Making and Saving money for SMEs -RBC April

Gilly has just sent us information about the next meeting of the Riviera Business Club - RBS, south of France.The Riviera Business Club is the new name for the BCC Riviera, a non-profit organisation whose objective is to stimulate networking and facilitate contact between people looking for and promoting English-speaking businesses and services on the Cote d'Azur. We are an international association, connecting with almost 1000 people of many European and worldwide nationalities who are living and working in this region. Now in its 14th year of existence, The Riviera Business Club is the largest international business network in the South of France.

At its April event which will be on Thursday April 29th at 7.00 pm, the Riviera Business Club will turn its attention to the financial challenges facing small to medium-sized enterprises. In today’s challenging world, SME’s need to make the most of their cash flow in order to survive, so speakers Karen Marsh of VBA International and Pippa Gomis-Maile of Currencies Direct will explore the various options which are open to companies which fall into this category.

These options will range from ways of actively making money for your company to avoiding costs, thus indirectly saving money! Examples will include getting the best out of currency exchanges, help in streamlining procedures to ensure that clients are invoiced and payments collected on time, and ensuring that HR regulations are followed in order to avoid fines when a company has employees. More specific actions to save money include using HR stagiares (students) for specific projects, and stages (training) through ANPE. Karen and Pippa will also go into Credit Impot Recherche and COFACE as methods of gaining money.

Karen Marsh is the founder and Managing Director of VBA International, and with nearly 20 years’ experience in working in international businesses, she has been focusing in the last 3 years on helping SME’s . VBA International comprises a team of professionals with a wide range of skills to manage all administrative functions required by SMEs, and has learnt through its research that businesses spend around 25% of their time on administrative tasks. Its staff has a broad knowledge base, and plenty of experience of the highs and lows of a business start-up in France, which is reflected in its flexible administration packages.

VBA International assists SME’s in four key domains; Office Management, Finance, HR and Sales/Marketing. It focuses on core challenges faced by a business, and knows how to assist in the structuring of an SME, helping it to grow. Constantly adapting its various skills to the continuous changes affecting businesses in France, VBA International can focus on back office administrative tasks and let you focus on your core business.

Pippa Maile is the Business Development Manager for France with Currencies Direct, one of Europe’s leading non-bank providers of foreign exchange payment services. Since it’s formation in 1996, Currencies Direct has evolved from being an innovative service provider of foreign exchange for consumers and high net worth individuals, into a dynamic and pioneering ‘business to business’, fully integrated treasury solution service provider.

With years of experience providing financial solutions to businesses and individuals worldwide, Currencies Direct can help control risks, fuel growth and protect your future. It has developed an innovative range of products and currency transfer services that can help to minimise foreign exchange risks, and take the hassle out of international payments. It is committed to delivering excellence in customer service and solutions to help your business grow and compete more effectively within the global market place.

The RBC meeting will be held on the upper floor of L'Horloge Restaurant in the Clarion Hotel Aston, Place Massena, Nice, at 7.00 pm on Thursday April 29th. Aperitifs will be served, followed by a buffet, three-course dinner. The cost for members is 35 euros per person, and for friends and guests, 45 euros.

Tickets are on sale now and can be booked online only.

jml Property Services and jml Training are members of the RBC

More information at: http://www.cotedazurrental.com/British_chamber_of%20Commerce_cote_d%27azur.htm

30th year of the Recruitment Marketing Awards celebrated

CIPD celebrate the thirtieth year of the Recruitment Marketing Awards with a major re-vamp

Entries for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) Recruitment Marketing Awards are now open. Now in their 30th year, this landmark is being celebrated by the launch of a new category - Agency of the Year - to be presented to the agency that demonstrates good practice by meeting all client requirements.

The CIPD also celebrates the 30th year of the awards by working in association with People Management, as well as a new headline sponsor, exec-appointments.com (part of Financial Times Recruitment Solutions).

The event itself, taking place on Wednesday 7 July, will be hosted at the prestigious and recently re-furbished Grand Connaught Rooms, Covent Garden, London.

There are 14 categories in total, including Campaign of the Year, Best Graduate Recruitment and Best Recruitment Website - as well as the Grand Prix Award, which will be presented to the winner that transcends the categories.

Natalie White, head of corporate marketing, CIPD, says: "This year we're introducing an industry first - Agency of the Year - to truly recognise best practice in recruitment marketing. We've also re-focused the awards, ensuring a continued recognition of excellence in recruitment marketing through creativity and business effectiveness. There's going to be a lot to celebrate come 7 July!"
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Anthony Moran, head of marketing and events, Redactive Media Group, says: "Our plan is quite simple - retain everything that's great about the awards, while injecting some new ideas through strategic partnerships. In addition, and as a result of holding focus groups with key industry players, we are implementing an enhanced judging process so that the awards evolve in line with market trends."

Steve Playford, managing director, Financial Times Recruitment Solutions, says: "Following the launch of the new exec-appointments.com, we're delighted to be the headline sponsor of this year's awards. As a leading global job board delivering executive jobs to the world's finest talent; we share the CIPD's enthusiasm for awarding the 'best of the best' in the recruitment industry, recognising true innovation, creativity and outstanding results."

The CIPD Recruitment Marketing Awards is an annual event that recognises and rewards excellence and professionalism achieved by agencies and their clients in recruitment marketing. Information provided by CIPD

If you are recruiting staff and are considering providing them with training, remember jml Training offers a variety of Training course including:

Appraisal Skills

Assertiveness Skills

Bullying in the Workplace

Coaching for Women

Confident Communication for Women

Crisis Management

Cross Cultural Teamwork

Customer Service

Dealing with Difficult People

Delivering Effective Diversity Awareness Training

Developing a Learning Culture in an Organisation

Developing the Workplace Coach for Managers & Team Leaders

Diversity Management

Effective Communication Skills

Effective Meeting Skills

Equal Opportunities

Ethnic Data Collection

Influencing and Negotiation

Interview Coaching

Interviewing Skills

Leading and Managing Change Successfully

Leadership and Team Building

Make your Planners the Spatial Planning 'Ringmasters'

Managing Difficult People

Managing Diversity in the Workplace - Making Diversity Happen

Managing Projects Successfully

Management Skills for Women

Media Skills

Partnership Working

Performance Management

Presentation skills and Public Speaking

Project Management

Promoting Equal Opportunities in Service Provision

Self-awareness Diversity

Stress Management

Strategic Thinking

Successful Project Management

Time Management

Training for Trainers

Training and Coaching Skills

For Further information go to the "Training Courses" Page Here

Surge in student numbers enables unemployment to fall

The CIPD - (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) has been very busy over the past couple of days issuing Press Releases.

The first is entitled "Continued surge in student numbers enables unemployment to fall, despite fewer people in work as private sector sheds jobs, says CIPD"

Dr John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) comments as follows on official labour market statistics published earlier today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which update the Labour Force Survey measures of employment, unemployment and economic inactivity to the quarterly period November 2009-January 2010, the Workforce Jobs series to Q4 2009, Public and Private sector employment to Q4 2009, the count of people unemployed and claiming Jobseeker's Allowance to February 2010, and average weekly earnings for January 2010:

"One word sums up the latest official jobs figures: confusing. Unemployment is sharply down, however you measure it. Yet there also 54,000 fewer people in work, with full-time jobs particularly hard hit. The apparent paradox is explained by a very sharp rise of 149,000 in the number of economically inactive people, with the number of students surging by 98,000. Jobless young people are thus turning to study in their thousands to avoid the dole.

"Although a fall in unemployment is clearly better than a rise this should not be read as a sign that the UK jobs market is recovering strongly. Overall the jobs market is flat, operating at much weaker level of demand than before the recession, and still at risk of a serious relapse. Most worrying is the fall of 61,000 in private sector employment in the final quarter of 2009.
The jobs market for the time being is still being propped up by the public sector but the public sector job creation machine is about the be switched off. Indeed, the latest figures already show a fall in employment in local government - this marks the start of a jobs cull that will ultimately see hundreds of thousands of jobs cut from the overall public payroll.

"Whether or not benign headline jobless figures limit the potency of unemployment as a vote clinching issue in the forthcoming General Election campaign, whoever forms the next Government will face a Herculean task in its efforts to return the UK economy to full employment within this decade."

ends

The second one's headline is "CIPD survey shows workers as likely to have caring responsibilities for a partner, relative, and friend as they are for children, highlighting growing demand for flexibility at work"

A survey of 2,000 employees by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows workers are as likely to have caring responsibilities for a partner, relative, and friend as they are for children. Focus on Caring at Work finds a third (34%) of employees have some form of caring responsibilities, with 20% citing children. However, 12% cite relatives, 6% their partner, and 2% a friend.

And the survey also shows there is little difference between the sexes in their caring responsibilities, with 36% of women citing caring responsibilities and 33% of men.

Ben Willmott, CIPD senior public policy adviser, says: "The survey highlights the challenges many employees have in managing what are often a range of caring responsibilities. The proportion of people having to balance work while caring for their partner or spouse, parents, and other relatives will increase as life expectancy continues to rise and as people work longer to save for retirement.

"This is why the CIPD is calling for the right to request flexible working to be extended to all employees, rather than just parents, by 2013. This is not about employers putting the interests of employees before the business, it is just about them seriously considering whether they can accommodate flexible working requests in order to recruit and retain a diverse workforce."

Focusing purely on childcare, 72% of mothers and 43% of fathers have changed how or where they work to play a more active role in their children's upbringing. Of these:

• Almost a third of working parents (31%) report they have worked flexibly to become more active parents
• Twenty-eight per cent have worked shorter hours and 23% have worked from home
• However, sixteen per cent have gone as far as changing their jobs to become a more active parent

Willmott continues: "The survey suggests that the majority of employers are already providing flexible working options to allow working parents to play an active role in the upbringing of their children. Employers that don't provide flexible working options for working parents risk losing valuable employees.

"However, our survey also indicates that employees with other caring responsibilities such as aging or sick parents and partners will increasingly expect the same sort of work-life balance opportunities as working parents."

ends

jml Training Client in the News

One of jml Training and Consultancy's clients was in the news last Thursday 11th March 2010. "The Independent's" Education section had an article entitled "Bucks New University goes into business with industry".

The article explained the transformation of the University from University College to one of the newest universities in the land. The article went on to say "Based in High Wycombe (pictured left), famous for being the home of Benjamin Disraeli, it has morphed in three years from a little-known university college to a place that is becoming popular with students and doing what the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson wants. Its expansion sums up what has happened to higher education in the past 20 years.

With 9,000 students and close links with employers, it has been reorganised by a vice-chancellor who has got rid of 160 staff,( Ruth Farwell) replaced her senior management team, consolidated the institution onto two campuses instead of three and erected a swish £30m building for students that bristles with music and video production studios. Unlike many other universities, Bucks is now in a pretty strong position. It is not expecting to make further cuts. "We're not complacent," says vice-chancellor Ruth Farwell. "We've been controlling vacancies carefully. As academics leave we will replace, unless we need to move resources from a less to a more popular area. I'm not saying there won't be changes in provision because there are all the time, but they won't be a result of the economic climate."

The Bucks story gives the lie to claims that the entire university sector is facing cuts. Institutions that have been thinking hard about how to organise themselves are doing all right. They have healthy balance sheets and are filling courses successfully. Farwell took a hard look at all programmes in 2006 and axed one – 3D design – that wasn't attracting students.

Bucks wasn't always flourishing. When Farwell arrived, it had had its application for university status rejected. She put that right. "In my judgement, there weren't things fundamentally wrong," she says. "But it needed to be clear about what kind of university it wanted to be."

She found that Bucks had been trying to ape traditional universities by hiring people who were good at research without too much thought for what the institution was strong at. "Their recruitment didn't underpin the curriculum," she says."

The Independent article can be found at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/bucks-new-university-goes-into-business-with-industry-1919170.html

Employment outlook in UK set to drift

According to a News Release from CIPD - The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development on the 5th March 10, Employment outlook in US and UK set to drift in polar opposite directions, with public sector cuts weighing UK recovery down, according to a comparison of two leading surveys by CIPD.

The release says that on the day when the latest US jobless statistics are released, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) compares its own recent quarterly Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey of over 700 employers with a similar US survey by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). The findings show that while US employment levels are set to gather pace, UK levels will continue to decrease for the first quarter of 2010.

The sharp fall in employment intentions in the UK public sector accounts for the difference, with net employment intentions falling to -33% (the difference between the percentage of employers expecting to employ more staff in the first 3 months of 2010 and the percentage expecting to employ fewer) in the public sector. The fall will have a disproportionate effect on female employment prospects - until now women have fared better in the recession, as they make up a far higher proportion of the public sector workforce than they do that of the private sector.

Across all sectors, the UK survey records a negative balance of -5%. This represents a modest fall compared with the -3% figure recorded in the previous quarter's report. In contrast, the US LMO records a positive balance of +11%, compared to +6% in the previous quarter, which is the most positive figure since the US version of the survey began a year ago.

The Society of Human Resource Management's (SHRM) US LMO survey, based on the same questions as the UK report, finds that around one in ten (12%) US employers plan to cut jobs in the first quarter of 2010. This marks a dramatic reversal from the first quarter of 2009, when almost three-quarters (73%) of employers planned to make job cuts. The improvement is much less marked in the UK, where the number of organisations planning to make redundancies has fallen from 40% in the first quarter of 2009 to 28% in the same period this year.

Gerwyn Davies, CIPD Public Policy Adviser comments: "Our comparison of the US and UK surveys show that employment prospects in the public sector will quite considerably weigh down the UK jobs market.

"With a greater proportion of UK workers employed in the public sector, the jobs market in both countries looks set to drift in polar opposite directions as hundreds of thousands of public sector job cuts are made in the next few years. This will have a greater impact on women than men, who make up more than a third of the total public sector workforce compared to just one-sixth of the private sector, and until now have benefitted hugely from the rapid expansion of the public sector since 1997. As a result, the next few years may see the worst employment prospects for women in a generation."

Key statistics:

• Just over a fifth (21%) of the UK workforce is in public sector employment, whereas 17% of the US workforce is in public employment.
• The number of people in public sector employment in the UK was 6.09 million in September 2009, up 23, 000 from June 2009 and up 910,000 from 1997.
• The number of people in private sector employment was 22.82 million, up 15, 000 from June 2009 and up 1.19 million from 1997.
• More than a third (35%) of the public sector workforce was made up of women in the fourth quarter of 2009. Around one in six (17%) of the private sector workforce was made up of women over the same period.
• According to the latest comparable official statistics, the US unemployment rate was 10% while the UK unemployment rate was 7.8% in the three months to December 2010 Source CIPD

Contact jml Training to discuss your training requirements by email at http://www.jml-training.com/contact.htm

The role of training in the workplace

The National Training Awards have recently issued a News Realease entitled "The role of training in the workplace debated at the House of Commons - National Training Awards highlights businesses investing in their staff"

At a reception hosted by the National Training Awards at the House of Commons today (Tuesday 26th January), representatives from Labour, the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats discussed the role training should be playing in helping to drive forward the UK's economy.

Skills Minister Kevin Brennan, John Hayes MP, Shadow Minister for Lifelong Learning and Further and Higher Education, Baroness Sharp of Guildford, a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords and Chris Humphries CBE, Chairman of UK Skills all spoke at the event designed to raise awareness of the importance of training in the current climate. Each speaker highlighted the positive impact on a business' bottom line that investing in training can have.

Recent research conducted by the National Training Awards has shown that organisations committed to developing their workforce can motivate staff and differentiate themselves from their competitors resulting in increased business opportunity.

The event was hosted by Gordon Marsden MP.

Skills Minister Kevin Brennan said: "In these tougher times it's more important than ever that we continue to support and invest in the skills of our workforce, helping individuals get into and stay on at work as well as helping businesses stay competitive and prepare for the upturn."

Simon Bartley, CEO, UK Skills said: "From speaking with past National Training Award winners we have established that more than half have enjoyed increased awareness amongst their customer base, with a further third stating they have gained additional business following winning an award.

"Entering the Awards provides a real opportunity to benchmark your training against the rest of the UK, so step up now and be recognised for your hard work."


The closing date for this year's Awards is Friday 23rd April 2010

More information about The National Training Awards

•The National Training Awards (NTA) identify and celebrate organisations and individuals that have achieved really outstanding business and personal success through investment in training.
•Run on annual basis, The National Training Awards are free to enter and open in January. Entries close on 23rd April.
•The National Training Awards includes the following categories: Large Employer (250 +), Medium Employer (50-249), Small Employer (49 and under), Providing Training and Education, Partnership and Collaboration and Individual.
•In addition, the 'Now is the Time' category was launched in 2009 to encourage employers who have invested in training during the recession, to share their experiences and get public recognition to their commitment to training and re-skilling.
•The National Training Awards are organised on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) by UK Skills. The National Training Awards support the training delivered by organisations working on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
•The National Training Awards support the Skills Pledge

If you are looking for training for your business take a look at this page on the jml Training and Consultancy website http://www.jml-training.com/Looking_for_training_Services.htm

Embedding diversity into talent management strategy

Embedding diversity into talent management strategy will give organisations the edge when building for recovery, says new CIPD research according to a news release issued by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)today, 8th March 20210.

Diversity should be threaded through all talent management activities and strategies so organisations can reap the benefits of accessing and developing talent from the widest possible pool. This is the main finding of a new Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) research report, Opening Up Talent for Business Success: Integrating Talent Management and Diversity, launched to coincide with International Women's Day.

The research suggests that organisations, however, are not yet up to speed. Those that are dragging their feet are encouraged to catch up with the best in the field to ensure that they fully utilise the skills of all their employees in ways that are aligned to business objectives.

As such, organisations are advised to recruit and develop a whole wealth of diverse groups to nurture the unique perspectives they can bring. The research explores what is going on in UK-based organisations - through a series of structured focus groups of over 100 people, with a variety of HR directors, diversity and talent professionals - and adds to an increasing body of knowledge that places talent management as the top business concern in all economic sectors.

Five examples of good practice are also offered from Credit Suisse, BT, NHS Tower Hamlets, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games Ltd (LOCOG Ltd), and the Guardian Media Group; organisations that all go far beyond compliance with discrimination law. The research demonstrates how they create an inclusive and open workplace by aiming for a seamless approach to the way they attract and develop people with the skills, abilities and potential to contribute their best.

Claire McCartney, resourcing adviser and co-author of the report, CIPD says: "The reality is that many organisations are not recruiting and developing the best possible candidates because they have not built diversity considerations into their talent management approaches. It's important that organisations see talent management and diversity as more, not less important, in periods of economic uncertainty to outwit and outperform competitors through their people.

By opening up talent opportunities organisations will benefit from a stream of differing views and practical answers to problems, helping them to reflect increasingly diverse customer needs and remain ahead of the competition.

Dianah Worman, diversity adviser and co-author of the report, CIPD, adds: "It is alarming to see the wide gulf between the leaders and followers. There seems to be confusion about how to link talent management with diversity without breaking the law, resulting in the issues being dealt with separately so that organisations miss out on the benefits of a joined up approach.

"Our research provides invaluable learning for organisations that have so far failed to make the connection between talent management and diversity, or that are struggling to see the business advantage of doing so."

Want to find out more about Diversity Training? Take a look at the jml Training website at http://www.jml-training.com/Diversity.htm


We have excellent feedback in the last few days on the jml Training Diversity Programmes from two of our clients.

"Irene ran the courses very well and her training style engaged all staff. The biggest compliment I can give is that almost all staff who went into the course thinking it was just "another diversity course", came out having found it both beneficial and really enjoyable" jml Training Client in Kent

"The staff really enjoyed the session. We thought Irene was excellent and it was a really practical and refreshing approach to the subject area." jml Training Client in Berkshire

So if you are looking for Diversity training, we would like to hear from you.

Equality and Diversity at the Open University

Implementing the Open University’s new equality scheme

For 40 years, the Open University has been promoting social justice and equality of opportunity, enabling individuals to achieve their potential. It's core to their mission and it's as important today as it was when they were founded.

They have now developed a new equality scheme which brings all their existing schemes and policies into one place under a shared vision that will create a University community and a society where individuals are treated with dignity and respect, where inequalities are challenged and where we anticipate and respond positively to different needs and circumstances.

- On Tuesday 16 February 2010, the University launched its new equality scheme which incorporates our disability, gender and race schemes and includes for the first time our commitments and actions across a much wider range of individual characteristics, including age, caring and dependency responsibilities, gender identity, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

Baroness Margaret Prosser of Battersea, OBE, Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission talked to us about ‘education, opportunity and equality’. We were also joined by Will Swann, Director, Students, who chaired the event and Fraser Woodburn, University Secretary, who outlined some of the major challenges and opportunities in implementing this scheme over the next 3 years.

Source: Open University Contact jml Training and Consultancy for your Diversity and Equality Training at: http://www.jml-training.com/Diversity.htm

Narrowing of the gender pay gap in the UK

HR Review reported on the 1st March 10 that
The recent narrowing of the gender pay gap in the UK has been called “negligible” by one sector commentator – which could lead to an increase in concern surrounding salary discrimination.

Figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics show that the overall gender pay gap for both part-time and full-time workers narrowed by 2.5 per cent compared to last year.

This means the gender pay gap for full-time workers has decreased to 12.2 per cent from 12.6 per cent in 2008, a fall of 0.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, for part-time staff the negative gender pay difference narrowed to -2.0 per cent compared with -3.7 per cent the previous year.

However, commenting n the research, Karen Gill, MBE, co-founder of everywoman, suggested there could still be improvement.

“This is a key part of the everywoman manifesto, although there has been a slight move towards improving this gap, in real terms this is negligible and there’s still a way to go,” she said.

According to the National Equality Panel, women’s median hourly pay is 21 per cent less than men’s.

Source: HR Review Diversity and Equality section - Contact jml Training and Consultancy for your Diversity and Equality Training at: http://www.jml-training.com/Diversity.htm

Discrimination in UK work force?

The HR Review asked "Is there discrimination in UK work force?" on the 22nd February 10 with a report saying ...

It could be said the risk of discrimination occurring within the UK’s work force may be increasing, after one commentator asserted a polarisation is occurring among employees.

According to Friends Provident, there are now two distinct groups within the country’s work force – the elite and the excluded – and by 2020 this trend may have become the norm.

It is believed such a movement will have significant implications for both employers and workers.

While the elite are likely to command more power than seen in previous years – leading managers to re-think how they attract and retain such skilled workers – around one million excluded Britons will face limited expectations, the group has claimed.

Commenting on the report, Gillian Fox, HR director at Friends Provident, said: “Businesses will undoubtedly face a shortage of elite workers in 2020, but there is an opportunity for excluded workers to bridge the divide by acting now and improving their skills through training.”

However, she added all will not be lost for the excluded as the report looks to raise awareness of the opportunities available to Britons to further their skills.

Source: HR Review Diversity and Equality section - Contact jml Training and Consultancy for your Diversity and Equality Training at: http://www.jml-training.com/Diversity.htm

Going Global Coaching Conference 2010

The Association for Coaching have issued the following Press Release on the 21st February 2010.

"Going Global Coaching Conference -Association for Coaching 2010 Conference – 11-12 March, London"

The Association for Coaching (AC) has announced its 4th international conference, “Going Global 2010”, taking place over two days on the 11th & 12th March 2010, at the 4.5 star Victoria Park Plaza, London. As one of the largest coaching conferences of the year, it is once again expected to sell out at over 450 participants, made up of up professional and executive coaches, coach training/service providers, academic institutions, buyers of coaching, and organisations building coaching capability or cultures. Bookings can be made on the website acconference.com, along with full conference details.

Going Global reflects the expansion and progression of the coaching profession worldwide, with an international range of speakers and delegates. This conference will have a truly international flavor, with delegates from over 18 countries, including UK & Ireland, Switzerland, the USA, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, Kuwait, Turkey, Bahrain, Singapore, Russia, Portugal, Greece, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Canada. As the profession increasingly addresses global elements, the conference will deliver an informative mix of thought leadership, theory and practice, with case studies, research, master-classes, networking and exhibitions with the latest tools and coach training.

Day one opens with a stimulating brief address by Association for Coaching’s CEO and Co-Founder, Katherine Tulpa. Tulpa will deliver the welcome address and Going Global key message to ensure the conference starts on an energetic, thought provoking note. Following this will be the first keynote speaker of the event, Julio Olalla, a pioneer in Coaching and Transformational Learning. Olalla is highly regarded to be one of the early founders within coaching, and facilitates coach-training throughout the world. He will be comparing the difference between a ‘good’ life and a ‘better’ life and whether we are in danger of becoming trapped in wanting more, better, faster and stronger at a cost to our overall happiness.

In the evening, there will also be a special Launch event for the AC’s anticipated fourth book, Leadership Coaching, in partnership with Kogan Page and edited by Jonathan Passmore. Several authors will be at hand to discuss different approaches and models used in Leadership Coaching, from “Coaching Global Top Teams”, through to “Creating Emotionally Intelligent Leaders”, and “Strategy Coaching.” The book launch will be preceded by a Master-class by editor Jonathan Passmore on Coaching Leaders.

Day two opens with Sir John Whitmore and Darren Robson presenting the day’s opening address on Sustainability and the role of the Global coaching community. The Day 2 opening keynote follows with Veera Johnson, Chief Executive Officer of ProcServe examining how the success of an organisation lies in its ability to embrace and channel the diversity of its people, and in particular its leadership team, using coaching to draw this out. Over the last 10 years she has played a key role in the development of the UK Government’s policies and strategies in the areas of e-commerce.

In addition, during the afternoon session EI expert Dr. Reuven Bar-On, a professor at the University of Pretoria and at the University of Texas, will provide a keynote talk offering valuable insight into Emotional Intelligence - what it is and how it is measured. He has been working in emotional intelligence (EI) since 1980 and is internationally acclaimed as one of the world’s leading theorists of Emotional Intelligence.

In addition to four distinguished keynotes, the conference features 30 workshops in 5 streams over the two days. Presenters include Professor Stephen Palmer, discussing imagery coaching techniques to reduce stress; Margot Hennessey and Joan Hodgins presenting a workshop on innovation and leadership coaching at Diageo; Liz Dimmock looking at getting value for money from external coaches; while Tracy Sinclair presents a workshop on non verbal intelligence.

jml Training and Consultancy are an Organisational Member of The Association for Coaching

More information about jml-Training's Coaching Services can be found at http://www.jml-training.com/coaching.htm

Inquiry into disability-related harassment

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has provided an update to the Inquiry into disability-related harassment.


On 3 December 2009, International Day of Disabled People, the Commission announced its intention to conduct a formal Inquiry into the actions of public authorities to eliminate disability-related harassment and its causes. Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Commission, stated: 'There can be no more important human right than to live life in safety and with security. Its absence prevents us from living our lives to the full. And, for some, its absence has led to the loss of life itself. For many disabled people in Britain safety and security is a right frequently denied.'


They have drafted terms of reference for the Inquiry and are now consulting on these. The Commission wants to hear views by joining the consultation. Their consultation runs until 26 March 2010. Please see The Equality and Human Rights Commission website to find out more about how to get involved.


Once the consultation has finished they will decide what changes, if any, should be made to the terms of reference. Once those changes have been made they will launch the Inquiry and start gathering evidence. Until they have decided on the final terms of reference of the Inquiry we cannot take evidence.

If you are looking for Diversity, Equality, Bullying in the Workplace (and other related topics) training for your organisation, please visit our website http://www.jml-training.com

Equality Act guidance consultation update

The Equality and Human Rights Commission
has just sent us the "Equality Act guidance consultation update" email.The Commission is producing statutory Codes of Practice and non-statutory guidance to cover all aspects of the Equality Bill once it becomes law. The main purpose of this guidance is to help people understand the Equality Act and how it will affect them.


They thank everone who have responded so far. If you haven't yet this is your chance to join in the consultation and help them get it right.

They have now launched separate consultations on the three draft guides for employment; services, public functions and associations; and education. The consultation period runs until 16 April 2010.

More information on the jml-training.com website specialist page " The new Equality Bill- Framework for a Fairer Future – The Equality Bill information, articles and Press Releases from June 2008 onwards" http://www.jml-training.com/Framework_for_a_Fairer_Future_The_Equality_Bill.htm



On 12 January 2010 we opened the consultation on the statutory draft Codes of Practice for employment; equal pay; and services, public functions and associations. This consultation will make sure that the Codes clearly explain the new law and interpret it correctly. The consultation period for the Codes runs until 2 April 2010.