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Showing posts from 2009

Not so much a post, more an announcement

I've just got the new One-Development website up and running, so please go take a look and give me your feedback. You can find it on www.one-development.com . I'm also interested to get peoples views on coaching as opposed to training. As a discipline it seems to get far less coverage yet it is an important tool for the people who are responsible for the running of our companies.

Is training the answer to the recession?

It is often the trite response that training is a solution to problems brought on by a recession. We can retrain staff to re-engineer our organisation to meet changing dynamics in the world. Individuals can train to up their skills in a changing and shrinking jobs market, or to learn new skills to increase their job options. But I would argue that the often neglected area for training is right up at the top. If big changes are needed we need new, creative and innovative thinking by those with their hands on the levers to really make things happen. New thinking is needed - the drivers that power entrepreneurial flair are need in business and in public sector organisations. Owners, directors and senior managers should consider spending a small amount of the training budget on themselves - a little coaching, some innovation thinking perhaps -a little goes a long way at the top.

Beware politicians bearing training

Once again, belatedly, national Government has seen that training can provide a few answers to some of the issues facing us in the current economic climate... and as a trainer I welcome these, but with some reservations and more than a touch of deja vu . As so often it is too late and unplanned: a knee jerk reaction with with a distinct whiff of panic. Ill thought out initiatives encourage trainers to rush into preparing courses to answer these 'needs'. And there is the key point... who identifies these needs and by what mechanisms? I still deal with clients in the private sectors who identify real skill shortages and I ask them if they have ever been approached by representatives of Government with respect to these needs? I assume (charitably) that consultation is constantly taking place with the main industry bodies. Of course it makes sense to look at where the big numbers are. But I still can't avoid an eerie feeling that behind locked doors someone is deciding what i