News and Views from the world of The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd

19/12/2007 - Now, let's get ready for the New Year - are you, is your business?

Once again, we have been telling ourselves for so long now that a recession is coming that guess what, financial belts are tightening.

So how are you going to continue to push yourself and your business forward in the New Year?

One thing that you should not do is stop developing your people. It is more important at times like these that your people should have all the skills that will permit flexibility in the workplace - a narrow skills base equals reduced flexibility of the workforce. A wider individual’s skill base equals a greater flexibility, greater ability to react faster to changing situations and happier staff.

The skills that your people have are like the edge of a kitchen knife. Anyone who has ever worked in a kitchen knows that a sharp blade is a safer blade and easier to use. However, over time, the blade becomes blunt with regular use and needs to be taken back to the stone for re-sharpening. People are no different. We constantly need to be retuned too.

It has often been said to us that "our people do the job so often that they can do it standing on their heads". The problem here is that without regularly checking and adjusting what they are doing, complacency creeps in.

Consider this competence model:

Source: Anon

In this model, we all start from a position of 'Unconscious incompetence' i.e. we don't know what we don’t know. Then our 'awareness' is raised, things are brought to our attention that we should know about, but as yet, we are not practiced in doing them so we reach the stage of 'Conscious incompetence'.

From there, we start to embark on our skills development and practicing our new skills until we are proved competent and then we have reached the stage of 'Conscious competence'. Over time, we do what we know and develop experience until we can do it blindfolded. This is the stage known as 'Unconscious competence'. This now means we are also entering the danger-zone. We can become complacent with what we know and do to the point that we take unnecessary risks and cut corners because of course, "we know what we are doing, don't we?"

This is where serious accidents and incidents happen.

Once we know what we should know and are consciously competent at doing it, we should never stop at refreshing. This is where good organisations and people recognise the need to hold regular meetings and refreshers to continue the 'safe and best practice' message.

So, are you planned for the New Year? Are you ready for an exciting or challenging 2008? There are many ways of delivering cost-effective skills and business development and we can show you some of them. As a City & Guilds and ILM accredited centre, we can provide both the underpinning knowledge and understanding and can take your people forward to recognised qualifications and verification of their competence.

On the 22^nd December 2007, this Saturday in fact, The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd will be 15 years old. Over this time, we have helped thousands and thousands of people to achieve recognition for their skills and competence. We have also been blessed with working with many clients of many different industry backgrounds, from Care to Chemicals; from Power Generation to Power Supply; from Food to Pharmaceuticals; from Engineering to Enlightenment (other training providers).

As one of the few centres in the UK recognised to offer Level 5 qualifications, we can support people and your business from top to bottom and in almost every nook and cranny of what you do.

Gill and I would like to say a "really big thank you" to all of you. From individuals, one man bands, small businesses to multi-national PLCs. To the people we have worked with across Europe to Malaysia and throughout the United Kingdom, we wish you all a very merry and healthy Christmas to you, your business, your staff and your families and may you all have a very exciting and prosperous New Year - Cheers!

Thanks all

Gill & Gary Payne

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Author: Gary Payne, The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd