Training and Professional Development Advice for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

Training and Professional Development Advice for

Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

Contributors: James Price, JPAbusiness Pty Ltd

Rosy Sullivan, Australian College of Professionals

http://www.jpabusiness.com.au

2 jpabusiness.com.au +61 2 6360 0360

Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3 Meet our contributor ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 1: Training and professional development – what’s in it for my business? ............. 5 What is the difference between training and professional development? ................................................... 5 What are the benefits of having trained people within your organisation? ............................................... 6

Chapter 2: Why implement staff training and professional development? .......................... 8 Why implement training and professional development? .................................................................................. 8 What if I don’t want to implement a staff training and development program? ...................................... 9 As a business owner, how do you deal with the problem of training someone up and then losing them to the market? ........................................................................................................................................................... 11

Chapter 3: How to get value from your training investment .............................................. 13 How does a business truly get a return on its investment in training and professional development? ........................................................................................................................................................................ 13

Chapter 4: How to create training and professional development plans ............................ 18 As a business owner or manager, how do I go about identifying the training and professional development needs within the business? .................................................................................................................. 18 Why does each staff member need a Training and Professional Development Plan? ........................... 20 How do I create a Training and Professional Development Plan? ................................................................ 21

Chapter 5: Training and professional development options ............................................... 25 What types of practical training and professional development are available? .................................... 25 What training methods should I use? ......................................................................................................................... 26 Training from a RTO versus a non-‐RTO – what’s the difference? .................................................................. 27 What funding is available? .............................................................................................................................................. 28 Employing older workers – should I consider it? .................................................................................................. 29 What are your top 4 take-‐home messages on T&PD? ......................................................................................... 30

Disclaimer: The information contained in this eBook is general in nature and should not be taken as personal, professional advice. Readers should make their own inquiries and obtain independent advice before making any decisions or taking any action.



jpabusiness.com.au +61 2 6360 0360 3

Introduction Comments by James Price JPAbusiness Pty Ltd

When considering training and professional development (T&PD), it’s important business owners don’t think of it as simply ‘ticking a box’ for themselves and their staff.

To get the most out of your investment in T&PD it must be incorporated into your wider people management system, with ongoing involvement and agreement on outcomes from both the individual undergoing training, and their manager.

If all you do is tick the box on training then you will get a tax deduction, where the expense is legitimate, and you’ll move on, but you’ll miss a huge opportunity to increase your business’ value.

Think of all the resources that apply to a business:

• licences, accreditations and agreements; • technology and systems; • capital; • debt and equity; • machinery; • plant and equipment; • stock, and • human capital.

While technology advances can drive efficiency in plant and equipment, systems and so on, the resource that can drive the most efficiency, productivity and ingenuity and deliver a point of difference that can be valued by the market is our human capital.




Any mechanism that can enhance the capability of our human capital, such as training and professional development, has to be the most direct path to a sustainable business and strong business maintainable earnings (BME).

The benefits of investment in training and professional development can go straight to the bottom line.

Become a box ticker at your peril because, if that’s where you’re focused, you’re missing the point.

Meet our contributor

In this eBook we’re delighted to welcome guest contributor Rosy Sullivan.

Rosy is Principal of the Australian College of Professionals, a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) under the national vocational education and training regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority.

Rosy has been conducting adult education and training for the past 25 years, and has been Principal of the Australian College of Professionals since its establishment in 2003.

I’ve known Rosy for some time, as I was fortunate to be one her students when I studied for my business broking, stock and station, and real estate licence. Her college also provides qualification-based training in strata management, on-site management, buyers agents, accounting, financial planning, mortgage broking and business administration.

In this eBook Rosy and I are going to answer a number of training and professional development questions in a Q&A format.

Training and professional development is critical to building the resource capital of one’s business. It’s critical from a business owner’s perspective and also from an employee’s perspective.

That’s why we’ve called in the expert!



http://www.acop.edu.au/Rosy%20Sullivan%20Profile.html

http://www.acop.edu.au/index.html



Chapter 1: Training and professional development – what’s in it for my business? Comments by James Price and Rosy Sullivan

What is the difference between training and professional development?

ROSY:

There is a significant difference between training and development.

Training is an organisational effort aimed at helping employees acquire basic skills so they can efficiently carry out the functions for which they’ve been hired.

Development, on the other hand, deals with activities undertaken to help employees perform additional duties and assume positions of importance in the organisation’s hierarchy.

JAMES:

Training and professional development should be considered as two separate concepts, but they are on a continuum.

Training is about ensuring your complement of people (both internally and externally), including yourself as a manager or business owner, have the required skills and expertise to deliver to your current role or project requirements.




It’s about how proficient you and your team are to deliver the business’s expectations as they are today.

Professional development is a more long-term concept.

It requires you to ask:

• What’s my career track as a business owner, as a manager, as an employee?

• Where am I headed in one to five years? • Recognising the role I’m in now, what do I need to gain in terms of

professional qualifications, experience, education, additional capability and so on to get to the role that I’m aiming for on my career track?

What are the benefits of having trained people within your organisation?

ROSY:

The benefits of training and development to employees and organisations alike are numerous and include:

• Employees are provided with a work focus and empowered to maintain this focus.

• Productivity is increased, positively affecting the bottom line. • Employee confidence is built, keeping and developing key performers,

enabling team development and contributing to better team/organisation morale, job satisfaction and retention.

• Employees are provided with current and job-related information, which can result in better overall adherence to processes and delivery.

The very act of participating in planned learning experiences builds the knowledge and technical skills of individuals, which results in an overall raised level of business competence.

A very important side product of skills and knowledge-based training is that it helps to improve efficiency and can motivate employees to do well.




Development takes training to a higher level and helps individuals use their training to meet their own needs and ambitions.

It can also increase innovation, which brings new strength to strategies, products and an organisation’s capacity to adopt new technologies and methods and can put a business in a position to develop a competitive advantage.

T&PD also equips individuals with the skills they need to achieve their targeted role in the business.

Development of employees is of particular benefit when an organisation is going through significant changes, when employees may otherwise feel neglected and undervalued.

JAMES:

In today’s competitive environment many businesses, including those operating in the business services, construction and manufacturing sectors, need to maintain certain qualifications and accreditations. Professional development is a critical part of being able to show the maintenance of those.

For example, our firm is a business valuation and business advisory firm, and a licensed business broker. We have a requirement under our licence to maintain a certain number of professional development credit points each year to show that we are keeping up to date with common practices and standards.




Chapter 2: Why implement staff training and professional development? Comments by James Price and Rosy Sullivan

Why implement training and professional development?

ROSY:

An employer can implement training and development initiatives for a number of reasons:

• To maintain their position in the market. • Create a pool of readily available and adequate replacements for

personnel who may leave or move up in the organisation. • Enhance the organisation’s ability to adopt and use new technology. • Build a more efficient, effective and highly motivated team, in order to

enhance the organisation’s competitive position and meet business objectives and targets.

• Improve employee morale. • Test the operation of new systems.

Of course, training is only one answer.

Training is often viewed as the panacea for all problems that an organisation may face. This is not always the case.

Many problems can be fixed with better systems and improved management practices. Good policies and procedures go a long way in improving the practices within a business.

On many occasions however, training is the answer to problems a business might be facing. If employees are unable to complete a task because they simply don’t possess the appropriate skills and knowledge, then training in this area is the obvious answer.




Getting frustrated and angry with the employee is definitely not an option for best practice within any organisation. (See the JPAbusiness eBook – Managing Staff for High Performance)

JAMES:

Training and professional development are both critically important in managing people capital within a business.

Usually the businesses with higher value, as recognised by the market, are good at embracing these two concepts, because being ‘good’ at them goes to the bottom line in terms of business maintainable earnings.

What if I don’t want to implement a staff training and development program?

ROSY:

An organisation that doesn’t see the need to train its employees will suffer in terms of its success and the immense benefits that having trained employees bring to a business.

The more skilful and knowledgeable the employees are the more valuable they are and the happier they will be about working in an organisation that recognises the need for development and a career path.

No matter what happens in your life, your training, development and general education is one thing that can never be taken away from you – it’s about personal development and self worth.



http://www.jpabusiness.com.au/e-book/managing-staff-for-high-performance


JAMES:

If we decide we’ve learnt enough, then we haven’t learnt!

Our most successful clients are continually learning and expanding their knowledge on subject areas critically important to the opportunities and risks associated with their businesses.

Being open to training and professional development is a bit like being willing to ask the ‘dumb question’.

Most of us have an aversion to asking a dumb question, because we think we should probably already know the answer and don’t want to look stupid in front of other people or our peers. Rather than ask we’ll assume, or guess – and in so doing, we’ll miss out on an opportunity to learn.

Learning is about getting over that hurdle, it’s about being willing to ask the dumbest of questions to understand implicitly what’s driving a concept, how it works, why it works, how it impacts my business.

If you’re not willing to ask a ‘dumb question’, then you haven’t got the concept of training and professional development.

Embracing training and professional development means having a voracious appetite for learning things of relevance to your business.

The retail industry – what happens when you’re not willing to learn

The retail industry provides a great example of a large population of business owners who have chosen not to learn.

Yes, there are successful retail businesses operating today that are highly profitable – we know because some of them are our clients – but they’re in the minority.

In the last 10 to 15 years these successful retailers have set out to understand the impact of globalisation on product manufacture and sales opportunities, and also how digital online technologies have changed the shape of traditional retail.




By learning about and understanding these concepts the successful retailers are using them to their advantage.

The vast bulk, however, are playing catch-up because learning was either too hard, or they didn’t want to ask the ‘dumb questions’, or make the changes necessary to embrace the new opportunity.

As a business owner, how do you deal with the problem of training someone up and then losing them to the market?

JAMES:

I know a number of business owners who are very frustrated by their seeming inability to attract, develop and retain a solid team.

We've had numerous clients tell us stories to the effect of: “We’ve just trained Joe up. He was a good apprentice, he stayed with us two years, he just understood our processes and systems, and now he’s gone to a competitor. We just seem to be a breeding ground for others.”

This fear of losing trained staff members is a common barrier to implementing training, because business owners think: “Why bother training them – I’m just going to lose them anyway?”




When an employee decides to ‘get on the bus’ every morning and come to work for you, there are a range of factors that affect their decision. Some of these may include:

• remuneration; • work conditions; • outside influences like market pressures, for e.g. booms or busts in the

mining industry; • the organisation’s culture i.e. whether it is proactive and positive, or

punishing and negative; • personal situation; and • opportunities for training and professional development (T&PD).

If their decision relates to T&PD, chances are you’ll have more of a staff retention problem if you consider training as a box ticking exercise.

Box ticking means there is no context, no sell down, and limited appreciation of the value, both from the individual and the company, of the time invested by the individual in T&PD and the money spent by the company.

To get stickier staff in your company, don’t just tick the box.

Focus on T&PD as part of the broader people management processes, because we all know if we feel good and proficient in our roles, we’re more likely to keep doing them.

Further to that, if we have a view on where our career track is headed and how we might get there in terms of extra skills and capabilities, that’s an even bigger incentive to stay.

Sometimes that outlook changes, and sometimes individuals are best to leave an organisation in order to get broader experience. That’s just the market at work.

But if you have those two things lined up – the short-term feeling of proficiency and achievement, and the longer-term feeling of direction and something to aim for – you have the right ingredients for a more stable workforce and the potential for higher staff retention.




Chapter 3: How to get value from your training investment Comments by James Price and Rosy Sullivan

How does a business truly get a return on its investment in training and professional development?

ROSY:

Although training is a cost to a business, it’s also an investment because:

• it helps employers link individuals who have appropriate technical skills and business competencies with the roles they’re best able to do; and

• it ensures that as people move from one position to another within an organisation, they’re succeeded by the best possible replacement.

The second point is at the heart of succession management, and also impacts on the effectiveness of the business and ultimately its business value. (See the JPAbusiness eBook – Business Value Drivers)

By acquiring technical skills and business competencies, employees can plan their career path. This gives them responsibility for achieving their career ambitions and helps create future leaders of the organisation.

Such a planned career path for the employees also makes for a smoother running workplace for the employer, with reduced downtime in training individuals to fill vacant positions.



http://www.jpabusiness.com.au/e-book/business-value-drivers-e-book


In order to get value for your training and professional development dollar, employers need to plan their business. This will allow you to:

• identify the current needs of the business, in terms of employees and the functions they need to perform; and

• meet the future needs of the business, in terms of additional areas of business and career progression for staff in order to retain good employees.

Intellectual capital adds value

We live in an information age and organisations are valued not just on their physical assets, but on their intellectual capital. Knowledge and skills development is vital to a business’ success.

Training is one of the chief methods of maintaining and improving intellectual capital, so the quality of an organisation’s training affects its value.

Untrained or poorly trained employees cost significantly more to support than well-trained employees.

Training also affects employee retention and is a valuable commodity that, if viewed as an investment rather than an expense, can produce high returns.

JAMES:

There is a risk that training and professional development (T&PD) can be seen as a one-dimensional process, particularly training.

But, as a business owner, your investment in T&PD will only be truly realised when you treat it as a seamless part of your overall people management system.

Here’s an example:

John is not performing in his role as a customer service supervisor. He has trouble prioritising and managing his team and is sloppy in his paperwork. John’s supervisor decides to send him on a one-day prioritisation course run by a registered training organisation (RTO).




Three months down the track John has his performance review.

“How was the course?” the supervisor asks.

“Really good,” says John. “I got some course notes, met a lot of people, heard about some good concepts.”

“That’s good, but John, we’ve had a complaint from a customer. They’ve had a service inquiry logged with your customer services team for six weeks and they haven’t heard anything. Do you know about this?”

In other words, despite doing the one-day course, John’s behaviour and performance hasn’t improved. Training is not a silver bullet!

The problem is that John’s training course was not incorporated into the business’s people management system.

First, John and his supervisor should have agreed on what outcomes they wanted to see from the training, and what would be the areas of focus.

Second, John’s supervisor, who is responsible for managing his performance, needed to be focused on ensuring the training was assimilated into his role.

Here’s how it should have happened:

Before he attends the training course, John meets with his supervisor.

“John, let’s agree on some outcomes from this course,” says the supervisor. “This is what I see as the gaps in your skills and therefore your current performance. Do you agree you’re weak at X and Y?”

“Yes, I agree I’m weak at X, but I think I’m okay at Y,” says John, explaining his reasons for this belief.

“Okay,” says his supervisor. “I agree on that and now here are my expectations of what you will gain by attending the training course. I expect to see you gain proficiency in …blah blah (document this also). Do you agree?”

“Yes,” says John.

“Now John, I want you to come see me within a week of attending the course with a brief report on what you learnt, then we’ll discuss it.”




This exchange and the date for a future meeting means there is a ‘buy-in’, or commitment, not just from John, but also from the supervisor.

It’s not just an employee’s obligation to have the requisite skills to be proficient. It’s also their manager’s obligation to ensure they have every opportunity to get those skills.

By meeting with John before and after the course, the supervisor has bought in, or committed himself to the training plan.

Final step – the post-training debrief session:

“John, I see in your report what you’ve learned,” says the supervisor. “How about you try some of these concepts for the next month and in a month’s time we’ll sit down again and you can give me some specific examples of how you’re using what you’ve learned and we’ll have another discussion.”

This approach is allowing a one-day course to extend its value over a number of months.

The training light bulb moment

Training provides a ‘light bulb moment’ in some respects, but the real light bulb moment occurs when the training is successfully applied in the workplace and the individual feels really good about their newfound success.

If we feel good about achieving something, chances are we’re going to do it again. That’s how a business really gets a proper return on its investment in training.




Professional development for the long haul

Professional development is a very similar concept to training, but has a longer lead time.

Training is more tactical, based on an existing job, while professional development is about grooming someone for a future role and future capability. It’s a very rewarding journey but it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

As Rosy said, professional development is particularly valuable when it’s tied in to succession planning.

Smart organisations, at the board or management level, have succession plans that are documented with key positions and potential internal and/or external candidates to fill those positions over a one to five year period

Growing an internal candidate into one of those key positions can yield real dividends to the business, but it must be done in a way that is rigorous and objective.

That requires an investment of time and resources by the business, not just in the events of professional development, such as when the staff member attends a course or does an internship to gain experience, but in ensuring there is support for the staff member to apply what they’ve learned post-training.




Chapter 4: How to create training and professional development plans Comments by James Price and Rosy Sullivan

As a business owner or manager, how do I go about identifying the training and professional development needs within the business?

ROSY:

The training and development needs of staff are best identified through a formal performance management and evaluation system. (See the JPAbusiness eBook – Managing Staff for High Performance)

This type of performance management system provides benefits for both the employee and the employer.

General benefits include:

• Financial gains – overspending is less likely when outcomes are clearly linked to business objectives, as projects deemed not to meet the organisation’s goals are not undertaken.

• Improved productivity – incentive plans clearly linked to performance encourage over-achievement, not ‘business as usual’ outcomes.

• Open communication – individual performance is assessed and discussed and each employee’s goals outlined in line with the organisation’s needs.

• Clear accountabilities – results are transparent and individuals are aware of the results they need for success.

• Happy employees – employees understand how their role and results contribute to organisation’s overall goals.

• Goal alignment – professional development programs are closely aligned with the goals of an organisation.



http://www.jpabusiness.com.au/e-book/managing-staff-for-high-performance


A performance management and review system will identify knowledge and skill gaps for individual employees, showing where training and development is required.

This review process will also identify where already skilled employees need information to support their growth to gain more advanced skills and knowledge.

By using performance review as a training and development tool, an employer can assist their employees to develop a career path. This allows employees to manage and plan their own training and development.

By identifying the technical skills and business competencies required for each position, an employer is able to develop an accurate link between the requirements for each position and the necessary characteristics of the people to fill each of those positions.

Nationally ‘transportable’ skills

In Australia, we have a system of Vocational Education and Training (VET) that supports this link between identification of skills required for specific functions in an industry, with the training requirements for those functions clearly nominated on a national level.

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) have the authority to conduct training for specific industries.

Employers can work with RTOs to develop tailored training programs to best meet the needs of their employees. This training, if it is providing a qualification-based outcome, must be based on the skills and knowledge identified within the relevant training package.

This means the person trained for a specific function in one organisation will be able to transfer to another organisation, as their training will have a national transportability.




Why does each staff member need a Training and Professional Development Plan?

JAMES:

My view is that having a training or professional development plan is standard process and it’s all part of your performance management system.

Whether the staff member is casual, part-time or full-time, as long as they’re critically involved in your business, the question should be asked:

‘Are they proficient in all aspects of their roles and, if not, should training be provided to bring them up to speed?’

It may be that their training plan is simply ‘you don’t need to do anything because you’re proficient in all your areas of responsibility’. But the question is almost as important as the plan.

From a professional development point of view, you need to ask:

‘Are you comfortable in this role and/or do you see yourself progressing anywhere else within the business?’

The business may also have a view:

‘We really need someone in this role over here – what would you think about developing yourself into that role?’




How do I create a Training and Professional Development Plan?

JAMES:

First, download the free JPAbusiness Staff Training Plan and Professional Development Plan templates, which are available on our website. You can click on the images below or follow the links to find them.

http://www.jpabusiness.com.au/e-book/jpabusiness-staff-training-plan-template

http://www.jpabusiness.com.au/e-book/jpabusiness-professional-development-plan-template








For Training Plans I recommend you sit down with staff members once every 12 months, as part of their annual performance review process, and develop the plan jointly with the individual.

Professional Development Plans tend to be more for more senior roles, such as supervisor and up, although not exclusively.

I like to ensure that after the individual and their manager have signed off on a Professional Development Plan, the individual’s manager ‘once removed’ also reviews and signs off on the plan.

This is because professional development and career tracks are about the organisation as a whole, rather than just one particular part of the business, so it’s important to have a manager once removed with a broader understanding of the business’s objectives involved in this process.

Ultimately, these plans might be about succession planning for the organisation, so it’s important to ensure the proper weight is given to the development opportunity.

We’ve filled out a couple of example plans and included them on the following pages, to give you an idea of how our Training and Professional Development plan templates can be used in your business.



JPAbusiness Pty Ltd Phone: +61 2 6360 0360 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. ABN 62 150 534 099 www.jpabusiness.com.au To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Professional Development Plan Template Date: 1 October 2014

Name: Bernie Rogers Direct Report: Marvin Buck

Current Role: Electrical Engineer Career Track (1-3 years): Plant Manager of AIRCRAFT Pty Ltd in 3 years

PD objective in next 12 months: To gain experience in managing teams and also understand budgets, financial management and business planning concepts and drivers.

Staff member Date Manager Date

Manager Date (once removed)

Current strengths, weaknesses, issues and gaps in achieving career objective Actions needed to meet objective When

1. Strengths:Very well developed estimator and designer Strong industry networks Highly experienced with strong problem solving and technical expertise Personable and effective communicator

NA NA

2. Weaknesses:Limited people management experience No financial, budgeting and reporting experience

Appoint business mentor (internal person) to provide a sounding board on people management issues. Refine reporting lines to include line management responsibility of maintenance team (5 trade staff and their supervisor). Enrol in online (and assisted) business and financial management principles and basics course. Provide AIRCRAFT Pty Ltd’s finance manager as a tutorial buddy.

By 1 November 2014

By 1 January 2015

By 1 March 2015

3. Issues:Fly in fly out from Perth (office based in Sydney) Family time pressures – hard to extend hours for development outside normal job

Provide access to a graduate engineer for support and lower level tasks.

By 1 January 2015

4. Gaps:No formal management qualification

To be addressed based on progress with other actions above.

Monitor and revise by 30 June 2015


JPAbusiness Pty Ltd Phone: +61 2 6360 0360 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. ABN 62 150 534 099 www.jpabusiness.com.au To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Training Plan Template Date: 1 October 2014

Name: Mary Brown Direct Report: Joanne Smith

Role: Customer Service Team Supervisor Role Objective: To supervise the Sydney office customer service team and

ensure customer inquiries, issues and complaints are dealt with and resolved in a timely and professional manner according to ABC Pty Ltd’s standards.

Proficiency score: 6 = Highly proficient; 5 = Proficient; 4= Moderately proficient; 3 = Below requirements; 2 = Poor; 1 = Non-existent If the proficiency score is 3 or less for any role requirements then training should be considered.

Staff member Date Manager Date

Role requirements to be effective and meet expectations: Proficiency

score 1-6

Training Plan Details

What When

1. Supervise, coach and manage the performance of 15 customer service officers to ensure efficient and effective performance

5 No training required at this time. NA

2. Meeting service level requirements – issues andcomplaints resolved within 2 business days 4

No training required at this time. Continue to focus on service levels and performance. NA

3. Provide daily, weekly and monthly reporting oncomplaints and resolution 2

Attend report writing course and internal refresh on reporting expectations and using the internal reporting tools and system.

Within 30 days and monitor weekly until addressed

4. Prioritise team resources effectively to deliver tostandards 4 No training required at this time. Continually monitor. NA

5. Communicate effectively with the maintenance andwarranty department and finance department in an activeand helpful way to provide seamless service tocustomers

2

Conduct focus group with your Direct Report with internal clients to access their expectation and perception of current communication and service. Review. Attend interpersonal communication skills course.

By November 2014

6.



Chapter 5: Training and professional development options Comments by James Price and Rosy Sullivan

What types of practical training and professional development are available?

ROSY:

There is a vast array of training and development providers in Australia, ranging from registered providers to those who focus on single-issue professional development.

How to choose the right one is the minefield that businesses need to address.

In many industries, there is a regulatory requirement to undertake professional development on an annual basis.

Often, the regulatory bodies stipulate the topics that need to be addressed in the professional development. If this is the case, then a Registered Training Organisation authorised to conduct training in these regulatory areas will be the best provider.

However, if the need for training and development is in one specific skill or knowledge area, an industry expert with extensive experience in this area and the ability to impart this knowledge to an audience may be a positive alternative.

Word of mouth referral is often the best source of identifying the most appropriate training provider, but make sure that, as an employer, you’re making the decision not only based on price, but on positive outcomes for your employees and your organisation.




What training methods should I use?

ROSY:

There are various methods organisations can adopt in the training and development of their employees, depending on their needs, and also depending on the support they take from external training providers.

These methods include:

• role playing;• job rotation;• on-the-job training on-

site at the workplace;• vestibule training, where

employees are trainedoff their regular workareas but in anenvironment closelyresembling theirworkplace;

• classroom training;• conferences;• technical seminars;• instructor-led online training;• mentoring, where the skills gap to be bridged is substantial;• e-learning modules, which allow for employee independent learning

and exercises are repeatedly done to reinforce or refreshunderstanding of content, and

• embedded learning, which helps employees learn through modulesbuilt into products or equipment.




Training from a RTO versus a non-RTO – what’s the difference?

ROSY:

A Registered Training Organisation (RTO) is regulated by the national Vocational Education and Training (VET) regulator, the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) and as such must meet the standards required of all RTOs.

Meeting these standards means the training provided by an RTO addresses all the nominated skills, knowledge, performance criteria and critical aspects of assessment nominated for a particular area of competence.

The statements issued by an RTO to an individual who completes training through a RTO are nationally recognised and can be transferrable to other industries.

Training offered by an RTO can also be building towards the issue of a nationally recognised qualification.

Alternatively, training and development offered by non-RTOs can often be extremely valuable, as it is showcasing the experience and expertise of a specific industry specialist.

This can go further towards a higher level of professional development than simply a skills-based and qualification-focused training outcome.




What funding is available?

JAMES:

The Australian Government has created business.gov.au, an online government resource for the Australian business community.

The business.gov.au website is part of the Department of Industry’s new Single Business Service initiative, which has been designed to streamline the way businesses access industry information, grants and services.

To find information about skills and training funding go to:

http://www.business.gov.au/skills-and-training/pages/default.aspx

Other useful sites and pages are:

http://www.business.gov.au/skills-and-training/Pages/find-skills-funding-and-programmes.aspx

http://australianapprenticeships.gov.au/program/programs

Another great place to gain more information about government-funded training in NSW is at http://www.training.nsw.gov.au./

State Training Services outlines the types and availability of funding to individuals, as well as details about the changes that will be occurring with the new Smart and Skilled program that will be introduced in 2015.

NSW-specific information on apprenticeships and traineeships is available at:

https://www.training.nsw.gov.au/businesses/apprenticeships_traineeships/index.html



http://www.business.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.business.gov.au/skills-and-training/pages/default.aspx

http://www.business.gov.au/skills-and-training/Pages/find-skills-funding-and-programmes.aspx

http://www.australianapprenticeships.gov.au/program/programs

https://www.training.nsw.gov.au

https://www.training.nsw.gov.au/businesses/apprenticeships_traineeships/index.html


From our business’s perspective, we have had a positive experience with a number of professional training providers which we’ve listed below:

AIM (Australian Institute of Management)

TAFE Western

Australian College of Professionals

Among other programs, the Australian Government has incentives and information for employing mature age workers. You can find details at:

http://www.business.gov.au/business-topics/employing-people/diversity-in-the-workplace/Pages/employing-mature-aged-workers.aspx

Employing older workers – should I consider it?

ROSY:

The reluctance to employ mature workers is bordering on crisis. As of June 2013, there were 120,000 people aged over 50 who were out of work.

The participation rate – which defines those either in work or looking for work – for people aged between 60 and 64 was 54 per cent. That is more than 10 percentage points lower than the national average of 65 per cent.

The 2014 Federal Budget contained incentive payments for employers who hire over-50s, as the Government is seeking to effect a cultural change as part of its push to make people work longer.

Under this policy, employers will be paid $250 a fortnight for six months if they take on somebody aged 50 or over who is unemployed.

The incentive will be paid to the employer once the person has been employed for six months and be paid as fortnightly instalments over the subsequent six months, providing for a total payment of $3,250 per employer.



http://www.aim.com.au

http://www.wit.tafensw.edu.au


http://www.business.gov.au/business-topics/employing-people/diversity-in-the-workplace/Pages/employing-mature-aged-workers.aspx


JAMES:

Older workers often have a lot to offer: they tend to be mature, stable, they don’t necessarily have expectations of climbing the corporate ladder, instead they’re often just keen to provide their expertise and be part of a team.

However, as with all appointments a business owner needs to consider how an older worker will fit in their business culture and requirements.

Would someone aged 50 or over complement the up-and-comers, the Gen Ys and Gen Xs, or add complexity?

Do you have a particular issue in your team that an older team member might solve? For example, you may have a young and enthusiastic team but it lacks experience, or could do with a steadying influence.

Whoever you employ, they have to fit in with your culture and fit the role’s requirements.

What are your top 4 take-home messages on T&PD?

ROSY & JAMES:

1. People capital = business value 2. When it comes to training and professional development, don’t be a

box ticker. 3. Have a seamless, integrated training and development program for

your team. 4. If we decide we’ve learnt enough, then we haven’t learnt!



Training and Professional Development Advice for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses

Business

Transcript of Training and Professional Development Advice for Small to Mid-Sized Businesses