Learning does change lives!

Usually my posts are triggered by something I have read on an electronic bulletin or on the BBC website or in a newspaper - this week is different.  I am still buzzing from interviewing people who have taken part in Skills for Life learning, and I have to share what I heard.

I was visiting a company that had been using a number of business improvement tools to ensure they were competitive in their field.  One of the things they had done was to look at levels of literacy and numeracy among ALL staff, to ensure there was a minimum standard of level 2, which they hoped would lead to improvements in quality and prevent any health and safety issues.

Using the Skills for Life model, all staff had undertaken tests (unless they could produce relevant certificates), and for those who showed a learning need, training was provided on site.

I had the immense privilege of interviewing people who had recently achieved their level 2s, and talking to them about how they had felt about the learning and what it meant to them to have achieved.  They had a superb tutor - they couldn't praise her enough, for her support, for her attitude towards them, for her professionalism.

They had also changed their lives - increased confidence, new doors opening to them, passionate about their work and their employer, and with a thirst for learning more.

As I say, it was a marvellous experience to talk to them and hear their successes and their hopes for the future.  My worry is that while I know they will received further excellent employer supported training, the learning they want to do for themselves may not live up to their expectations.  It could be the price of the learning, the availability of what they want to do, the attitude of the tutor or the reactions of their fellow learners - but I dread that something takes the shine off their new found passion for knowledge.

Comments

[john]

Quite often I have come across companies where the management have a huge problem with staff training. The fear is two fold. Firstly they have a fear of the cost, which they can see directly and secondly they worry that after taking the training staff will leave for better paid jobs with their new qualifications. All companies have staff training programmes in place, but it is by far and away one of the easiest costs to postpone to a later date, often being postponed indefinitely. A huge proportion of British management have very little faith in their staff, believing them to be ungrateful, disloyal, ready to jump ship at a moments notice etc etc. In truth, the vast majority of workers, especially of the blue collar variety are loyal to an extra ordinary degree, but just feel a little unloved and unlistened to. Training is a tangible benefit to both sides in that it improves the workforces ability to do the job, but also creates loyalty to the company and an army of unpaid advocates for that company via the workforce, workers relatives and family and friends. Who in their right mind is going to leave a company that treats them well?
There is an issue with training junior and middle management as the fears of the recently trained jumping ship are much more likely to be realised within this group, but for some reason management seem to have a blind spot to this reality. This creates problems for everyone as the cost is then lost to the company, and on the shop floor, there is dissatisfaction in the lack of continuity of the management as leavers are replaced. Of course, it also promotes a them and us barrier as all the training budget goes on continually replacing management while a disproportionately small amount is spent on the workforce. However, by targetting the training onto the shop floor, the workforce become more efficient and more loyal, natural wastage and associated costs are reduced, which creates a better atmosphere for managing a business and frees up resources for management. A genuine example of a positive feed-back loop.
But first of all you have to get past the horror of spending money on the workforce, as opposed to a slightly better, one off, quartely result. It takes a brave manager to do that and they are disappointingly rare!