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The Training Manager's Yearbook 2010

Foreword

The Wider Agenda

Martyn Sloman CIPD Adviser: Learning, Training and Development

As we advance into the 21st Century there is a noticeable spring in the step of learning and training professionals. Organisations must compete through people and this requires the systematic acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills by employees. Good training and learning practices can be identified and implemented. We know what we are doing and our professionalism is recognised as important. There is much to be done but we have encountered and overcome some potential threats – for example, the naïve over-reliance on e-learning. Our day may indeed have come. 

There is nothing wrong about feeling good about yourself and your prospects. However, a touch of realism is needed. A more balanced perspective emerges from a consideration of the latest official survey of workplace skills in the UK. This is known as “Skills at Work”¹ and draws its data from 4800 interviews with people who were aged between 20 and 65.

The headlines are that between 1997 and 2006 there has been a significant increase in most skills except ‘physical skills’. It appears that less people are doing work which runs the risk of “dropping something heavy on your feet” to use a memorable phrase coined by the Economist magazine. Importantly there has been a dramatic increase in the number of jobs which use automated or computerised equipment. Now it appears that over three-quarters of the workforce use such equipment at work. There has, it is true, been less of an increase in the last five years by comparison with the previous decade; this suggests that we are now achieving saturation point in terms of the persuasiveness of technology. However, set against that, over the last five years there has been a marked increase in the proportion of jobs in which computing is considered to be an essential component of the job – 47% (nearly half the workforce) now report that they fall into this category. The numbers reporting a ‘simple’ use of computers is dropping.

There have also been substantial increases in the importance of the following skills: writing long documents, writing short documents, making speeches and presentations, persuading and influencing other people, instructing and analysing complex problems in depth. These were brought together by the Skills at Work researchers under the label of ‘influencing skills’. Another set of skills, labelled ‘technical know-how’ have also increased substantially in importance.

All this suggests that the service-led and knowledge-driven economy, however we choose to define it, is well on its way. This surely means a more powerful and exciting role for the trainer. Or does it? Every silver lining has a cloud and there are enough clouds emerging to create some heavy squalls.

The first observation is that these new critical skills are often learned rather than taught. At the CIPD we have argued for some time that we are seeing a shift in focus from training (which is a top-down intervention led by the organisation) to learning (which is an activity that lies in the domain of the learner). Only learners can learn and this is in large part a discretionary or voluntary activity. While one can argue about the extent of this change, what seems evident is that computer skills are one area where people learn from each other. Here our role is about creating a climate at work where this peer group comes naturally and is encouraged. This is also true, though to a lesser extent, of ‘influencing skills’; skills here are often best acquired through guided practice and feedback in the work situation itself. 

Before any trainer of a traditional mind-set reading this leaps for his or her pen, let me emphasise that this does not mean that there is no place for instruction or for the training room. There are many cases where the taught course is the most appropriate response. It is simply that we trainers need to deploy our skills in different contexts and different ways. The recent explosion in the demand for coaching offers a good example.

The second implication of the survey results is that we must become far more aware that we need to work with and through others – we must leverage the full resources of the organisation. Most learning is a mediated process. It does not happen in isolation but requires ‘support and challenge’ – whether from an instructor, a manager or a colleague. 

One of the biggest challenges in today’s organisations concerns the pivotal role of line managers. They are the people who encourage their staff to learn, create much of the context in which they learn and identify and meet training requirements. 

The line managers’ role has been the subject of a recent CIPD study². This powerful publication argued that the line manager was fundamental in the following very long list of activities: induction; giving access to challenging work and projects; job rotation; coaching and guidance; the provision of informal training; secondments; identification of formal external training programmes; themselves delivering some formal training; taking action on career development and promotion; encouraging knowledge-sharing.

Organisations therefore need to encourage line managers’ buy-in and commitment to learning and development; this involves clarifying their responsibilities through job descriptions, performance appraisal and communicating the importance and value of individual and team development. Of course, all these line managers need time to carry out their learning and development activities and this constraint cannot be resolved by the actions of the training department. Senior management understanding and support is essential if we are to succeed. No surprises here!

So there is a huge amount of organisational change management work to be undertaken by trainers and this will take us far beyond our traditional training models. We need influencing and consultancy skills and a new mind-set. It is an exhilarating but exhausting challenge ahead.

However, let’s end on a positive note. Not only is the opportunity there for the training profession to make a significant impact but, judging by my contacts with the CIPD membership, we are well aware of the challenges that lie ahead and are positively relishing the opportunity. All we have to do is deliver.

References

1. Felstead A, Gallie D, Green F, and Zhou Y (2007) Skills at Work 1986-2006, SKOPE/ESRC

2. Purcell J and Swart J (2007), ‘Learning and the Line’, ‘The role of line managers in training, learning and development’ CIPD Change Agenda