5 hours per month of in-person sessions, and requires activities to be completed outside of these monthly sessions.

The program covers concepts and topics involving:

• Fixed mindset vs. growth mindset
• Emotional intelligence 2.0
• Perspective taking
• A personal assessment tool to help improve teamwork and communication in the workplace by determining the personality profile style that best defines a person
• Effective communications
• Effective teaching skills
• Building professional relationships effectively
• Effective management
• Group learning “coach approach” methods

At the completion of the program, there is a graduation presentation where each participant creates a summary video, PowerPoint, or speech detailing what they learned and a plan for how they will continue their career at Penn-Mar integrating and sharing their new learnings with their colleagues.

Over the past four years, 42 team members have participated in the PDP, and the impact is clear:

• 39 out of 42 participants completed/graduated from the program (92.9%)
• 36 of the 39 who completed the program remain with Penn-Mar (92.3%)
• 11 team members in the program have been promoted during or after the program (30.6%)

Going in, the PDP participants know that unlike the Career Ladders Program, there are no guarantees of increased earnings or promotions for their efforts.

“Their desire to improve their skills stems from the knowledge that the program offers a great foundation to equip them for future promotional opportunities or can help them to become a better leader in the role they are already in,” said Vanessa.

In 2025 the program has already grown to 19 new participants and the group has been expanded to include three team members from other departments within Penn-Mar in addition to DSPs and operations personnel.

“We love that this program enables us to connect with people in a meaningful and intentional way,” said Jen. “As curriculum teachers, Vanessa and I, along with Megan Murphy, Director of Learning and Development, continue to learn and grow as we self-reflect on the program’s impact. It also gives us a pulse on how things are going in the organization.”

The reward for Vanessa is watching the payoff of the program. “It’s very fulfilling to watch the light bulbs going off in class and seeing the tremendous growth of the participants over the 10-month program,” she says. “It feeds our soul!”

DSP participant Jacey James, who had been struggling with her role at Penn-Mar said, “Over a year later, I have been promoted twice and have regained the motivation/drive I had before. We spend so much time devoted to improving the lives of the people we support. It was nice to take time away to focus on improving our own lives and relationships as well.”