PEPPER Training Program at Outdoor Outreach
Written by Meg Martin, Youth Program Assistant Coordinator
The aim of the PEPPER training program is to offer a professional development bridge for young instructors coming into the field directly from our Leadership Program. The program contributes directly to our workforce development priorities at Outdoor Outreach by creating a supported transition into the outdoor industry. As laid out in our training session goals, the ideal professional development pathway for our new graduates would look like the following:
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- Completing the Leadership Program
- Successfully applying, interviewing and being hired on as a Field Instructor
- Completing the PEPPER training program
- Joining the SALT training program for Senior Instructor skill development
- Transitioning to a Senior Instructor position
- Transitioning to a Program Coordinator position
- Transition to other leadership positions within the organization
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PEPPER stands for Performance Excellence Pathway Plan for Emerging Instructor Retention.
At Outdoor Outreach, more than 75% of our instructor and staff base are graduates of our Leadership Program. Many of these graduate staff members have progressed in their roles at Outdoor Outreach and have become Senior Instructors and Program Coordinators which is extremely valuable when it comes to integrating their personal experience, organizational knowledge and skills into supporting our younger instructors during PEPPER sessions.
For the PEPPER program pilot, we selected five new field instructors, all of which were recent Leadership Program graduates, who wanted to build on their professional skill sets and advance their roles within the organization. After consulting these new instructors about what would be most beneficial for them to work on, we created four sessions for the PEPPER training program:
- Lesson delivery
- Confidence
- Risk management
- Leadership skill progression
The sessions themselves are focused on building a strong base for outcomes-focused leadership, situational awareness and confidence in outdoor lesson delivery including judgement and decision making when assessing risk. The technical skills and know-how needed for leading an outdoor adventure sport for youth are just as important, and we focus on one type of activity for each lesson, like mountain biking. All of these skills are key competencies that we look for when evaluating for Senior Instructor roles, so by fostering these areas of growth, we know we’re setting these young outdoor leaders up for success in their professional development for any role in the outdoor industry and beyond.
Outdoor Outreach is a San Diego-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that connects youth to the transformative power of the outdoors. Through our programs, we’re helping youth build resilience in the face of challenges, and confidence in their power to make a difference.