There is now a Chartered Manager on each of the next three Astute class submarines under construction, and the demand for places on Chartered Management Institute (CMI) programmes this year is described as “overwhelming”.

Graham Ingham, one of the six Operations and now a Chartered Member of the CMI, said: “This will give extra confidence to the customer, and highlight that we take pride in how we manage Operations.”

Jamie Gilchrist, another of the six, said: “The additional confidence this qualification gives you is demonstrated in how we perform our duties, and people joining the course have seen how we have stepped up.”

In fact Learning and Development Manager Alan Robson says a major spin-off benefit is the way the six have formed an informal “coalition” to make contact with others taking, or thinking of taking, the course, offering help, advice and support.

The courses were launched in partnership with Lancaster and Morecambe College in 2008, after Investors in People assessor Fred Ayres identified professional manager development as an issue for the business.

This added CMI level 5 and level 7 qualifications as progression from the existing management NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) and Institute of Leadership and Management qualifications.

It provides development for existing or aspiring managers and completes the Leadership Framework.

The first level 7 cohort began in March 2008 with 12 students and the first level 5 cohort the following September with 11 students.

Alan said: “The response this year has been overwhelming. We have got 18 students lined up for level 5 and 14 for level 7.”

Jamie, Jim Gardiner, John Nixon, Iaian Davies, and Russ Rushton all qualified for membership of the CMI through gaining a level 7 executive diploma in management, and Graham through gaining a Master of Business Administration degree. The next logical step was to become Chartered Managers.

In order to gain charterhship they had to submit verified evidence that they had made an impact on the business, and undergo a 360˚ review, by senior managers, peers and reports, to verify that they are operating at chartered management level.

This culminated in a 15 minute presentation by each candidate to a CMI panel on the impact they had made on the business, followed by a 45 minute panel interview.

Graham said: “You couldn’t use any props, such as PowerPoint slides, so you really had to know your stuff.”

Russ added: “You had to be spot on your 15 minutes. The woman chairing my panel looked over the top of her glasses and said I had taken 30 seconds longer!”

In addition to the confidence and status conferred by the external recognition that a candidate is operating at a high level, chartership also brings access to a range of CMI resources, such as Human Resources and legal advice and general best practice.

Jim Gardiner said: “I would encourage anyone given the opportunity to follow this route and we would definitely support anyone to gain this achievement.”

Moving forward Alan Robson confirmed; “Upon completion of our current CMI Level 7 cohort and budget permitting, this year we plan to put forward 6 candidates for the Chartered Manager award.”

The ‘Global Snapshot’ project from the multi-national recruitment firm, Antal International, asked nearly 20,000 businesses in major markets including Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, India, China and the USA whether they were currently hiring at professional and managerial level.

The survey also asked whether they planned to do so in the coming quarter and whether they were currently letting staff go or were planning to do so in the next three months.

It appears that current hiring levels across the globe were up with 55% of respondents recruiting at professional and managerial level in comparison to 52% in the last survey in July. Around 54% of organisations questioned also intended to hire in the coming quarter.

Western Europe
The highest levels of hiring were found in Malta (82%), Luxembourg (69%), Norway (68%) and Sweden (68%), while the lowest was recorded in Spain where only 27% of companies questioned were in the process of recruiting at professional or managerial level. In the UK the percentage of businesses recruiting was down from 61% in July to 48% now but is expected to rise to 58% in the coming quarter.

Eastern Europe and Eurasia
The highest levels of recruitment in this region were found in Turkey (74%), Russia (67%) and Czech Republic (65%). The lowest were recorded in Hungary (39%) and Croatia (38%).

Middle East
Employment markets were relatively strong across the region, the weakest, in Bahrain registering a respectable 52% hiring rate. The highest levels of recruitment were found in Qatar (77%), Saudi Arabia (73%) and Oman (70%).

Africa
In the continent’s most high profile economy, South Africa, hiring levels were up dramatically from 56% in July to 68% now and this figure is only expected to dip marginally to 67% over the next three months. The highest level of recruitment was seen in Nigeria where 73% of businesses polled were hiring professionals or managers.

Asia Pacific
The Philippines recorded the highest level of recruitment activity in all 52 countries surveyed with 98% of organisations currently hiring. Activity was down marginally in China from 70% in July to 67% now but is expected to climb to 68% in the coming quarter. In India the percentage of organisations increasing headcount had risen from 69% in July to 72% now and is due increase to 75% in the next three months.

The Americas
All six employment markets surveyed in the Americas – Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the USA – all registered at least 60% hiring activity at professional and managerial level. Canada had the strongest performance with 66% of businesses currently seeking staff.

Conclusions
“While the ongoing troubles of the Eurozone seems to be generating an atmosphere of near panic amongst many bankers and politicians, global employment markets, at least at professional and managerial level appear to be holding up well,” says Antal’s CEO, Tony Goodwin.

He added, “As might be expected the driving force behind the figures is the continuing success of economies in emerging markets, particularly those in Asia. As a result the region has the highest level of recruitment around the world – 67% in comparison to just 39% in Western Europe. Global Snapshot continues to highlight just how dramatic the shift of economic power is becoming. If this trend continues it could be that the next generation of movers and shakers in the business world will be found in Beijing, Brasilia or Bangalore rather than in Boston, Birmingham or Berlin.”

This is exactly what Drilona Emrullahu is about to achieve as her company RTC Consulting is about to be approved as Exponential’s latest International Study Partner.

After completing a business degree at The American International University in London “I had the opportunity to be an Exponential Student just over three years ago when studying the Certificate in Management Consulting Essentials. I loved the experience and the knowledge that I received throughout that time and I feel that I had to offer this amazing opportunity to other students in Kosovo and Albania”, said Drilona.

“The Certificate in Management Consulting Essentials enabled me to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to provide quality management consulting work. It has also boosted up my credibility in offering these services and has opened new doors to my career path”.

Drilona’s company works with public sector organisations, private sector firms and international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In a short period of time, RTC has established a strong brand and reputation not just in Kosovo, but within the Balkans.

Drilona returned to Kosovo after her studies determined to make an impact in Kosovo. She represents the new generation of young entrepreneurs that are seizing the opportunity as Kosovo develops. Drilona’s excellent communication and networking skills combined with hard work, dedication and a commitment to excellence has accelerated RTC Consulting to one of the region’s leading consulting practices. Drilona is a role model for young people in the region: she is enterprising and passionate about what she does and very clear about her goals and objectives.

One of Drilona’s major goals for 2012 is to establish RTC’s management development centre as the premier management training facility in Kosovo. The centre will enable managers and students the opportunity of taking part in a high quality professional qualification just like she did, but without the cost of studying in London.

Asked why she believes the Chartered Management Institute professional qualifications are needed in Kosovo and Albania, Drilona explained, “Our society is aspiring to become part of the European Community and with that said, people will need to be ready when that change happens. Chartered Management Institute qualifications provide a strong management foundation to students and enable them to be equipped with the necessary management and leadership skills and I believe that our societies are in strong need of that”.

Asked if she had any advice for others seeking to set up their own training consultancy, she replied, “Be passionate about the value that you want to add to your clients and the change that you want to see in them afterwards”.

RTC Consulting completed the Exponential Partner training at the beginning of December and will be publishing the dates of its first Chartered Management Institute programmes in the New Year. Within the year, RTC Consulting hope to be offering programmes throughout the Balkans including Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia.

• View photos on Flickr

Critical thinking skills and the ability to take BIG decisions are needed by directors and managers in these difficult times, yet many business coaches simply do not engage their clients at the level of critical thinking that they need to address the BIG ISSUES.

What are the BIG ISSUES facing most businesses? How about these for starters: (1) Where will next year’s sales and customers come? (2) How can we engage employees and increase performance? (3) How can we reduce the costs and increase quality? (4) What innovative practices can we introduce to gain competitive advantage? (5) How can we raise the finance needed to grow our business?

With most businesses being short of time and tight on cash too many are settling for goals and objectives that are simply selling their business short for the medium and long term. Whilst survival in the short term is paramount, many business owners are inadvertently harming their medium and longer term prospects for growth. Despite the economic crisis, many, so-called High Growth Companies are still growing or at least laying the foundations for future growth.

Business owners like Howard Robinson, Quay-West Communications who after working with a High Growth Coach commented, “Sometimes you become too embedded in the day to day requirements of the business; you need somebody to help you cut through your own views, challenge you and draw out of you the tools and the belief that you can do the job.”

Exponential Managing Director, John Moore said, “High Growth Coaches need to ask the challenging questions and to help clients to develop creative and practical solutions. They need to engage clients in a higher level of critical thinking. I have always believed the better the quality the questions you ask, the better quality answers people come up with!”

Research shows that too few coaches understand the principles of critical thinking and how to help clients to thinking at a deeper level. There are numerous models or frameworks to help with improving the quality of thinking such as CoRT Thinking Method developed by the Cognitive Research Trust which helps clients to focus different aspects of thinking and issues.

With this in mind, Exponential will be launching a new website in 2012 dedicated to the development of High Growth Coaches. James Dillon, Business Development Manager, explained:

“This new initiative is the result of two separate projects. Since 2008, Exponential has managed a network of High Growth Coaches which started as a regional project. In 2010, we began a European project which resulted in the development of the High Growth Competency Framework. The High Growth Coach website will be dedicated to developing excellence in High Growth Coaching”.

The site which is currently under construction, promises to be packed with simple, practical tools that High Growth Coaches can down load and use. To register your interest in the new initiative and to receive a free sample of one of the modules that will be available through this new resource, click here.

Why should more companies take the export plunge? There are so many reasons, for example, exporting often leads to developing a technical competitive advantage, or more sales and more opportunities. However, doing business overseas is a different experience for every company and its benefits will vary greatly depending on the profile of each business.

Speaking about his experience of export, John Moore, Exponential Managing Director said, “As well as opening access to new revenue channels, trading internationally allows you to spread risk across a wider range of customers, extend the market for specific products and ensure that you are aware of international competition”.

For Exponential exporting is allowing us to:

• Achieve levels of growth not possible domestically
• Increase the returns on investment in R&D
• Increase the commercial lifespan of products and services
• Improve financial performance
• Spread business risk across several markets
• Improve productivity and product quality through innovation
• Boost our profile and recognition internationally

Although I can only speak with any authority for the UK, there is considerable help available to companies seeking to enter export markets – I am sure most other countries operate similar programmes. In the UK, we are fortunate to have UK Trade & Investment which aims to help businesses with their international development plans.

In November, Exponential took part in a trade mission to Trinidad and Tobago along with twenty other training and education businesses. In addition to exhibiting at the first ever UK training and education exhibition, Exponential ran a seminar for potential partners at the British High Commission as well as holding one-to-one meetings with several high profile organisations such as the Arthur Jack Low business school and the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprises. As a result of the trip, Exponential has numerous options regarding the appointment of a regional partner.

In December, Exponential visited Turkey having commissioned an Overseas Market Research Introduction Service (OMIS) from UKTI. During a packed three day programme, Exponential met with universities and private sector training businesses. International Partner Coordinator, Ashleigh Oakes said, “Working with UKTI to set up the meetings saved a lot of time and enabled my Director to meet decision makers. I expect that we will be making an announcement in the New Year regarding the appointment of partners in Turkey!”

If you believe your company or one of your clients’ companies should consider export as an option, here are Exponential’s top 10 tips:

• Research Your Export Market(s)
• Plan Your Export Market Entry
• Keep in Touch and Make it Personal
• Think Carefully Before Making Exclusive Agreements with Agents/Distributors –
• Don’t Take On The World
• Select The Right Partner(s)
• Allocate Time and Money for Export Success
• Make It Profitable
• Listen to What Your Partners Overseas Tell You
• Get Your Own People Onside.

Before doing any of the above there are two actions YOU MUST TAKE FIRST if you are in the UK:

1. Register on UKTI’s website as it is packed with advice and information:  https://www.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/register.html

2. Call your local International Trade Advisor and book an appointment for January 2012

If you would like to talk to us about our experience of exporting, do not hesitate to contact us by emailing Ashleigh at ashleigh@exponentialtraining.com

If you are a manager within a company that employs less than 250 employees then you are eligible to take part in our piloting opportunity. Not an SME? Please forward this to people you know who may be interested!

About Perspectives 360

Perspectives 360 is a simple and effective online 360 degree assessment system. Perpsectives 360′s unique selling proposition (USP) is the personalised set of practical development suggestions that the online 360 assessment report generates, which enables individuals to improve performance immediately.

“360 degree feedback: also known as multi-rater feedback, or multisource feedback, is feedback that comes from all around an employee. “360″ refers to the 360 degrees in a circle, with an individual figuratively in the centre of the circle. Feedback is provided by subordinates, peers and supervisors.”  

Pilot Aim:

The aim of the pilot is to complete Perspectives 360 assessments and feedback with 50 managers from SME organisations in the UK.

Eligibility:

Assessments & Feedback need to be completed by 31st January 2011

Beneficiaries must be SMEs with less than 250 employees

Beneficiaries will be required to complete an evaluation questionnaire about the process and benefits

There will be opportunity for some managers to be featured in case studies

Beneficiaries must receive feedback on their assessment report – feedback meetings may be conducted face-to-face, or by telephone/ Skype

Assessments are limited to two per organisation (additional licences can be made available on request) and issued on a strictly first come, first served basis

Funding:

Funded by the European Commision Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong Learning Programme.

How to Apply:

To clam your FREE Perspectives 360 assessment and feedback worth £200 + VAT please complete the following application form below:

• Application Form

If you have any questions or require further information please feel free to contact ashleigh@exponentialtraining.com

* Assessments will be allocated on a strictly first come, first served basis

People usually want to understand how their work contributes to the organisation’s goals and objectives:  setting the right targets helps to connect corporate and personal objectives for both the employee and the manager. Goal-setting is particularly important as a mechanism for providing ongoing and year-end feedback. By establishing and monitoring targets, managers can give their team members real-time input and feedback on their performance while motivating them to achieve more.

What is the Current Wisdom?

So, how involved should managers be in helping team members establish and achieve their goals? Since failure to meet goals can have consequences for managers, the team member, the team and the organisation as a whole, managers need to learn to balance their involvement with the team member’s ownership over the process.

“A manager’s job is to provide ‘supportive autonomy’ that’s appropriate to the person’s level of capability” so says Linda Hill, Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. She argues the key is to be hands-on while giving team members the room they need to succeed on their own. How can this be achieved?

Here is a set of guiding principles to help managers support their team members in achieving their objectives.

1)   Aim to connect employee objectives to broader organisational goals

For goals to be meaningful and effective in motivating employees, they must directly link to the broader organisational mission, goals and objectives. People who do not understand the importance of their role in contributing to the organisation’s success are more likely to become disengaged. “Achieving goals is often about making tradeoffs when things don’t go as planned. [Employees] need to understand the bigger picture to make those tradeoffs when things go wrong,” says Hill. No matter what level the employee is at, he should be able to articulate exactly how his efforts feed into the broader company strategy.

2)   Make sure goals are attainable, but challenging

Since team members are ultimately responsible for reaching their objectives, they need to be directly involved in setting them. Managers should ask team members to draft and contribute to determining meaningful objectives. Once the initial objectives have been drafted, managers should then discuss with team members whether the targets are both realistic and sufficiently challenging.

However, managers need to be careful as team members are likely to resent having objectives that are too challenging to accomplish. Equally, if the bar is set too low, they will not provide sufficient challenge and stretch for people. If the targets are too low, they will not motivate team members and the manager will miss opportunities for excellent performance, settling instead for mediocrity.

3)   Create a plan for success

Once an objective has been agreed, managers should invite team members to explain how they plan to meet it. This process can be helped if the manager encourages team members break the objectives down into smaller tasks and to set interim targets. Managers should encourage team members to identify simple, but relevant milestones and potential risks and threats to the achievement of the objectives.

4)   Monitor progress

Managers need to monitor progress and performance and to identify any early indications of underperformance. Too many managers only become aware of problems when it is too late which creates conflicts and undermines the team member’s confidence and harms organisational performance. It is good practice to agree how performance will be measured and monitored with team members when agreeing the objectives.

5)   When things go wrong

Rarely are goals and objectives reached without some problems and unexpected challenges. Team members need to feel comfortable approaching their manager to discuss any concerns. It is important that managers encourage team members to come prepared with contingency ideas and solutions rather than relying on the manager to solve the problem. Whilst solving a team member’s problem might appear to be expedient, it limits their ability to develop their own problem-solving skills.

6)   When objectives are not achieved

There will be times, even with the best support, when team members fail to meet their objectives. Managers need to hold them accountable and to help them to understand what went wrong and why. Managers need to discuss with team members what happened and what they believe went wrong. If the problem was within the team member’s control, invite them to propose possible solutions, to try again and to check in with the manager more frequently as part of the monitoring process. If it was something that was outside of their control or the objective was too ambitious, acknowledge the disappointment but don’t dwell on it. Never ignore under performance and hope that it will go away – it never does!

To sum up, here are six dos and don’ts:

Do:

Managers need to help people to understand the connection of an individual’s objectives to the broader organisation mission, goals and objectives

Managers need to demonstrate that they are a partner in helping team members to achieve their goals

Managers should involve team members in planning, monitoring and reviewing their own performance

Don’t:

Managers should not allow team members to set objectives alone

Managers should never ignore the need to monitor performance and to provide constructive feedback even with high performing team members

Managers must never ignore failure and under performance: it is not fair on the team member or the organisation

The answer lies in the desperate need for governments across Europe and beyond to create new jobs. The belief is that High Growth Companies generate a disproportionate number of jobs compared to other small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

In the UK, business waits with baited breath as the final stages of a long tendering process takes place for the new Business Coaching for Growth programme. Expected to be launched in January 2012, the new programme aims to help up to 10,000 high growth businesses a year to address barriers to growth and grow more rapidly.

The programme will target a select group of:

Established SMEs with the potential to increase employment or turnover by 20 per cent or more each year for three years

New start-ups with the potential to become “gazelles”  meaning those with the potential to achieve turnover of £1m within three years of starting trading, or to have at least 10 employees within three years

The programme will be delivered by specialist private sector providers, but where will the High Growth Coaches to deliver this unprecedented volume of government sponsored assistance come from? The Frank Bresser Coaching Report for 2009 estimates that there are around 7,500 business coaches operating in the UK. Add to this an estimated 300,000+ consultants operating in the UK and surely there will be sufficient capacity to meet the need for 1,500 to 2,000 High Growth Coaches to deliver the programme.  “Maybe not”, says John Moore, Managing Director of Exponential Training & Assessment.

“By definition, High Growth Companies are different from the average SME. Whilst there are lots of coaches and consultants out there, my concern is how the specialist providers will go about selecting them and ensuring that they can undertake the full range of activities performed by High Growth Coaches”.

Exponential Training along with four European partners, CIDaf (Romania), Enterprise Lithuania (Lithuania), CPU (Slovenia) and Trebag (Hungary) have researched the competences required by High Growth Coaches. Published in July this year, the High Growth Coach Competence Framework sets out a comprehensive framework of the skills and behaviours of the High Growth Coach. The Framework covers 13 separate Fundamental Skills, 6 different Professional Behaviours, the five stages of the High Growth Coaching Process, the 7 different roles undertaken by High Growth Coaches and the core Business Acumen required by High Growth Coaches.

Currently, Exponential and its partners are launching a set of learning modules covering the High Growth Coach Competence Framework. The High Growth Coach Development Programme starts in January and is unique. The new programme builds on the work that Exponential undertook on behalf of the East Midlands Development Agency in 2008-10 when the company trained and accredited 100 High Growth Coaches. Since then, Exponential has delivered similar training to over 300 other business coaches seeking to become High Growth specialists in the South West and the East of England.

Before being accepted onto the High Growth Coach Development Programme, coaches are required to complete a detailed self assessment which helps to pinpoint which of the learning modules should be prioritised. Anyone interested in joining one of the January cohorts should contact Ashleigh Oakes at ashleigh@exponentialtraining.com by 7^th November 2011.

Managing the content of your emails

The major problem with what we put in our emails is the fact that people interpret information in different ways. This is why managing the content of your emails is important to ensure your email are effective.

To show an example of this, read the following statement:

“We could manage this project”

Now read it out loud. What is the meaning of this statement? How did you interpret the message from this written statement?

Did you interpret the message as:

• “We could manage this project” = “We want to lead/ take charge of the project”
• “We could manage this project” = “I think we could do the project”

One of these statements is extremely positive and the other is slightly doubtful. The difference is the way the receiver can interpret the message.

1. Restrict emails to reason and logic – communicate emotions face-to-face

If you are sending a message with any emotional intent or if it is likely to have an impact on the receiver’s emotions, look for a way other than email to send it. This will often be face-to-face but as a last resort use the phone or Skype. The use of emails should be restricted to deal with logic and reason.

Emails are unlike any other written word as they often do not have a great deal of thought put into them, unlike books or newspapers. They are not read in the same way and they can be re-read by the receiver many times over, possibly interpreting the meaning differently. Often emails are written quickly and sometimes without review, yet they have replaced much of the face-to-face communication and phone communication that once made up so much of our interpersonal relationships.

Emails lack all of the non-verbal communication that is going on all the time as people talk face-to-face. In terms of interpreting messages, studies have suggested that in face-to-face communication:

• 55% is through non-verbal signals such as body language
• 38% is through the tone of voice being used
• 7% is via the actual words that are spoken (verbal)

From this we can see that email communication lacks the non-verbal indicators making it very easy to misinterpret something.

2. Avoid the ‘you’ word in emails

With the above in mind, it is important to avoid unintentionally impacting the receiver’s feelings. This can be achieved not only by re-reading the message carefully before sending it but also by avoiding the word ‘you’ in the message.

Top Tips:

Do not use any ‘smilies’ or similar ‘emoticons’ as this will have no positive effect – for some people it may work against you as many people detest them

When used to describe past behaviour, ‘you’ infers blame. Although not intended this way, the receiver may interpret it as being blamed. What can start out as a genuine conversation between two people can quickly and easily deteriorate into an argument when someone reacts negatively to a ‘you’ comment by retaliating with one of their own.

Top Tips:

To avoid this issue simply replacing ‘you’ with ‘I’ can be a very powerful technique of getting a message across without offending the recipient.

Example:

Don’t say: ‘You never do that for me’ Say: ‘I would like you to do that for me’

3. Decide the intention of your email

It is important to identify the intention of your email by asking yourself the following questions before you type anything into a new message:

• Why am I writing this?
• What exactly do I want the result of the message to be?
• What do I want the receiver to do as a result of the message?

As Part 1 of this story has already explained, we receive so many emails on a daily basis that if we have not clearly and precisely decided what we want from your message then the recipient is likely to take no notice of it.

There are three reasons for an email:

• To provide information
• To request information
• To request action

Top Tips:

Make it clear on what you want from your email – if it is not clear to you then it will not be clear to the receiver

4. Use the subject line effectively

As already indentified in Part 1, people often review/ scan through their emails by subject line before opening them. This makes it even more important that you use the subject line effectively in order to grab the attention of the recipient.

Top Tips:

Make the subject line a summary of the intent of your message

Review/ Change the subject line to reflect a response to an email and/or a change of intent of your email

This simple technique of summarising the intent of your emails within the subject line can have a dramatic impact on the effectiveness of them. The more descriptive the subject line the more chance it will be opened, actioned and replied to. It will also be easier to go back and find a specific email amongst many emails from the same person.

5. Set out the context of your message

There are three techniques which can have a dramatic impact on the effectiveness of your emails:

• Decide the intent of your email
• Use the subject line effectively
• Set out the context of your message

By setting out the context of your message in the first paragraph you will minimise the chance of an email being misinterpreted by the receiver.

For example:

A poor opening paragraph would be “I agree with your recommendations”. With this statement the receiver may be unsure to what recommendations you may be referring to; also there may be a number of recommendations making it unclear which you may be agreeing to. A better opening paragraph could be “This email is to confirm our phone conversation and agreement reached yesterday. It is okay to use a different report format for this project”.

6. Make it clear why people are copied or ‘cc’ into emails

One of the things that annoy people most is being copied into emails when there is really no need. This just adds to other’s inboxes and instead of helping the copied person it annoys them and could reduce their productivity.

People should only be copied into an email for a valid reason; otherwise they should not be included at all. It is important that you make this decision when you send out emails. See a simple flow chart which can help you decide whether or not they should be included.

After you have carefully considered who should be copied in it is also useful to mention, within the body of the email, why they have been included and what you require from them. For example you can use their initials to highlight their attention such as “JD DECISION NEEDED: How many people will be attending the event tomorrow?”

In some circumstances, after reflection, it may be necessary to send them a separate email instead of copying them in. Although this may take extra time it may ultimately improve your communication and speed up the decision making process.

Finally…

Recognising that emails can be so easily misinterpreted, it is important to remember that they can be read many times over, even in a court of law, so be careful what you put into an email before you send it!

It is also important to remember that not everyone prefers to use emails so try to match your communication medium to the preferences of the receiver. If someone is poor at responding to emails for whatever reason then find an alternative way to communicate with that person. Most importantly, if you feel your message is likely to have an emotional impact then communicate face-to-face or by phone rather than using email.

If you have a topic or an area you would like us to cover in a future article then get in touch with us by emailing info@exponentialtraining.com.

This was the clear message coming out of the annual conference of the Association of Skills Development Facilitators South Africa (ASDFSA). The theme of the conference was continuous professional development (CPD). The key note address was delivered by John Moore, Managing Director of Exponential Training & Assessment who explored the concept of CPD through international partnerships. He explained how important it is that CPD is undertaken within the context of the global market place and not merely the South African market.  John stressed that CPD is about adding value and in the context of Skills Development Facilitators, this means adding value to clients.

Throughout the conference, a clear message emerged that CPD is about results and outputs and NOT inputs or learning activity. This point was developed further during several debates that took place which resulted in a consensus that the role of the Skills Development Facilitator was too narrow. Gill Connellan , Chair of the ASDFSA argued that the SDF role needed to be considered as a business development or consulting role rather than the more traditional, narrower role of skills administrator linked directly to meeting the needs of the Sector Education Training Authorities (SETA).

“The key to improved performance is not to focus on the number of training courses delivered and the inputs, but on the outputs – the results”. Exponential is currently in discussion with several organisations in South Africa interested in delivering Diplomas in management, leadership, coaching and consulting. These programmes require managers to prove their ability and performance rather than just meeting some assessment criteria. The programmes are all accredited by the Chartered Management Institute and Institute of Consulting.

Continuing the theme of CPD, members of the Chartered Management Institute South Africa (CMI SA) and the Institute of Consulting South Africa (IC SA) will be able to apply to complete a set of Skill Builder modules later this month. The Skill Builders are just one of the many benefits to which members of the two professional bodies are entitled. Retailing at nearly R12,000, CMI SA and IC SA members can access the learning modules free of charge by contacting ashleigh@exponentialtraining.com.

The modules cover 25 Specific Skills including:

• Developing Plans
• Monitoring Performance
• Focusing on Results
• Managing Change
• Managing Improvement
• Explaining Clearly
• Influencing Others
• Resolving Conflict
• Listening
• Building Teams
• Leading Teams
• Encouraging Teamwork
• Managing Diversity
• Encouraging Innovation
• Providing Guidance
• Motivating Others
• Building Trust and Respect
• Acting Assertively
• Managing Time
• Developing Self
• Decision-making
• Setting Objectives
• Managing Performance
• Developing Others
• Providing Feedback