25/08/2015
The purpose of this article is to provide a brief insight for you to critically evaluate the development needed in your organisation over the next year.
By: Rita Lally
The workplace skills plan is not an annual paper exercise, but a strategic business tool for you to get a return on your investment in your people. Yes, it is great to get money back, but even better when the results are tangible. Qualifications, for example, are a good foundation, but do not necessarily produce high performers. How do you crystallise that talent? Not everyone, needs every form of training. Treat your employees as individuals and align future development accordingly. Those organisations that show they care, are the organisations that win.
Getting your refund on your skills development levy
Companies who pay the Skills Development Levy will be wanting to get a refund on their levies paid by way of Grants and should be actively preparing to submit their annual training plans to their respective SETAs; as well as report on activities that have taken place over the previous twelve months. As the financial services industry has gone through considerable transformation and professional upliftment over the last few years – there should not be a shortage of data for submission, especially in the product and services training arena.
Identifying training needs within the FAIS sphere
The process of identifying training needs, aligned to that of the business, has become simpler within the FAIS sphere. Everyone providing advice and/or intermediary service has to do it, to be deemed ‘fit and proper’. CPD is no longer an option. How easy is that!? Gone are the days when a business manager seriously considered allocating a heavy budget on training, as he feared the employee may leave the organisation once upskilled. We all know what happened when no training took place, and the employee stayed!... “Hello Mr. Ombudsman”.
Identifying technical development is only one component of the process. Human Resources have a theory, that when a business ‘hires purely for technical ability, they fire for behaviour’. This can be a waste of time, talent, as well as a costly exercise. In addition to knowledge, the personal behaviours and attributes are critical competencies for a person to successfully carry out their responsibilities. Employees should know what is expected from them behaviourally, and be objectively appraised against these factors. There are programs to assist, other times, there are not. You cannot train a person to be honest. .. You can, of course, give him with the Codes of Conduct and basics on How to Treat the Customer Fairly which align with the ‘integrity’ requirement.
All forms of development should in effect enhance the individual’s performance and be reflected in output adding value to the business. There is absolutely no point or need to provide training for training sake, as up to 70% of training today happens in the workplace anyway. With FAIS requirements, a large number of employees will be ‘working under supervision’ at any one time. The responsible person should not only be technically proficient to give guidance, but have the ability to coach effectively. Yet ‘coaching’ is a good example of a skill that is often overlooked - so vital in your industry today. If not already, this should be an option in those training plans.
Promoting people to management positions
Aligned with development is the possibility of promoting people to management positions. Unless an organisation is large and has a pool of resources available from which to choose, it is not uncommon to see technical people appointed into those roles. It can be a toss up as to whether it works or not. Not everyone is suited to lead. Consider the quote ‘people leave managers, not organisations.’ A situation that is untenable can be soul destroying for the employee who eventually leaves to go to perceived greener pastures. A recognised psychometric evaluation is probably the only key to unlocking and identifying potential. In this instance, throwing money into leadership training may not necessarily be a good option.