Conflict and Psychology

The Underlying Relationship Between Conflict Modes and Psychological Types

by Ralph Kilmann, CEO and Senior Consultant at Kilmann Diagnostics

The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (also known as the TKI) assesses your tendency to use one or more of five modes of behavior—competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating—in a conflict situation. After taking the TKI assessment, most people become aware they’ve been using, out of habit, one or more of the modes too much—choosing to use one they are comfortable with when another might have resulted in more satisfying outcomes. At the same time, people usually discover they’ve also been using one or more modes too little, not realizing that an underutilized mode could have saved the day.

Since people naturally wonder if they overuse and underuse certain conflict modes because of their personality, organizational trainers and consultants continue to ask me about the relationship between the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (which measures personality preferences in assimilating information and making decisions) and the TKI (which assesses modes of behavior in conflict situations). Here is a research-based answer to that enduring question:

Many years ago (1975), I published a research study with Ken Thomas, wherein we correlated the MBTI with the TKI. We found that people who are extraverted are more likely to use collaborating, while people who are introverted are more inclined to use avoiding (as a statistically significant correlation, not as a one-to-one relationship). It seems that collaborating requires a little extra energy in interacting with others (sharing ideas and discussing concerns), while avoiding naturally involves an element of shyness or aloofness in an interpersonal situation.

In addition, we found that the thinking preference is related to competing, while the feeling function is related to accommodating (again, as a statistically significant correlation). Perhaps the thinking preference allows a person to keep an emotional distance from the other person: to pursue his own needs at the expense of the other. Meanwhile, the feeling person's empathy for the other person might compel her to satisfy the other's needs more than her own.

For decades, I’ve been making use of both assessment tools in training and consulting projects, so people can become more aware of their proclivities for using certain conflict modes too much and others too little -- based on their MBTI preferences. With that awareness, people can then consciously compensate with their conflict-handling behavior: For example, an introvert can knowingly put out some extra effort in order to engage another in a collaborative discussion (when the necessary conditions for collaborating are evident). Similarly, a person who prefers feeling can knowingly assert her needs (when competing is called for), when her natural tendency would be to automatically accommodate the other person’s needs.

For the original article that reported the correlations between the MBTI and the TKI, including a figure that visually summarizes their relationships, see:
http://kilmanndiagnostics.com/interpersonal.html

Please note: If you or your clients are interested in receiving advanced training for the TKI and conflict management, Kilmann Diagnostics offers an eight-hour, live, online course to do just that. You can get more information about our online course by visiting http://kilmanndiagnostics.com

UK HR Update

Another great HR update from Sandra Beale:

Managing a Disciplinary - Employer 5 top tips!

1. Ensure you undertake a thorough investigation leaving no stone unturned. Take comprehensive witness statements from all witnesses which are signed and dated. The investigator should be an independent manager.

2. Invite the employee to a disciplinary hearing giving plenty of notice and providing all written evidence against them. Provide the right to be accompanied.

3. Ensure the employee has adequate time to give their version of events at hearing. Adjourn to investigate new evidence if necessary and reconvene at a later date if appropriate. Ensure the process is documented by a note taker.

4. Ensure the decision from the hearing is appropriate. If in doubt do not dismiss!

5. Ensure the employee has the right to appeal and the hearing is chaired by an independent more senior manager.

Coalition document: Key implications for employers

Here are the key implications for employers from the new coalition document produced by the new liberal/conservative government:

Jobs and pensions
The government says it will scrap all existing welfare-to-work programmes and create a single welfare-to-work programme to help all unemployed people get back into work.

• It vows to ensure that Jobseekers' Allowance claimants facing the most significant barriers to work are referred to the new welfare-to-work programme immediately.
• The document outlines "support" for the national minimum wage, although there is no stated commitment to raising it.
• The government will commit to establishing an independent commission to review the long-term affordability of public sector pensions, while protecting accrued rights.
Retirement age
• The government will "phase out" the default retirement age of 65 and hold a review to set the date at which the state pension age starts to rise to 66, although it will not be sooner than 2016 for men and 2020 for women.
Immigration
• The two parties have agreed to the Conservative commitment to introduce an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK to live and work - despite the Liberal Democrats' strong opposition to the move. They will jointly consider the mechanism for implementing the limit.

Equality
This section has perhaps the clearest Liberal Democrat imprint, with the government vowing to promote equal pay and take a range of measures to end discrimination in the workplace, including:

• Extending the right to request flexible working to all employees, consulting with business on how best to do so
• Undertaking a fair pay review in the public sector to implement the proposed '20 times' pay multiple - ensuring that no public sector worker can earn over 20 times more than the lowest-paid person in their organisation
• Promoting gender equality on the boards of listed companies.
Legislation
• The document outlines the commitment to cutting red tape by introducing a 'one-in, one-out' rule whereby no new regulation is brought in without other regulation being cut by a greater amount.
• The government promises to review employment and workplace laws for employers and employees, to ensure they maximise flexibility for both parties while protecting fairness and providing the competitive environment required for enterprise to thrive.
• It also vows to reinstate an Operating and Financial Review to ensure that directors' social and environmental duties have to be covered in company reporting, and investigate further ways of improving corporate accountability and transparency.
• The coalition will seek to ensure an injection of private capital into Royal Mail, including opportunities for employee ownership, while retaining the Post Office in public ownership.

There are also plans to undertake a wholesale review of employment law in the UK. An area which the Conservative's have previously considered ripe for reform is employment tribunal system. Their pre-election policy paper contained a commitment "to ensure the system offers fast, cheap and accessible justice which is fair to all sides" and to address perceived inconsistencies in the tribunal system and deter weak claims.

The National Minimum Wage is to be retained, the Government acknowledging the protection it gives low-income workers and the incentives to work it provides. It remains to be seen whether and by how much the rate will increase or whether the age bandings will be retained.
Longer term goals likely to be introduced reasonably early in the life of this government are "family friendly" changes including an extension to the right to request flexible working to all employees, steps to encourage shared parenting from the earliest stages of pregnancy – including the promotion of a system of flexible parental leave and support for the provision of free nursery care for pre-school children.

ACAS – Free Guide to Managing Performance
ACAS has published a new free guide on managing performance including dealing with potential problems, see http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=2714&p=0

Free Occupational Health Advice
For free occupational health advice call the Health for Work Advice Line on 0800 0 7788 44. Run by the NHS this invaluable service can help employers get staff back to work quickly and fairly after sickness absence. Alternatively the service can help with disability issues and ill health terminations and retirements. For more details see http://www.health4work.nhs.uk/

The Fit Note – FREE HR Factsheet
Need to know more about the new fit note that replaced the old sick note from 6 April 2010? Sandra has prepared a comprehensive FREE fact sheet. This is available on her website on the useful hr articles page or you can email her for a copy.

Email: info@sjbealehrconsult.co.uk
www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk

Thanks Sandra!

UK HR Update

Equal Pay Considerations

According to research done by The Fawcett Society is the UK’s leading campaign for equality between women and men 85% of the public are in support of equal pay audits. Their website provides the following gruesome statistics:

• 30,000 women lose their jobs in the UK each year simply because they are pregnant
• Only 11% of FTSE 100 company directors are women
• Nearly 1 in 5 women who work in London earn less than the London Living Wage.
• Women in London earn 23% less than their male counterparts

Fewer than one in five (18%) of private companies measure their gender pay gaps, according to other research produced today by IPSOS Mori for CIPD/KPMG. Even in the public sector, where equal pay monitoring is a statutory requirement, the study finds only 43% complete audits, with many of these described as "ticking the bureaucratic box rather than as part of an underlying effort to advance gender equality. Under the provisions of the Equality Bill - due to be passed early next year - the government is considering forcing companies with more than 250 staff to report their gender pay gaps by 2013 if too few of them are doing it voluntarily.

Companies should investigate pay structures from the perspective of fairness and equality whether or not legislation is introduced. Leading businesses will examine their pay gaps not because of government, but because they understand the impact to their reputation and possible legal damage of not getting it right.
Companies who wish to gauge how vulnerable they are to an equal pay claim should ask the following:

1. Is equal pay a consideration in your company's HR policy?
2. Does your HR team understand the implications of current and future equal pay legislation?
3. Is equality of pay embedded in the recruitment, retention and engagement policies of your company, including monitoring starting salaries by gender?
4. Does your executive leadership understand and sponsor the concept and implications of equal pay?
5. Do your managers understand the concept and implications of equal pay?
6. Does your company have a job evaluation scheme?
7. Does your company believe that the job evaluation scheme can manage the issue of equal pay in your company?
8. Does your company provide guidelines to help managers in performance management discussions and in the allocation of pay increase and bonus awards?
9. If challenged, would your company be able to justify gaps in base pay and annual bonus between a male employee and a female employee who have the same role and responsibilities?
10. Does your company have a process to deal with an equal pay claim?

If the answer is no to any of these then an organization should take urgent action to address the issues or face the possible consequences of a lengthy and costly tribunal claim.

Rule Changes on Medical Reports Allows Employees’ Veto

Employers could find it harder to obtain independent medical assessments for employees with health problems following new guidance from the General Medical Council regarding confidentiality issues. The guidance, which took effect on 12 October 2009, places doctors under enhanced duties when acting as independent medical advisers preparing reports for employment purposes. The guidance, which applies to all doctors states that they must:

 be satisfied that the employee is fully informed of the purposes and likely results of disclosing a report to the employer;
 point out that relevant information cannot be concealed or withheld;
 disclose only facts that are relevant to the employer’s request;
 offer to show the employee any report on their condition before it is sent;
 obtain the employee’s written consent before passing on the report.

Those who have actually treated the employees concerned are also subject to the provisions of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988. While independent or occupational health doctors who haven’t treated the employees aren’t covered by this act, they can no longer supply medical reports to employers without following the above steps. The guidance has been designed to increase trust between doctors and patients, and to prevent the unnecessary disclosure of personal details. Under the previous rules, independent or occupational health doctors not involved in treating the employee concerned could give the employer a report without running it past the individual first. The guidance does not oblige employers to change how they seek medical opinions. It is now, however, even more important that employers set out clearly in writing the issues they are seeking advice on. Then doctors will have more clarity on the relevant information they need to provide. Employees, then, are more likely to consent,however, the introduction of a sign-off procedure means that employers could face delays in receiving reports, which could in turn prolong the absence management process.

The guidance does not give employees the right to amend reports, but it’s likely that most doctors will be willing to correct factual inaccuracies. It is less clear whether employees will ask doctors to alter reports in more subtle ways. Doctors have been advised that it is unacceptable to make changes under pressure from either employees or employers. If consent is withheld the report cannot be disclosed. This change may have unintended and unwelcome consequences for employers and employees. Employers disputing medical information received, for example, from GPs, may face difficulties obtaining independent medical opinions now employees can refuse disclosure. Organisations with limited medical information will be less able to implement reasonable adjustments and may be more likely to dismiss employees for ill health.
How to Manage a Re-structure – 5 top tips!

1. Identify the main objectives for your business re-structure and plan the most appropriate people structure to make your business more effective.
2. Identify which key skills you wish to retain in the new structure and ring-fence key individuals to particular posts; if they only have 70% of the skills required develop a skills development plan for each.
3. Recruit to the remaining posts either from within (first) and then outside the business.
4. Identify which individuals are not required within the new structure as they do not have the new skills required and set a redundancy management programme in place bearing in mind consultation and dismissal legal requirements.
5. Manage performance of the individuals in the new structure carefully and develop training and development plans as appropriate to ensure business success.

If you need support with a re-structure contact Sandra Beale on 07762 771290 or visit her website at http://www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk

Understanding Unconscious Bias

By Carolyn Sheppard

At a seminar I attended a short while ago (on the subject of Leadership During Challenging Times), all of the four speakers, from very different backgrounds, mentioned the issue of unconscious bias and the effects it has on leadership, followership and the organisation. Unconscious bias is the underlying, subconscious prejudices that every single person has, due to nature, nurture and experience.

As an illustration of this, one of the speakers (an eloquent and impressive French IT Director), recounted a particularly relevant story regarding her employment at a company in the US. She said that no matter how good her performance and results, she could never succeed because of the culture of the organisation. She struggled in the company for three years. The company talked a good ‘diversity and inclusion policy’, but the behaviour of the employees (right down to the woman who assumed that any other female in the organisation must also be a PA), set the culture based on their own unconscious biases. Changing the entire culture of a huge, Texas-based heavy industry company was not a task she desired to take on (and probably not an achievable one) so, with no sense of failure but a great deal more understanding, she moved on.

That’s the negative side of unconscious bias – acting out a bias that is discriminatory or prejudiced. But the positive side of unconscious bias is that it is a basic survival instinct. Our brains recognise situations or scenarios that get right down to the ‘flight or fight’ principle. However in these times, for most of us, there is much less need for these responses – there is not the physical danger that required us to develop these instincts. We can transfer them from physical to verbal or even intellectual responses – but your brain is still crying out for a reaction of some kind. Our biases are there for a reason, your brain has learned to react in a certain way because of an experience or learned behaviour (eg prejudice demonstrated by parents, culture or other external influences).

Your experience may include, for example, knowing an extremely argumentative red headed person (whatever example I use, it will demonstrate a bias!). You automatically, therefore, are on your guard when you talk to any red head, no matter what their personality.

Unfortunately instinct is not discriminatory – and it takes a lot of training to overcome those gut reactions (take for example being a fire-fighter – deliberately moving towards a threat that you would naturally wish to flee).

Can you train the bias out of an individual? The answer is probably no, you can’t easily ‘undo’ the conditioning or personal preferences of an individual, but you can educate them to recognise unconscious bias in themselves and in others, and to consider the consequences of their actions and reactions in the context of their bias. By making individuals and teams aware of the biases that operate personally and in their culture or organisation, they can make a tangible difference in changing behaviour (if not beliefs) and increasing the opportunities for diversity and inclusion. As a result the organisation can tap into the broad range of talent that may be within their reach that they otherwise may have ignored.

A good example of this is the ‘selling more toothpaste’ story. Instead of just sitting in the boardroom wondering how they could sell more toothpaste, the MD asked everyone in the factory what ideas they had. One shop floor worker put his hand up and said ‘make the hole bigger’. There was the answer they needed – and it wasn’t in the marketing team or in product research. It was right there on the shop floor. This story is many years old, from a time when there were far more class distinctions in society and in the workplace. By disregarding their bias (which was perhaps not so unconscious then, admittedly), the owners of that toothpaste factory achieved a very positive result and sold more.

When you are next in a training room – look around at the people you are with. What unconscious biases have you already applied just in looking at those people? What assumptions have you made about the place you are in, the behaviour of others, the likely outcome of the day? Whether you are a delegate or a trainer – consider those unconscious biases you hold that will be positive or negative be aware how they could affect your behaviour and the results you will get.

Resources:

On-line Implicit Association Testing: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Training on unconscious bias: www.angela-peacock.com/unconsciousbias.html

Time Termites

The Top 10 Time Termites and How to Exterminate Them - by Anne Alexander

Did you know that “time termites” eat up as much as 25 – 50% of your time? It’s true, and in this article I’ll discuss what a time termite is, as well as what the top 10 time termites are, and - most importantly! – how you can exterminate them and take back a huge amount of your time and your life.

Time termites are activities and people that “eat up” your time and destroy the beautiful design of your life. In my Time Architect™ model of time management, we design a life that is grounded solidly in the four cornerstones – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. We protect these areas by understanding and applying the storm proofing principles.

Just like you design your home to withstand intruders (such as termites), you must design your life to strongly protect against the situations and people that will run right over you and eat up your life - if you let them.

Let’s look at the top ten time termites, based on my unscientific experience with hundreds of clients.

1. Wasting time on trivial items – computer games, gossip, etc.
2. Waiting around to talk with the boss or manager
3. Meetings without a good agenda and/or good facilitation
4. Too many unnecessary reports to write
5. Problems in locating documents or other needed items
6. Answering unimportant phone calls & email
7. People with a negative attitude - complainers and whiners
8. Inability to say "No." That is, saying "Yes" to too many people
9. Interruptions
10. Add your own: What’s your biggest time termite?

Time termites vary depending on whether you work in a huge Fortune 500 type business, or a small company or organization, or are a solo entrepreneur, but these are a representation of what steals most people’s time.

As a business and executive coach I work with hundreds of high achieving business owners and professionals. In my experience, only a very energetic, intelligent and vigilant approach will work to protect your time.

Extermination tactics:

1. Values & vision: Get crystal clear on your personal values and vision. You must know what matters most to you and where you are going in order to be able to make choices that support the best use of your time.

2. Planning: When you create annual, monthly, weekly and daily goals, plan with your values and vision clearly in mind. This way, you will focus in on your highest value activities.

3. Systems: Get good systems in place. Be able to find immediately any information or tools you need in your business or organization. These systems are highly individual. Feel free to contact me for information on resources to help you get organized.

4. Boundaries: Erect strong barriers around yourself – you can think of this as a sturdy fence with an electronic gate around your house (and life) that only grants access to those people and activities that fit in with your priorities. This is a challenge to anyone who likes to think of themselves as a “nice person,” which is many of us. It takes some practice to regroove our neural pathways to hold a new belief that having boundaries is not only OK, but downright healthy. (For more on strong boundaries, email me for an article that goes into more depth on that topic.)

So get crystal clear on your values and vision, create a good plan, install excellent systems, and erect strong boundaries. When you implement just one of these suggestions each month, in a year you will have 12 awesome new habits that will help you take back 25-50% of your time…and your life. Congratulations: your time termites will have been exterminated.

Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com/

Latest UK HR and Government Update

Taxes, returns & payroll
The Companies Act 2006 is changing the law for companies. Passed in 2006, the Act reaches the final stage of implementation on 1 October 2009. More information here

Directors' addresses: all companies will need to provide a service address for every director in their register of directors and keep a record of their directors' residential addresses separate from their register of directors.

Company and business names: measures will be introduced to enable the public to easily find a business name and prevent business names being misleading.

Memorandums and articles of association: where a business incorporates on or after 1 October 2009, it will be able to use - if it so chooses - model memorandum and articles of association. Check the Companies House website, for updates/templates.

Company particulars in correspondence: a company will have to include its name in all forms of business documentation, including electronic documents.

Place for keeping key company records: every company will be able to have a single alternative inspection location (SAIL) as an alternative to its registered office, at which it must make its key records available for public inspection. This site will have to be in the same part of the UK as its registered office. Companies will have to notify Companies House of their SAIL, the records they keep there and of any change in their SAIL's address.

Inspection of company records: a person wishing to inspect a private company's records will have to give advance notice of the date and time they wish to carry out the inspection. In addition, companies will not be able to prevent the person from copying all or part of a record they are entitled to inspect.

Providing copies of company records: if a person requests a hard copy of a company record, the company must provide a hard copy even if the record is held electronically. If a person requests an electronic copy, the company must do so if the record is held electronically.

Notification of particulars of share capital: in an application for a new company, the particular of share capital will be included in a new 'statement of capital', rather than being included in the memorandum. Any changes in capital will be notified to Companies House through a new statement of capital.

Reduction of share capital: as an alternative to the current process requiring court approval, private companies will be able to choose to reduce their capital by special resolution, supported by a solvency statement by each of the directors.

Overseas companies with a business establishment in the UK: there will be a single regime for the registration by overseas companies of the particulars of their UK establishments. There will also be a new regime for the registration of charges over property in the UK created by such companies.

Merger of Companies Registry in Northern Ireland with Companies House: there will be a single register of companies for the entire UK. As a result, companies incorporated in Northern Ireland wishing to establish a place of business elsewhere in the UK will no longer have to register as an overseas company. See our regulation update on the merger of Great Britain and Northern Ireland company registers.

Record-keeping requirements for limited liability partnerships (LLPs): new record-keeping requirements will be introduced for LLPs.

The above outlines key changes for the final implementation of the Companies Act 2006. Find detailed information about Companies Act changes on the Companies House website

Regulation of community interest companies (CICs): new provisions will enable a CIC to convert to the asset-locked form of a community benefit society and a Scottish charity to convert to a CIC. In addition, requirements relating to the appointment and removal of directors, alternate directors and casting votes will be removed and a reasonable-persons test will be added to the community aspect section of the community interest test.

Formation of limited partnerships: on registration, Companies House will officially confirm that a limited partnership has been formed. Limited partnerships will also have to include in their name an indication of their legal status.

Employing people
The national minimum wage (NMW): the NMW for eligible workers will increase. It will rise to £5.80 an hour for workers aged 22 and above and to £4.83 an hour to workers aged 18-21. The rate for those under 18 but above compulsory school age rises to £3.57 an hour. See our regulation update on the increase in the national minimum wage rate.

Tips, service charges, etc and the NMW: bars, restaurants, hotels, etc will no longer be able to count service charges, tips, gratuities and cover charges paid to a worker through the employer's payroll as part of the NMW.

Redundancy payments and certain employment tribunal awards: the limit on a week's pay for calculating statutory redundancy payments, and tribunal awards that use a week's pay as the basis for calculation, will increase from £350 to £380.

Source: (C) Businesslink

Top Sales Producers - Inside out!

by Ken Buist

Recruiting sales professionals with the appropriate raw material to rapidly and consistently become top producers for your company is even more essential within the current economic climate. Our research study suggests it is now possible to predict more accurately who these top producers are likely to be.

Up until now the main research carried out on potential top producers has tended to focus on behaviour. It was important that sales professionals performed to a high standard at interview. They had to look and sound good as well as be able to communicate with influence, all observable behaviour.

For predicting behaviour, there is the individual’s CV (past behaviour being a predictor of future behaviour) as well as a temperament analysis (temperament being the biggest single influencer of behaviour).

How Would You Define Top Producers?

Over the years clients have asked us to define potential top producers based on temperament analysis. We have always resisted coming up with an ‘ideal’ because our experience is that top producers come in a variety of ‘shapes’ with regard to temperament.

What happens on the inside?

The purpose of this new study was to find out:
a) Is there a particular temperament ‘shape’ associated with top producers?
b) What influence do values (hidden motivators) have on the performance of top producers?

The results indicate that what drives top producers on the inside is consistent, whilst the behaviours displayed on the outside are variable and useful but are probably less crucial when it comes to identifying top producers.

Study Details

Top producers from the sales forces of 39 companies were given a dual assessment to measure Temperament (behaviour – the HOW) & Values (motivators – the WHY). The temperament dimension was based on the highly internationally validated DISC model. The results below show that the top producers were spread across at least 5 major and 3 minor ‘shapes’ of behaviour.

Values were measured and based on the Workplace Motivators model which looks at 6 values. The results shown below were conclusive; 72% of top producers had ‘Utilitarian’ as their number one value and in every case were considerably above the average.

Conclusions

Top sales producers are spread across a variety of behavioural dimensions. However when it comes to what drives these behaviours, a Utilitarian value can be found in almost ¾ of top sales producers, confirming that the drivers which are on the inside is at least as important as looking good and sounding good.

Would you like to try out one of the assessments? We are allowing (for a limited period only), Complete Trainer contacts to access this superb tool for free: www.thetrustedadviser.com/new-assessment-ct

We love the tools that Ken at The Trusted Advisor has shown us - we think you will too.

UK HR Update

by Sandra Beale

Largest ever fine for data protection breach
The Financial Services Authority has fined the bank, HSBC, £3.2 million, the largest fine ever, for losing the personal details of thousands of customers. The FSA considered that HSBC had failed to put in place adequate systems and controls to protect customers' details from loss or theft. For example, unencrypted disks containing extensive personal details of policy holders had been sent by normal post and were lost. The FSA also criticised HSBC for being careless with customers' confidential information, leaving it on open shelves and disposing of it in regular waste collections. Given the increasing awareness of the issues around keeping personal data safe, all organisations, not just those regulated by the FSA, need to ensure they are doing everything they can to prevent the misuse of confidential and personal information this includes implementation of appropriate policies and training.

Health & Safety Executive’s Health & Safety Guides Offered Free of Charge
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to scrap charges on 250 of its online health and safety guides from September in a bid to make workplaces safer. The comprehensive guides can be downloaded as PDFs from the HSE website

Growth in Young People’s Unemployment
Unemployment statistics show that one in three young people aged 16-18 are unemployed according to recently published figures. With one million young people aged 16-24 unemployed a whole generation of school leavers and university graduates who faced the prospect of no job for months to come. It does not bode well for this year's school leavers seeking their first ever job - they are not included in these latest figures published by the Office of National Statistics. Youth unemployment now costs the state £3.4 million per day in Jobseeker's Allowance. It can be just the start of a long and downward spiral, which all too often leads to crime, homelessness or worse. Only by stopping young people fall out of the system can lost potential be rescued and save the economy billions each year. Youth unemployment is a serious waste of talent which has to be bad for our future workforce and our current economy.

Lord Mandelson, has said the Government was encouraging businesses to offer greater work experience and internships to help youth unemployment. Businesses on the other hand are stating that schools, universities and the government are not doing enough to support new graduates’ entry into employment. Given that so few government schemes to get the young back into work seem to be effective, something has to be done, but it is difficult to say what.

With the wealth of young people applying for every vacancy it is difficult to recruit the best people and it is those with work experience who will fare better.

Strategies undertaken by some UK-based companies include maintaining student recruitment levels, opening a summer academy for first year undergraduates, implementing an online employability skills clinic, skills seminars and career showcases at schools (Pricewaterhouse Coopers) and recruiting trainees direct from school, offering internships and summer work experience placements (Grant Thornton).

The Forum of Private Business is encouraging small firms to implement apprenticeship schemes, internships and work experience programmes to help "creative and driven" young recruits learn what employers need from their staff. The members of this forum value young people who can bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the workplace and have said it is important that young people leave school, college of university with the skills and confidence they need to enter their first job and do well.

The government is keen to promote internships for students as part of a sandwich degree or a vacation placement. For unemployed graduates internships will be offered through the newly launched Graduate Talent Pool website (www.graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk) whereby SMEs can gain access to good talent. The aim is to match employers with the skills required for their business. As traditionally SMEs have not tapped into the graduate market this is a promising development. The average weekly wage offered as part of an internship is £300pw. With an internship young people can have access to valuable work experience so that when starting a jobsearch they have something to offer an employer.

Companies need to seriously consider investing in apprentices to build up the vocational skills of young people. Despite active government promotion, this is sadly a missed opportunity for many companies who view the investment as a cost too huge to bear. An apprentice need only cost £90 per week with government funding for training provided by Train to Gain. An apprentice is a low cost employee option with the chance to build skills for the future for long term company development.

Recruitment of young people can be difficult when many don’t have the demonstrable work experience that demonstrates capability. However, by being encouraged to gain skills, not just through paid work-related activities, but, for example, through volunteering, charity work, sport and relevant hobbies, young people can enhance their CV’s dramatically showing potential employers what they can offer.

Investing in young people could be the key to many companies being ably equipped in terms of skills to meet the economy upsurge head on when it eventually happens. In any case, they are the work force of the future.

Employment of Children
If you employ children and need guidance on working time and health and safety issues, etc the Department for Children Schools and Family has produced an excellent guide on employing children. If you would like a copy please email info@sjbealehrconsult.co.uk and they will send you the free guide.

Northants Business Expo 2009 – 18 November
See http://www.northantsbusinessexpo.co.uk/ - SJ Beale HR Consult is organising a business expo in Northampton incorporating a business exhibition, a networking lunch, speed networking session and free business seminars.

Newsletters - do they work?

The art of clear and interesting communication is important and it's wonderful to receive good, concise and relevant newsletters that provide a real benefit, even if it's just a smile or a useful web link.

I find writing newsletters hard - I need to announce products, direct people to links on my site or the blog and share information. Making it relevant to my audience is sometimes difficult when I have such a fantastic wide range of people that I connect with. But before you go down the 'segment the market' route, don't worry, I do.

Something I liked

Back to newsletters - today I received a newsletter that started with:

You are a 100% Verified Member of this mailing list. To stop receiving this newsletter, Ordinary Brilliance, please visit the end of this email.

Hello Carolyn,

Your one-minute-to-read issue of Ordinary Brilliance is here. Take just one minute to read it now.

And then the main body of the newsletter focused on just one key customer service issue. It did take a couple of minutes to read (not one, maybe I'm a slow reader) - but it was relevant, carried a good business message and had an interesting and tempting offer at the end. The message hit the right spot for me. It also helped that I knew who the newsletter was from.

How do you do it?

Clear communication - stating what you mean right up front, asking for engagement and being clear about why you are contacting someone - is crucial. I think I've a lot to learn from Anne Alexander's approach (check out her guest blog entry on Dealing with Problem Employees).

I also receive some really fancy emails with lots of graphics and some in simple plain text. The key to getting me to read them is content - and sometimes I completely miss it.

There's a lot to having really gripping opening copy (and not just for newsletters) but stating who you are and what you expect right up front is not a bad tactic. I wonder how many golden nuggets I've missed just because the complex graphics that take too long to download or some fussy intro turns me off before I get to the really good content?

But do newsletters actually work? If you do them properly, then yes. There's lots of guides out there on the web to writing a good newsletter - I quite liked this one: http://www.webmarketcentral.com/effective_email_newsletters.htm.

Unsubscribe
The most important thing to remember (and Anne puts it right at the top of her newsletters) is the Unsubscribe option. Not only is it a legal requirement in many countries, but you are empowering your audience. Every unsubscribe I get I always acknowledge politely and expedite as quickly as I can - just because they don't want my newsletter doesn't mean they won't ever visit my site again. A useful feedback tool is to have a 'please tell us why you unsubscribed' if your system can manage it, but only if it doesn't mean too many hoops for your audience to jump through.

Hopefully people who register for my newsletter (easy to do, visit the site and fill in the box on the right or drop me a note via the contact page) are familiar with the style and content of my newsletters. Yes, they include product announcements but I do make sure I have some interesting articles and don't just 'sell sell sell'.

(C) Carolyn Sheppard 2009

This article may be reproduced with permission.

Dealing with problem employees

Turnaround or Terminate?
How to Deal with "Problem" Employees

Do you struggle with a "problem" employee? If so, join the crowd! Many of my coaching clients - businesses owners or managers - tear their hair out over one or more toxic employees. In our business environment, we tend to recreate the dynamics of the family we grew up, so no wonder problems develop.

It's amazing often a business owner or manager will endure a "problem" employee, unable to help the employee make positive changes and unable to fire them when necessary. Tolerating a problem employee is like walking around with a sliver in your foot - highly irritating, but you can kind of get used to it. Then, when you finally pull it out, you can't believe the relief! That relief generally comes in one of two ways: either you and your employee are able to make some mutual improvements, or you part ways.

I recommend a two step approach to this issue. First, you do whatever can be done to turn the situation around. Very often, you may have made a few half-hearted attempts to resolve the situation, but feel lost at sea about what else can be done. You must address the issues directly, calmly and clearly with the employee. Expectations must be set, problems and solutions explored. Check in regularly with the employee to monitor progress.

On a more powerful level, the turnaround can result when you learn your own and your employee's behavioral style. I like to use the Platinum Rule assessment, developed by Dr. Tony Alessandra. It's inexpensive ($30 - $50), easy to understand and extremely powerful in helping us understand our own and others' behavior. Your style and this employee's style probably differ. (For more information on the Platinum Rule, visit: www.authentic-alternatives.com/platinumrule.htm )

The Golden Rule advises you to treat others as you would like to be treated. The Platinum Rule advances this to the next level and suggests that you treat others as you would like to be treated. Your "problem" employee may be - and probably is - a different style than you. The Platinum Rule shows us four core behavioral styles (Relater, Socializer, Thinker and Director) and gives us many concrete tactics of how we can flex to meet the other person's style. I have seen near miracles occur - the proverbial light bulbs go off - when my clients use this assessment to better understand themselves and their employees and co-workers.

The second step of the two-step approach: suppose you've fully implemented the first step (turnaround) and the situation remains unacceptable. Now it's firing time, and because I bet you care about other people, you know that it's one of the most unwanted and difficult tasks an owner or manager faces. I encourage my clients to remember that a business or organization cannot afford to carry an unproductive and toxic employee. An employee person unwilling or unable to make the necessary improvements must be sent to find an employment situation that fits them better. This does not make you an evil or uncompassionate human being.

So pull out "the sliver" and create a positive, unstoppable team. The number one key to professional success is the quality of the people you surround yourself with - employees, colleagues, spouse, friends. Life speeds by, so remove the rocks from your river and let it flow forward, full force. If you can't turn around a problem employee, you must let them go. It's not your fault and if you want your business to flourish, and you will at times find you have to terminate.

Anne Alexander provides authentic (real) alternatives (choices) to business owners and helps them stop spinning their wheels and move forward with substantial, profitable business growth, personal satisfaction and bottom line control. To receive Anne's free 49 page report, 3 Master Marketing Strategies That Will Dramatically Multiply Your Sales & Profits, send a blank email to business100@aweber.com or visit http://www.authentic-alternatives.com

New book release

I am as excited as a labarador in a field of bluebells!* For the past few months I've been working with coach, trainer and - most importantly - author, Alison Hardingham. Alison is an amazingly talented and experienced L&D professional with affiliations with some rather 'special' organisations and her reputation is tremendous (search her name on the internet, you'll see what I mean).

Some years back she wrote 'Psychology for Trainers' for the CIPD as part of their Trainers Toolkit series. It's now out of print with the CIPD, but with their permission, Alison is now re-releasing the book through The Complete Trainer Ltd.

We have updated and revised the book and it is now in ebook format. We are delighted to announce that the book is being published on 10th September 2009 and will be for sale via the Complete Trainer website.

Why am I so excited about THIS book? Well, not only is it the first book that we have actually published (under our own name, and with our own ISBNs), but when I was editing and formatting, I couldn't help but be drawn into the book - I learned so much and (as I am not shy to admit) I am not even a trainer! I love the opening - 'Trainers need psychology like a fish needs a bicylce. True or false?' and the way Alison leads you into each subject with clear examples, great references and in such an easy to read style.

But don't take my word for it:

"It's rare to come across a book that that provides practical ideas founded on intellectual rigour...Psychology for Trainers is such a book.

It provides insights into the psychology that effects every aspect of training, with illustrations that can be immediately applied without over complicating the message. A book that every trainer should read."

Brian Fitzgerald HR Director : Group Talent Management
ATKINS
The official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

That is what I call high praise indeed!

Well, mosey on over to the website, take a look, and if you are interested in writing a review for us, please let me know, we are looking for some appropriate individuals to send out preview copies to for review purposes.

*If you'd really like to know why I've posted the picture of Jasper the dog here, you have to read the book!

Behavioural Analysis

Trainingzone have published Carolyn's article on Behavioural profiling. Visit or you can read more here:

For the last four years I have regularly used DISC profiles which give you a snapshot of your ‘behaviours’ in a work environment. DISC is an acronym:

D = Dominance-Challenge: How you respond to problems or challenges.
I = Influence-Contacts – How you influence others to your point of view.
S = Steadiness-Consistency – How you respond to the pace of the environment.
C = Compliance-Constraints – How you respond to rules and procedures set by others.

The concept of DISC profiling is based on the work of Dr. William Moulton Marston who, in 1928, published ‘The Emotions of Normal People’. This book described the theory which is applied to nearly all the versions of DISC profiling available today. The profile is a behavioral assessment designed to accurately measure the four dimensions of normal behavior.

A few years back I completed a Level 3 ILM management qualification and I chose Communications as my main project. For this I mapped all the preferences for the office staff using their DISC profiles and created a ‘how best to communicate with xx’ chart. It was used for many years, indicating communication preferences and styles. It was a very simple and effective way to implement the results of our profiles and use them practically. Nothing more personal than communication preference was shared.

DISC profiles were used for recruitment and appraisal and with clients. The reports, which are created by answering very simple ‘most like’ and ‘least like’ questions, give a comprehensive summary of behavioural preferences. They are used by line managers, trainers, HR, recruitment and outplacement consultants.

The value of using these profiling tools is not just in ‘input and output’ – you put in your answers and get your report – but what happens next. Many people will be open minded enough to accept the validity of the report, feel happy to internally challenge areas which they do not feel accurately match their perceptions, and even perhaps accept the areas which may indicate a need for self-improvement.

I recently took a different profile from the one I’d done for the last four years – this one was from The Trusted Adviser and followed a similar DISC format so it was not unfamiliar. The resulting report, however, was superior to those I’d taken before. The depth of information was far greater – the profile included more aspects and gave a greater analysis of my behaviours and preferences. Though every assessment is affected by variables (hence taking them annually), this one was definitely the most accurate I had ever taken.

Most importantly the language it used was more accessible – though probably still generated by an American English language programme, the terms and language used were easier to understand and I found much less to challenge than in previous reports. My next stage, importantly, is to go through the report with my coach.

The real power and value of behavioural assessments is how they are used to develop individual performance. The ideal scenario is that the report is not just given directly to the respondent but is reviewed by an appropriately qualified coach or manager who can then spend time going through the report with the individual and build a positive action plan.

There are many ways in which assessments can be applied:

Recruitment: does the report reflect the right personality for the role they are being considered for?

Job hunting: the report may produce some excellent wording and highlight skills and strengths that the respondent can use in their CV or job applications

Appraisal: the line manager and respondent can work together (both may have their profiles completed) and improve working process and performance

Team building: pick members of a team who have the right mix of skills or who you know will work best together

In fact behaviour assessments can be used in many ways, for leadership development, trouble shooting, team development, sales skills, benchmarking; with the right training and understanding of the psychology behind how these reports are generated, they can become an extremely powerful tool for trainers, managers and the individual respondents.

Finally, the most important question - do they work? From personal experience, yes; impartially, one assessor I know performs over one million assessments per year – that’s just one provider! I think the proof is in the pudding, as they say.

Carolyn Sheppard is director of The Complete Trainer, a training resources ecommerce company. She has been in marketing for over 30 years and directly in learning and development for over five years.

Disability – Is it a problem for your company?

By Susan Patrick

For many companies, it is a real problem when they have to deal with disabled people, but it doesn’t have to be.

Knowing how to approach people who are disabled, irrespective of their disability, may be the start of a “beautiful” love affair, because if the service offered is right, disabled people (and those who are non-disabled) will return again and again to buy your products, services, goods, and/or use your facilities.

Service in this day and age is extremely important if you want to increase your bottom line (or even maintain it)! People want to be treated as if they are your one and only customer and that you and your staff are there for them and them alone. Staff training is where it starts. If you don’t spend sufficient time with your staff, either when they are inducted or with continuing or ongoing training, standards slip. Once they slip below an acceptable standard, you will lose customers. Training of staff in how to handle disabled people is extremely important. Get it right for them and you will get it right for others. For instance, if someone were to come into your premises that had a large strawberry birthmark on their face or someone like Simon Weston who was seriously burnt during the Falklands War, the normal reaction by someone when they first see that person is to drop their jaw! What you should try to do is to control your own natural reaction, look them in the eye, and smile a warm welcoming smile. This will immediately help to put the individual at ease and they will be less likely to feel embarrassed at the way they look.

Another example is when you first meet someone who is deaf or hard of hearing, the natural reaction is to shout. How many of you have done that in the past? Be honest. I would think that everyone has done that at one time or another – but these people are not stupid, they haven’t lost their marbles, they just have a disability that may cause communication barriers if not treated in the right way. If you face them so that any light falls on your face (even if you can’t sign – and it may not be their first language) they will have the opportunity to lip read. They may also have a companion with them who does sign, so again don’t block that person however inadvertently, from being seen by the person who is deaf.

I could go on further and in more detail, but I recommend you read my newsletters each month. Go to my website http://www.smpconsultancy.com/ and sign up to the newsletters - whilst you are there have a look round the site. I hope you will find it interesting.

Susan Pattrick
Director SMP Consultancy Ltd

Redundancy and Equality

by Sandra Beale

This year's Budget announcement raised the limit on weekly pay for statutory redundancy pay purposes from £350 to £380. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) is saying that the change will be effective from 1st October 2009. However, there is yet to be official confirmation of this date and whether it also includes an identical increase to the statutory basic award. For those employers planning large-scale redundancies, the timing of this change is a factor to be taken into account.

All well and good cutting employee numbers to reduce costs, but employers must still pay attention to those left behind, as these employees could struggle to cope with new workloads. Levels of stress tend to rise among survivors post-redundancy, as well as levels of anxiety. Not only do these employees worry that they are the next to go, but there is also the added workload because the level of work has not dropped and the number of people has.

The increased pressure on survivors can have a direct impact on the amount of hours staff spend in the workplace, and often serves only to fuel a 'long hours culture' where even though employees spend more time in the workplace, their productivity levels drop due to tiredness and stress.

Increasingly, people are becoming workaholics, work is their life and relationships with family and friends away from work fall apart. Such an environment is far from ideal for organisations trying to weather the economic storm; and to resist productivity and motivation levels dropping among remaining workers. Those who are left behind need to be managed efficiently, and so too are the hours they are allocated to work.

It is really valuable to ensure that staff are fully briefed on the progress of the company, so good communication from top to bottom is crucial to keep employees' stress and anxiety levels to a minimum. It is the not knowing what is going to happen next which impacts on stress levels.
Top tips: Supporting redundancy survivors

√ If making redundancies, employers should pay careful attention to staff members who are left behind, as an increased workload can cause stress, anxiety and lead to a 'long hours culture'.

√ The 'long hours culture' should be easy to identify as employees will be anxious that they are soon to lose their job and will put in the extra hours to complete tasks. However, tiredness and stress often sets in, and productivity will level out or decrease.

√ Effective communication from top to bottom is important, and line managers should be used to ensure that messages about the company's situation get to staff. This can ease help worries about redundancy and let staff get on with their work.


Publication of Equality Bill
The Equality Bill was laid before parliament during April and published on 24 April 2009. When it becomes law, probably in 2010, it seeks to consolidate existing discrimination and equal pay legislation to make it easier to understand and comply with. Measures to be introduced is an outlawing of pay secrecy clauses in contracts and employers can take steps to recruit under-represented groups in their workforce. Currently in the UK a woman is paid on average 23% less than a man and this latest equality legislation seeks to address this. As equal pay is top of the list of tribunal claims (see below), companies may want to consider undertaking an equal pay audit and/or a job evaluation exercise to check the tribunal risk factor and take steps to address this.
Publication of Tribunal Statistics 2007-08

The latest tribunal statistics have been published and make illuminating reading. The top three claims made were related to Equal Pay, the Working Time Directive, and unfair dismissal. The statistics show there has been a dramatic growth in the use of lawyers to help defend a tribunal claim.

Sandra Beale FCIPD

www.sjbealehrconsult.co.uk

Using Twitter for your business

I just saw an ebook on Twitter for Business at the grand price of $17. That’s a lot of money I think, because all the guides/advice/help you want is already out there... in the ‘Twitterverse’.

But for those who are eager to learn, then looking up a decent resource first is a very sensible move. But you don’t have to pay for it, if you know where to look.

Here’s a few resources, and a few ‘tips’. The tips are from what I have learned from the perspective of a business owner, plus some great resources that I have found on the web. Here are my top twelve tips:

1. Set clear objectives for your use of/reason for being on Twitter
2. Don’t talk twaddle! Be interesting
3. Make your tweets relevant and ‘complete’ (not just ‘oh yeah!’ but ‘Yes! I won the lottery’)
4. Be polite, thankful, honest, respectful
5. Find a friend and experiment with them to start so you are familiar before you ‘launch’ yourself
6. Be moderately personal as well as business-like (people buy from people)
7. Do not be intimate
8. Do not ‘sell sell sell’ (be subtle)
9. Collect people with the same/similar interests
10. Don’t collect followers just for the sake of numbers
11. Check Twitter regularly – it is Real Time – things change very quickly
12. Only be a Twitterer if you are prepared to spend some time – it’s not marriage, but it is an engagement

Using Twitter as a networking tool can be extremely productive but only if you have very clear objectives and are prepared to commit to using it.

Twitter can build you a good contact network and provide a great forum for you to spread the news about the things you want to talk about providing (and this is a very BIG providing) that it is what your network wants to hear about too and that you return the favour regularly.

Collecting people with interests common to yours is important. Even if you have cross interests (for example mine are training, writing and music), this can still be productive as long as the mix of your tweets addresses all of your audiences. Many trainers are authors, and many people have an interest in music. And people like to know people – so don’t just be a faceless ‘corporate’ on line, be a living representative of the organisation.

You can play the ‘I’ve got more followers than you’ game if you want – but it is more productive to have 300 really relevant followers who are interested in what you say than 30,000 who ignore you because your output is not of interest. Let’s create a fictitious example:


MrCarWidget (I made the name up, apologies should anyone subsequently adopt this identity) sells Widgets for Car Mechanics. He finds lots of people on Twitter and follows them and, because they are curious, they follow him back. MrCarWidget advertises his fantastic Widgets nonstop. They are great widgets! But, for some reason, followers disappear... why?

1. Were the people he chose to follow and who are following him interested in Car Mechanics?
2. Was he doing anything other than ‘selling’ at them?
3. Did he provide valuable references and resources?
4. Did he bore everyone silly with what you ate for breakfast?!

If you were MrCarWidget, you would get best value from Twitter by:

1. Finding followers and following people with an interest in car mechanics
2. Creating interesting articles on car mechanics and offering links to them
3. Finding interesting articles on car mechanics from others and offering links to them
4. Make special offers to your Twitter friends, don’t just sell to them, give them a unique offer that they can take advantage of
5. Re-tweet your followers articles that will be of interest to your followers

This may sound weird, but once you have spent some time on Twitter, it will make sense. You will get used to terms like Retweet, Twitterverse, Following, Apps, # @ etc... but let’s not confuse you! Here’s some handy resources to start you off:

How to speak Twitter: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_64/s0904046705853.htm
The Training Zone Guide to Twitter: http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=197206
Top 13 Twitter Don’ts: http://shaunstanislaus.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/top-13-twitter-donts/
Mashable Twitter Resources: http://mashable.com/category/twitter-lists/
On Ramp 101: http://chep2m.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/ten-top-twitter-tips/
Chris Brogan: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business/

And remember, it may be the ‘in thing’, but if you are not able to commit resource to it and take advantage of the opportunity it is, then perhaps you don’t need to do it. As well as an excellent business tool, it is quite possibly a very good way to waste a lot of time!

There are social uses for Twitter too – but that’s another story and one I certainly don’t have time for - I’m running a business!

Follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/completetrainer

Beware the scammers

Have you been phoned and told 'your advert has been published on (then something nice and emotive, like a child protection wallchart or diary) and your payment is now due'?

The old statistic that 50% of businesses will pay an invoice without challenging it has led, in the past, to many scammers making a tidy fortune out of corporate 'system' ... invoices being paid just because they were received. I don't think that statistic holds true today.

Now, however, the scammers are getting more creative. I had a call the other day about a wallchart that my colleague had advertised in. Oh no they hadn't! No one in my organisation would have placed an ad on a wallchart (a personal pet hate of mine anyway, sorry Chambers of Commerce!), or in a diary, or anywhere else that wasn't strictly industry related.

Then I saw a thread on the UKBusinessForum ... exactly this subject! The part that particularly caught my attention, and prompted my posting on here, was a useful site called Adscams. Mind you, Adscams do warn us to watch out for 'rouge' scammers. I didn't know they came in different colours.

Better resources are to visit industry related or Government sites, such as CAP or the Trading Standards Office who are, in fact, promoting a Scams Awareness month for February.

Any business, small or large, can fall prey to scammers, so I have no compunction whatsoever in dedicating a post on this blog to warning others about the potential traps that the increasingly clever scammers lay.

One for the girls?

I recently came across coach and author Lynette Allen. She has written three books:

Behind with the marking and plagued by nits(for teachers)

Behind with the mortgage and living off plastic (for women)

Behind with the laundry and living off chocolate (for women)

What brilliant titles! And she is running a great site that focuses on women and their skills too (http://www.pinkexpertise.co.uk She has identified a niche market and gone for it, full swing!

I have, of course, a vested interest in mentioning Lynette. I sell her books on Complete Trainer and she has been kind enough to feature me on her site.

But it brings me back to this concept of approaching business/training/development for women differently to men. There was a hugely active thread on the UKBusinessForum about whether women should have separate business initiatives with varying reponses from 'Yes, we have different needs', to 'no, I don't want to be treated any differently to men' right up to 'why should women get all the breaks?'.

And it is a question worth examination. Should we have separate training for women? For people of a particular religion, or sexual orientation, or taste in music?

There are boundaries, and these boundaries are being set not by society but by behaviour. There are certainly examples where training or interaction with people should be separated out. I am sure a room full of men would rather not be taught how to examine for testicular cancer by a woman, likewise a room full of women not be taught self-examination for breast cancer by a man. OK, obvious choices, but very clear examples.

We embrace diversity! It is what makes this planet so hugely successful. Keith Patching, formerly a Director at Cranfield School of Management, says:

"Even though we recognise that people who are different from ourselves can be hard to understand or value, we have made great strides in learning tolerance and understanding. Attitudes to ethnicity, religion, gender, age and sexual orientation have changed, supported by legislation that makes it illegal to discriminate against people on these grounds. Many enlightened organisations devote a significant amount of attention to inclusion – the means of ensuring that each individual can feel and be included irrespective of whether he or she is a member of any kind of minority.

There is still more to be done to deal with conflicts that may emerge as a result of diversity, but progress is being made."

Back to the issue of training just for women. Should we have it? Yes, it has a place, just as books aimed at women and clothes designed for women have their place too.

Copyright is sexy!

For reasons which will remain obscure, I attended a two day training programme at the Music Publishers Association in London this week. One of the main subjects, unsurprisingly, was copyright.

With the digital age causing a complete revolution in the copying of music, how do writers retain their intellectual property and get paid for the hard work they did in writing and creating a song or music?

Almost every presentation, from the PRS, MPA, MusicUK and from international publishers, focused on this issue of copyright. And the issues that face the music industry surely face other industries too (including training) as books turn into ebooks, models and resources become easily available on websites and can be shared amongst people very easily. There has been a huge issue in the US with a major search engine scanning books and making them available on line - with no payment to the authors! (Oh yes, and Myspace are not interested in paying any royalties whatsoever...)

'Copyright is sexy' said Florian, from UK Music (the lobbying body which brings together all the disparate parts of the music business to present a single voice to Government. Feargul Sharkey's mostly). Sexy? How is copyright sexy? Well, I guess it's whatever turns you on as they say, but copyright is certainly intriguing.


Richard Taylor, a copyright lawyer with Michael Simkins, explained the first time copyright law appeared - in 1709. Printers were copying other people's books and works, paying no royalty to the original authors or to the first printers. So, a law was passed regarding the 'right to copy'.

Unauthorised copying has been an issue for centuries. But one speaker at our conference was our Devil's advocate. He described how music customers (he didn't like the word users, said it made music listeners and consumers sound like druggies) have a completely different attitude. They believe music should be easily accessible, free and that paying additionally for using something more than once is wrong.

If you pay for a CD of a band, you have in fact just paid a single licence to use that CD. You have not paid to have any copies made, so loading it on to your computer, MP3 player or phone is illegal. Now, if you uploaded that material on to the internet and made it available to others - that is in fact criminal.

As more and more material becomes available in digital format, then this problem of unauthorised copying (which is turning the music industry on its head) is going to spread. Whether it's an audio CD of sales training, or the downloadable materials of a training programme - if you have received them in digital format, then copying and distributing them (even for your own use) is easy! And abuse of copyright equally so.

Asserting copyright is not difficult. As soon as you have completed an original work (music, writing, etc) you own it. Proving ownership is slightly more complex. They still recommend that you post something to yourself in a registered envelope; by so doing you establish a date of creation (and in the rare cases where copyright is contested, the date can be a crucial factor).

Needless to say the issues of copyright are a minefield but something you must consider in your professional capacity. Is the material you are using yours to use freely? Are you infringing anyone's copyright? Have you sought appropriate permissions for materials?

Have you scanned something out of a book? Copied something verbatim from the internet to include in your programme? Have you used a questionnaire or assessment tool that you don't know where it came from? Remember, ignorance is often used as an excuse, but legally it is no defence.

And what about protecting your own intellectual property? Have you written a book, programme or article that is your copyright and is in digital format? If so, think carefully about how you can protect your rights.

As I think I have mentioned, copyright is a complex issue. If you have any doubts about what you are using, then check it - especially if you are going into a large organisation. They will want to know that anything you are providing has appropriate copyright licences or they too may be liable for any prosecutions arising from copyright infringement.

The immediate concern is that this would add costs to your training and potentially lose you business. But those concerns must be balanced with the implications of you getting prosecuted for breaching copyright.

Copyright is sexy? I say copyright is scary! But as a composer of original works (literary and musical) I darn well want my rights protected! Wouldn't you?

Political correctness

I have worked in a number of organisations during my career, including a very small building firm, a UK FMCG company, one of the most famous Universities in the UK (happy 800th!), in private health and with a multi-national corporation. One thing that I never particularly thought about (especially in the early days) was political correctness, probably because it never occurred to anyone to be anything other than polite, accepting and professional with colleagues.

I remember back in the 80's, working for a huge international computer company, that the only issue that ever arose (and this was whilst working with people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations and cultures) was that one of the girls was holding prayer meetings - in the corridor (big open plan offices). All that was done was that she was asked to book a meeting room instead.

No matter how individuals feel about 'political correctness', promoting equality and diversity and ensuring all your employees feel valued is vital in the modern workplace. It makes good business sense too, as workers who feel valued are usually more productive and less likely to leave your employment.

There is a great resource available on the ACAS website which gives you some helpful tools and free downloads.

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1440

Training in diversity is important, because not all companies are like that computer giant I worked for. People are all different, as different in their prejudices as their choices in life. Supporting your people in understanding diversity could be extremely important and even save embarassing and damaging litigation. What one person sees as 'just being funny' may be someone else's harassment.

Credit crunch - a historic perspective

I was reading the BBC History magazine the other day and, in particular, an article on the credit crunch of the 13th century. Yes, we had a credit crunch then! King Edward had loans from Italy to finance wars and ... well, it's complicated, but the end result was a credit crunch in England. Then, as today, there was international finance, politics and intrigue and consequences of dire proportion.

Then I picked up Management Today, and they showed very graphically the historical patterns of recession and inflation. Fascinating stuff! The article shows how inflation is followed by recession (it looks like the calmest times financially were between 1870-1910). The higher the inflation peak, the lower the recession that follows it. The chart shows a huge block of inflation from the 1940s to 1990s without the matching recession - so the pattern of previous centuries is broken. Have we been heading for this fall for a long time?

Did we not see it? Were we unaware? Where were all our economic pundits, our financial wizards? Well, to be sure some predicted this – but no one wanted to believe them.

We will probably never know the answers to exactly why this happened (though I'd love a peek at the 2099 issue of BBC History magazine - hindsight being the clearest vision).

No matter how useful historical perspective is, we live in very different times today. We have whole new technologies that did not even exist ten years ago. So, what is to come over the next few years? Will we battle through this and come out stronger, or will the many years of inflation and relative wealth be followed by years of receission? Will we see the promised ‘green shoots’? Things change much more quickly today. Richard Reeves, the author of the article in Management Today, says "while trifling by global standards, the UK's inflation outlook is very much more exciting than for years".

He gives some real insight into how the UK economy will fare and what may happen, but you'll have to get the magazine to read the full article of course.

The UK is, undoubtedly, in the midst of great flux. The Government responds in different ways - supporting banks and offering to underwrite loans so that small businesses can continue to access funding (see BBC article. ) Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the proposals would target "genuine business needs". What are genuine business needs? Other than waving a magic wand and creating a stable global economy, there are real challenges for the Government (whoever is in power) in many areas, including training and development.

Improving the skills of the UK workforce has long been an identified business need – our skills base in the UK has been unfavourably compared with those in other European countries (see Leitch Report 2006). And skills remain an issue – the Guardian’s David Gow reports “Europe's looming skills crisis”, which indicates that Government initiatives in funding training (such as Train to Gain) are more important than ever in this time of economic crisis. Continuing to invest in our most important resource, our people, must remain a priority in these difficult times. There is a future! Fail to plan, and –