El Paso County highlights training, mentorship and internship efforts to boost employee development

Christine Middleton, organizational development division manager in Human Resources for El Paso County, described a sustained push to expand employee development during an interview on the county podcast Beyond the Deus.

"We here in human resources, we are here to support all employees of El Paso County," Middleton said, listing talent acquisition, compensation, benefits, employee relations, risk management and organizational development as parts of the unit's work. She said the county now offers a training catalog of about 230 live and on-demand courses and runs internship, mentorship and leadership programs aimed at retaining and developing staff.

Middleton said some of the most in-demand courses relate to communication skills — for example, navigating difficult conversations, giving feedback and emotional intelligence — and pointed to a program called "creating a culture of feedback" that teaches employees how to both give and receive constructive feedback.

The coun…