An Educated Workforce is a Powerful Workforce

Sustainable businesses make sure that they pay attention to scarce skills.

Four classes of scarce skills can make a difference in any company’s competitiveness:

·         A pool of administration excellence

·         A pool of accounting excellence

·         A pool of management excellence

·         A pool of technical excellence

The contemporary business landscape’s mantra to success is “Grow your own wood”.

Companies who are able to educate their own employees will gain significant competitive advantages.

Many employees desire further education but they are unable to afford the cost of education.

Other employees have incomplete qualifications but do not know how to take the next step.

Academic programs that combine practical experience and theory are known to deliver a better quality of worker than programs that focus on theory alone.  The modern business does not have time to spend between eighteen and twenty-four months training “freshly ground graduates” in its processes and procedures.  They find it more profitable to send “grizzled veterans” to college.

Qualifications that are recognised by professional bodies are highly sought after.

Registering employees to study through Growth Institute ensures that companies qualify for tax rebates and for SETA grants.

Contact us for an appointment

Jacques de Villiers (CEO)	jacques@growthinstitute.co.za
Peter van Nieuwenhuizen (CFO)	peter@growthinstitute.co.za

This is the official blog of:

·         Skopus Business Consultants.  Visit us at www.skopus.co.za

·         Growth Institute.  Visit us at www.growthinstitute.co.za

 

The New Face of Sustainability

Sustainability is not only about planet and profit.

Sustainability is also about people.

Data from the Global Competitiveness Index show that companies are experiencing the rapid decline of an educated workforce.

There is more pressure on South African businesses to “grow their own wood”.

The current workforce must be skilled up, and the future workforce must be identified and readied to step into the workplace as seamlessly as possible.

Four classes of scarce skills can make a difference in any company’s competitiveness:

• A pool of administration excellence
• A pool of accounting excellence
• A pool of management excellence
• A pool of technical excellence

Growth Institute is able to assist our clients to:

• Improve the skills of the current workforce
• Identify scarce skills potential amongst the children of employees
• Offer study programs that can close the scarce skills gap

Qualifications that are recognised by professional bodies are highly sought after.
Registering employees to study through Growth Institute ensures that companies qualify for tax rebates and for SETA grants.

Contact us for an appointment.

Jacques de Villiers (CEO)   jacques@growthinstitute.co.za
Peter van Nieuwenhuizen (CFO)   peter@growthinstitute.co.za

Academic Year 2014

Skopus Business Consultants and Workplace Integrated Training Solutions (PTY) Ltd announce the forming of Growth Institute (PTY) Ltd.

Growth Institute is a proponent of Corporate Education.  Taking a long-term view that ensures the development of a sustainable workforce is one of the main pillars in Growth Institute’s educational philosophy.  An explicit Pull Push Model provides Growth Institute’s clients to develop latent talent pools within their organisations.

Figure 1: Our Pull-Push Model

Growth Institute focuses on school leavers and employees that do not have “traditional” means to acquire post-school qualifications.  Our unique intervention model helps clients to mine talent and to pay attention to the development and retention of scarce management and technical skills.

More details available from

peter@growthinstitute.co.za

jacques@growthinstitute.co.za

The Promise of 2014

Now that the summer holiday is over and the hype of the matric results is dominating the news, it is time to reflect on what 2014 may hold. 

News bulletins and talk radio content are full of scary stories about the youth not having a future.  Questionable education quality, the bad economy, unemployment, poverty, the inflexible labour policies of Government, donation fatigue and many other factors are quoted as factors that make the plight of the youth unbearable.  In addition, each year we hear about universities being flooded with angry mobs who demand acceptance in an academic program.  Our minds roll back to that day when a mother was trampled to death at the University of Johannesburg and we wag angry fingers are a system that seems to have more failure than success. 

As we are writing this blog, a radio station bleats in the background about youth entrepreneurship and the fact that the National Credit Act is failing youth who want to start a business because they cannot get a business start-up loan. 

In the same breath, the radio station bleats that more of the youth should become artisans.  Moreover, many re-bleat to say that the quality of artisan training leaves much to be desired.  They also bleat that there is a stigma regarding artisan training.  In fact, some voices that we encounter in our practice insist that artisan training and possible apprenticeships harks back to the old Apartheid years. 

Perhaps it is time to reconsider the situation. 

Instead of demanding interventions from a Government that is stressed beyond breakdown, it may be time to ask what else the country could do to rectify the situation.  It is true that some matriculants have low marks that do not allow them access to traditional tertiary education streams.  It is also true that many cannot afford tertiary education even though they have very good marks.  These arguments serve as a handy excuse to avoid the real issues of getting people into the job market. 

Once again, our practice often hears employers speaking about “growing our own wood”.  Our question to those employers who bandy around that noise byte is simply:

“What does it mean to grow your own wood?” 

The standard answer is that company wants to develop their employees and to promote employees into jobs instead of appointing someone from the outside into a job.  For us, another question emerges: 

“What do employees do with the saplings around them?” 

In other words, what do employers do to provide the children of employees to get access to good education and to become part of the future workforce of that employer? 

Perhaps it is time for the employers in this country to study the life and work of Milton Hershey and to transform this country into a modern day Hersheyville. 

Companies are quick to brag about Corporate Social Investment programs that make them look good or feel good.  The question, however, is how sustainable or fashionable such programs are and whether such programs really make a difference in growing the many saplings of today into the mighty forests of tomorrow. 

It is time for employers to unlock the potential of these young saplings. 

That is one of the main reasons why Skopus Business Consultants joined forces with Workplace Integrated Training Solutions to form the Growth Institute.  Growth will focus specifically on working with clients to unlock the potential that surrounds them and to ensure that Workforce 2026 is not a nightmare. 

This is the official blog of Skopus Business Consultants.  Visit us at www.skopus.co.za

Training 2014: Great Possibilities

With 2013 almost to an end, let us take a few minutes to ponder what has been achieved on the training front.

Many companies have sent thousands this year to train their staff in a variety of disciplines.  People attended course that range from a short course lasting half a day to degree courses.  Some employees that attended these courses will proceed to some form of graduation.  Others may not have performed as well as they hoped.  They may have to come back next year and repeat their course.  Besides the fact that some employees did not pass a course that they were enrolled for this year, employers are often frustrated by the fact that employees do not apply what they learnt on the courses that they attended.  Student failure and the fact that employees do not apply what they learnt, make many companies reluctant to continue training programs in the following year.

One cannot blame companies for being sceptical about the value that employee training is supposed to add to the employee and to the company alike.  Employers often ask whether there are better ways to ensure that training would have the desired effect within their company.

Another factor to consider is that the new BBBEEE codes place very high emphasis on skills development and enterprise development.

All of the above factors were considered when Skopus Business Consultants started its BrainPower division at the beginning of 2013.  We developed adopted and developed a number of assessment tools that:

·         Evaluate the learning culture within a company

·         Evaluate the learning style of those who wish to go for training

·         Match employee skills preference to the type of training he or she wishes to take

Using these tools provided valuable insights into the real issues that cause the effect of training to be lost in an organisation.  Clients started to change their view about training because the assessments now enabled them to make better decisions on whom to send to what training.  There is no longer a shotgun approach to selecting candidates for specific training interventions.

In addition, Skopus Business Consultants and Workplace Integrated Training Solutions formed a new venture, the Growth Institute that offers a unique and differentiated training solution to our clients.

·         Employers now have a better understanding on how to structure training programs

·         Employees have greater clarity on the type of training that would suit them best

·         The 2014 training calendar now offers employees of our clients an option to articulate into a degree program with a local university.

Contact Peter van Nieuwenhuizen on info@skopus.co.za for an appointment and to receive a 15% discount on your first interventions for 2014.

LEARNING: ENTITLEMENT OR PRIVILEGE?

It is enlightening to see how those who get a chance to study, at the expense of others, respond to that privilege.  This is especially true for adult learners who are sent by their employers to study for a degree through an extra-curricular program. 

One finds two groups of adult learners.  Each group has a different attitude to the opportunity that so many other South Africans wish they could have. 

The more mature group (in mind and not in age) take the chance that their employers give them, with both hands.  They explore the new ideas.  They debate the points for clarity.  They make those new ideas their own, and they inspire their lecturers to give their best to those eager minds. 

These are the leaders in the companies that they come from.  They may not sit in the highest seats in their organisations, but they prove through their attitude that they have great potential.  They are real, hidden assets for this country that needs educated leaders who can inspire others by their attitudes and by their thirst for knowledge. 

Of course, there has to be the other side, too.  Those who think that they do not have to do anything in return for the free bursary that their employers give them.  The moment that they set foot on academic grounds, (wherever it is), they undergo a metamorphosis. 

This group refuses to take notes.  They are tardy.  Being an hour or more late for class seem to be the norm rather than the exception.  They storm out of classes and slam doors behind them when a lecturer dares to reprimand them for their behaviour.  They refuse to participate in discussions, and their deliver assignments that portray a highly unprofessional image of them and the company that they represent.  In short, they are actually an embarrassment to themselves and to the companies who spent thousands to give them an opportunity to earn a degree.  Last, they fail their courses and blame everyone else but himself or herself for that failure. 

The interesting thing is that one would expect this sort of negative behaviour from an eighteen year-old.  Certainly, a twenty-five year-old or thirty year-old should know better to show such puerile behaviour. 

South Africa cannot afford to waste education on those who get it free from their employers, and who refuse to appreciate the value of the gift to the future that their employers so richly bestow on them. 

What is wrong with such a picture? 

This is the official blog of Skopus Business Consultants.  Visit us at www.skopus.co.za

The Skopus Prize is a trademark and intellectual property of Skopus Business Consultants.

More details about the Skopus Entrepreneurship Prise can be found at www.skopus.co.za

 

The Positive Use of Fear

FEAR. 

The very word is enough to make one break into a cold sweat.  This is because we do not know how to use fear to our advantage. 

Our practice encounters many cases where career changers cannot move forward.  There are simply too many “What if” questions that keep people in one place.  Most “What if” questions are simply leaved unanswered. 

Later in life, “What if” questions have a nasty habit to turn into many “If only” regrets. 

“If only I started that business three years ago”.

“If only I drew the designs for that innovation quicker”.

“If only I studied for that course”. 

Thus, we experience regret because we did not respond to an opportunity, or did not use our fears to our advantage. 

Many of us see fear as something unpleasant because we do not understand that most fears are actually False Evidences Appearing Real.  Ask yourself this:  how many of the fears that you had last year actually happened?  Ten per cent?  Twenty per cent?  More?  You see, it is only when we apply hindsight that we can understand that our fears are phantoms.  Unfortunately, we hardly ever learn from the past.  If only a small fraction of the fears we had last year came true, what is the chance that similar percentage would come true in the year that is ahead? 

Entrepreneurs and those who contemplate a career change have many things in common with brave soldiers.  That is my key thought today. 

Even the bravest of soldiers will tell you that they experience fear.  They would tell you that, when they are in a tough battle, fear is what keeps them going forward.  Fear is what keeps them alert.  They become intensely aware of their surroundings and the can avoid hazards almost automatically. 

How do brave soldiers master fear and get out of battles in more or less one piece?  They go to GROUND.  Many military training facilities in the world use this acronym.  Let us take a close look at this acronym.  Each letter in this acronym represents an action.

 

G	Given situation.  What is the situation that you experience?  How did you get to this situation?  What harms does this situation have?  What possible rewards could this situation have?
R	Route. How can you get out of this situation? What should be done do avoid harm in this situation? What should be done to make use of the rewards that this situation could offer?
O	Observe. Soldiers are taught to observe a battlefield in a unique manner.  Proofreaders use the same technique when they review manuscripts.  We typically look at something from left to right because most of us read and write from left to right.  By looking at something from right to left, helps to spot things that do not belong or that could not have been observed through a normal left to right scanning.   What could be done differently? What can you think of that nobody else thought about? What is the obvious that everyone else ignores? What jumps out that we did not see before?
U	Under Cover. What can be done to avoid harm? What things caused harm in the past? How much of what we observe are actually things that were harmful in the past and that we have not done anything about? What do we know that our competitors do not know? How can we prevent my competitor to obtain that knowledge so that it can be used to our benefit?
N	Neutral Territory What is the safest route that I can take? How do I avoid harm when I start to move? If I move forward, do I move rapidly yet cautiously?
D	Defend How do I use the situation to my advantage? How do I safeguard myself against a similar situation in the future? How do I continue to find advantages that I could use?

Once we decide to go to GROUND, it is possible to use fear to our advantage.  We are able to understand the situation and we are able to make the most of the situation by asking a series of simple questions.

 

This is the official blog of Skopus Business Consultants.  Visit us at www.skopus.co.za

The Skopus Prize is a trademark and intellectual property of Skopus Business Consultants.

More details about the Skopus Entrepreneurship Prise can be found at www.skopus.co.za