One Development

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.

Part of the reason I got into training in the first place is because I love the interaction with people. And I think there is no better way of developing quality training and coaching than face to face. However, with transport costs, fuel costs and the environmental costs, alternatives have to be found. I have been working on and developing online training modules for parts of courses - these work very well to add another dimension to face to face sessions. And they are useful for academic, quantifiable lessons, especially where assessment is needed. But there seemed little substitute for the interactive, participatory dimension: however over past months I have bee exploring the options provided by social networking sites, particularly Second Life. It was about a year ago that I got interested in the psychological aspects of virtual worlds as research suggests that in general people behave the same in virtual worlds as the would in the real world. This does not mean that they will pl...

With a predicted recession we can expect the usual impact on trainin budgets - just when training becomes more important then ever, budgets are likely to be cut. However, on top of this we now have the problem of massive and unprecidented increases in fuel costs and the implications these bring to training. Travel cost now represent a massive proportion of training course costs and may be a major disincentive to companies to send delegates any distance. Maybe the watchword is; 'don't commute - communicate'. Online training, both self administrated and facilitated over live links while no substitute for face to face delivery, can be a an important component of any programme. Trainers need to consider carefully how programmes can be restructured to make use of technology in coordination with personal delivery to provide quality, effective training in tight economic environments.

This is a serious question, because we don't know. The new England rugby coach has undoubted game skills and experience, tremendous leadership skills and presence and an inspirational record. But as he admitted himself, he has no coaching experience. This is an extreme example, I know, but it does illustrate a point that we tend to think (a) that coaching skills are unimportant and can be learned on the job and (b) that training seems to be seen as less important the higher you climb the management ladder. An employee may need an NVQ before they will be considered for a job in their local leisure centre but it's okay to choose a top coach with no previous coaching training or qualification and keep our fingers crossed that he is a 'natural'.

I'm just off to deliver a two day workshop, and I love it. There is no better way to train, in my view, than working and interacting with real people. But, that said, I am also a big fan of online training. I often include online elements to reinforce training sessions, so delegates can go online and work out problems, download information and podcasts and try techniques long after the session has finished. But as stand alone training, online has many advantages: Cost - no transport or venue costs Timing - people can learn in their own time and own pace Testing - you can make sure lessons have been learned, not just attended Revision - people can easily go back Geography - learners can be in different locations, even timezones Demonstration - using photographs, moving diagrams, audio and video

I was talking yesterday to a friend who has just moved jobs to a different division in her organisation. She was telling me how 'brilliant' the organisation was in providing a number of training opportunities and courses to upgrade her knowledge and skill sets. It set me thinking back to how other friends and colleagues have talked about their employers with regard to training they provide - almost all who had active training programmes were thought well of by their staff. Contrast that with; 'Huh, never get our bosses to pay for me to go on a course'. When I was involved in front line advertising there was regional newspaper network that was renowned for the quality of training it gave its staff, particularly sales staff. This did wonders for the company's reputation - of course many of these well trained staff moved on in time to take topline jobs elsewhere, but the company's reputation for training meant it had little problem recruiting quality replacements....

Training in digital media and marketing comes high on the list of client 'wants', but what is requested varies widely with company size. Smaller companies generally, have already grasped the web and its opportunities. They have realised this is a very cost effective promotional medium and are already 'hands on' in many aspects. Bigger organisations tend to use their specialist suppliers to get hands on, so their needs tend to be more strategic - planning and understanding digital campaigns. One area however is a common requirement from both - writing for the web. Good web copy and content has never been more important, and with the growth in the use of content management systems (CMS), more and more of the copywriting now falls on the shoulders of the client. Good, concise, pursuasive copy has always been of tremendous importance in making a site work, but there is another dimension. Content and copy must be optimised to get good organic listings on search engines. I...

Social internet, web 2.0, a lot of kids chatting on MSN and Facebook – what has that got to do with business? The answer is - ‘a lot!’ Estimates vary, but it’s generally accepted that over 70% of content on the web is now user generated. What we are talking about here is not communications, but conversations – people talking to each other. And if people are talking to each other, they could (and maybe already are) talking about you and your business. Stimulating and getting involved in those conversations is a powerful ability, and many major companies are recognising the benefits it can deliver. Listening to what customers think about your business is at the root of customer service. Forget the expensive and contrived research, focus groups and interviews – all you need to do is get involved and listen. One leading mobile phone manufacturer based its next generation of mobile phones on the discussions of its users – who knows better about what the customers want? If words like bl...