Coaching will help your business achieve its ambition and potential in today’s competitive market

The latest jml Training and Consultancy Newsletter has just been published and is available on a link from the jml Training website.


It is also being mailed out to a number of organisations. This newsletters has a focus on Coaching.


According to Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in a the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Press Release on the 24th May “Coaching can be a great boost to a business in these tough economic times”




Coaching is widely recognised by organisations as a challenging but very effective way of developing their people to perform at consistently high levels


Find out more about Coaching Services from jml Training Here

Read the June jml Training Newsletter in full Here

The number of Women (or lack of them) on FTSE 350 company boards focused on again

The Equality and Human Rights Commission said before the Jubilee Bank Holiday that The appointment of women to FTSE 350-listed non-executive director roles is being held back by selection processes which ultimately favour candidates with similar characteristics to existing male-dominated board members according to their report that they released on the 28th May 2012.

In their news release entitled "Headhunters and chairmen encouraged to do more to increase female non-execs on FTSE boards" the EHRC went on to say "The report, produced by Cranfield School of Management for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, is the first in-depth study into the appointment process to corporate boards and the role of executive search firms. It follows the recent Davies Review which called upon executive search firms to take on a more active role in increasing gender diversity on FTSE boards.


The report reveals that many chairmen and search firms recognise that gender diversity should be increased at board level. Search firms have introduced a voluntary code of conduct and had some success at getting more women on long lists. But when it comes to short-listing and appointing, successful candidates tend to be those who are perceived as ‘fitting in’ with the values, norms and behaviours of existing board members, who are largely men.


Interviews with senior consultants at 10 leading executive search firms in London, all signatories to the voluntary search code, reveal that search firms are beginning to challenge chairmen and nomination committees when defining briefs. In particular, this includes giving more importance to underlying competencies than their ‘fit’ with existing board members.


The research shows how selection of candidates based on ‘fit’ and previous board experience, rather than competencies, is self-perpetuating. It works against women who have had fewer opportunities to gain previous board level experience and limits the ability of chairmen to broaden the range of skills and experience of their boards.


As well as identifying examples of good practice at executive search firms, the report concludes that a more transparent, professional and rigorous approach to the selection process would allow chairmen and search agencies to appoint more female candidates and encourage more women to consider applying for roles as non-execs."

Dr Elena Doldor, Senior Research Fellow from the Cranfield International Centre for Women Leaders and lead author of the report commented: “Our research shows that ESFs are more willing to play a part in increasing board diversity and we identified a number of good practices in the sector. However, we noticed that search firms tend to focus their diversity initiatives on the first stages of the appointment process. In the later stages of the process, which entails short listing and interviewing, there needs to be more effort from headhunters and chairmen to ensure that selection practices remain inclusive. It is at these later stages of the process that the focus appears to inadvertently shift from candidates’ actual competencies to the slippery notion of ‘fit’. Despite increased awareness of the need to diversify boards, there are still ‘default preferences’ for candidates with certain backgrounds.”


Baroness Prosser, deputy chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: “Research shows that diverse boards produce better performance. Many companies recognise this. We commissioned this report to support their efforts to improve the representation of women at board level. However, the often subjective way of making appointments ends up replicating existing boards rather than bringing in talented women who could bring real benefits to individual company performance and ultimately help Britain’s economic recovery.”




Helena Morrissey CBE, 30% Club Founder and CEO of Newton Investment Management said: “Over the past eighteen months the 30% Club has been pleased to see evidence of considerable progress towards better balanced UK boardrooms. Today's report suggests that more remains to be done around the recruitment process to further widen the choice of boardroom candidates, and as a result we expect the spotlight on this aspect of the issue to further add to the momentum for change."


The report revealed a lack of consensus among search firms when it came to what qualities are sought in board candidates beyond their experience. This lack of clarity leaves room for shifting criteria and subjective judgement in the appointment process.


Whilst the research revealed good practice amongst certain ESFs, it also revealed a lack of consensus with regards to the appointment process. To tackle this, the report makes recommendations including:


as intermediaries in the executive labour market, executive search firms need to set clear definitions as to what is sought from board candidates, beyond their experience.


executive search firms, chairmen and nomination committees need to review the interview process to make it more transparent, rigorous and professional.


executive search firms need to invest more time into developing relationships with women in the pipeline who could become executive or non-executive directors later in their careers.


executive search firms need to carry out regular reviews of the effectiveness of the voluntary code of conduct.


The Report itself can be downloaded here
 
Source EHRC
 
Is your organisation looking for Equalities and Diversity Training Services? If it is jml Training offer "in house" training. Unfortuntately they do not operate "open courses", but most organisations will be large enough for an in house course.  Find out more Here

Employers clinging to outdated methods of training says survey

A new survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)  has found that Britain's employers rely on outdated methods and techniques to provide training to their staff.

The CIPD/Cornerstone OnDemand Learning and Talent Development Survey 2012, found that traditional methods of workplace learning are considered amongst the least effective ways to up-skill employees - but still dominate many L&D programmes. When asked to choose the most effective ways of delivering training, just 16 per cent of learning and talent development professionals opted for "formal education courses", and the same number for "coaching by external practitioners". Only 11 per cent pointed to "e-learning". Yet despite doubts about its effectiveness, less than a fifth (17 per cent) of the report's respondents plan to reduce their reliance on "classroom and trainer-led instruction" over the next two years.


When asked what methods are most likely to work, most learning and development professionals pointed towards training that is integrated into the normal course of their jobs. Half of respondents (52 per cent) responded that "in-house development programmes" were amongst the most effective ways of delivering training, while almost as many (46 per cent) cited "coaching by line managers". Two-fifths (39 per cent) pointed towards "on-the-job training".


Dr John McGurk, Learning and Talent Development Adviser at CIPD, comments:

"Many of the learning approaches used by organisations are legacies of a learning environment where the classroom, courses and 'sheep-dip' learning were the order of the day. However in today's environment, the skills of continuous collaborative and connective learning are paramount. Even compliance learning and advanced skills learning needs to be re-thought with the advent of gaming and simulation. We need to take into account how generations learn and share knowledge and we need to understand anew the process of learning and knowledge.

We need to lift our awareness of the emerging science on learning and in some cases we need to slaughter some of the sacred cows which have informed practice. Quick evaluation will become even more critical in this environment as will a fusion of coaching, leadership and change management. L&TD professionals need to lead the debate, and need to take a different perspective calling on their own resourcefulness and creativity to push learning in new directions."

Vincent Belliveau, General Manager EMEA, Cornerstone OnDemand comments:


"When it comes to investing in L&D, it's critical that organisations understand their people and the learning approaches that suit them best to meet their needs. By doing so, they'll get the best return on investment as employees will be more engaged in the learning and transfer the skills into their day-to-day activities, which will ultimately support the business and its bottom line.
"It's vital that organisations don't take a 'training for trainings sake' attitude but instead adopt approaches which are known to be effective ways of delivering training. It's also important that this investment can be measured, so that they can align training with business objectives. The effects of a well thought-out learning strategy can be widely felt throughout an organisation, with employee engagement, job satisfaction and retention benefiting."

Further findings from the survey:


• A third of public sector organisations anticipate greater use of e-learning across the organisation over the next two years, compared with a fifth of other organisations.


• Fewer organisations than last year report they undertake talent management activities. In two-fifths of organisations, talent management activities cover all or most employees, but most focus on high-potential employees and senior managers.


• Two-fifths of organisations report that innovation and creativity are critical to their organisation and that everyone is involved.


• Half of organisations report that their economic circumstances have declined in the past twelve months, rising to three-quarters in the public sector.


• The median annual training budget per employee was £276, less than last year's figure of £350. The median number of training hours employees receive per year was 24, again a reduction on last year.


Source CIPD April 2012 - So why not open up your training to outside specialists like jml Training and Consultance. Here you can have tailor made in house Management Development Programmes and Excecutive coaching carried out be very experienced coaches bring new ideas to your organisation.

The UK's economic problems are not going away following Government announcement yesterday of the country returning to recession, so an employer need to be at the top of the market place in efficiency whether they opearate in the private or public sectors.  Find out more about jml Training operating in the UK and Overseas Here  

Women aged over 50 defy jobs recession so make sure they are well trained

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) issued a press release a couple of days ago "'Madonna generation' of women aged over 50 defy jobs recession"


The organisation said that In its latest Work Audit report, published on the 18th April 2012, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) looks at how the jobs recession that began in 2008 has affected men and women across the age spectrum:
The report Age, gender and the jobs recession, which is based on official statistics from the Labour Force Survey, finds:


• There are 271,000 (8%) more women aged 50-64 in the labour market than at the start of the recession and 200,000 (6.2%) more in work. The number of men in this age group in employment has risen by only 3,000.


• Women aged 50-64, and men and women aged 65 and over are the only age groups to have registered an increase in both the number in work and employment rates since the start of the jobs recession and have also registered the smallest increases in unemployment.


• People aged 25-34 are the only other age group to see a rise in employment over the course of the jobs recession, with the number in work increasing by 249,000 (4%), much of the increase likely to be due to inward migration.


• Across all age groups there are 387,000 fewer men in work (a net fall of 2.4%) than in the first quarter of 2008. By contrast the number of women in work is only 8,000 (0.05%) lower.


• Although the number of unemployed women has increased by almost half a million, to reach a record level of 1.12 million, this is not primarily due to fewer jobs for women but instead to a relatively large rise (of 438,000) in the number of women participating in the labour market. Even accounting for this, the gender unemployment gap (i.e. the difference between the male and female unemployment rate) has increased from 0.8 percentage points to 1.3 percentage points.

• The relatively stronger employment outcome for women is mainly the result of a substantial rise of 172,000 (16.3%) in the number of women in self-employment. The number of women working full time as employees has fallen by 220,000 (3%), partly offset by a small rise in part-time employment (up 44,000 or 0.9%).


• Women have seen relatively strong net employment growth in managerial, professional and technical occupations but have done much less well in traditionally feminised occupations. The number of women in administrative, secretarial, sales and customer services roles has fallen by almost 400,000 since the start of the recession. Somewhat surprisingly, the number of men performing this kind of semi-skilled white collar work has increased, the net fall in male employment resulting from substantial job loss in skilled and semi-skilled blue collar occupations - skilled trades and plant, process and machine operation - and unskilled work.


• The older people get the more likely it is that they will remain out of work for longer when unemployed, although long-term unemployment rates have increased more for younger than older people since the start of the jobs recession. Men have much higher rates of long-term unemployment than women in every age group although the share of women who are long-term unemployed has increased in all age groups.


Dr John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the CIPD, comments:


"When it comes to work, older people have clearly fared better than young people during the jobs recession. But what's also clear is that older women have done best of all. While a combination of population ageing and fewer people wanting to retire early, either for financial reasons or because of a broader desire to prolong their working lives, is boosting the older workforce, it is older women that are getting most of the available jobs. Just why this is happening requires further examination, though with the modern generation of 50 something women more likely to view Madonna than Grandma Grey as a role model, the economically active older woman is well on course to be ever more prominent in British workplaces in the coming years.


"However, the relatively good outcome for older women during the recession is no cause for complacency about the need to continually stress the business case for an even more age diverse workforce as the economy starts to recover, especially with so much public policy action understandably focused on cutting youth unemployment.

Simplistic talk about older people staying in jobs at the expense of the young must not be allowed to put a brake on progress toward nudging employers to do even better in coping with demographic change. An ageing workforce presents both challenges and opportunities for employers, who at some point in the not too distant future will struggle to fill vacancies unless they recruit and retain older workers, women and men, in even far greater numbers.


"While policy measures such as the removal of the Default Retirement Age in October 2011 are helping to maintain progress, lingering opposition to that positive move demonstrates just how difficult it can be to change the business mindset.

It's vital therefore that the relative fortunes of old and young people during the jobs recession is used to stimulate discussion about how best to improve employment prospects overall, so as to avoid pointless and unnecessary talk of an 'intergenerational jobs war.' This is precisely why the CIPD recently published guidance, Managing a healthy ageing workforce, which helps organisations to respond appropriately to the ageing workforce in order to gain competitive advantage in terms of recruiting and retaining talent and supporting the well-being and engagement of employees of all ages." Source CIPD

As an employer you need to ensure that ALL your workforce is kept up to date with it's management training. This applies to men and women of all age groups.


A well trained employee will be more productive and training therefore pays for itself.

jml Training and Consultancy offer a very comprehensive selection of “in-house” quality courses that are tailor made to your organisation’s requirements. Simply follow this link to find out more about jml Training Here

It is International Women's day today are you looking for training for women?

It is March 8th again and International Women's Day.

This is to remind you that at jml-Training and Consultancy we offer a range of  "in house" courses for your company / organisation designed for women.

We have been providing these tailor made courses for a number of years now and deal with  Coaching for Women - Women's Management Development Programme - Confident Communication for Women.

We also offer courses on Equal Opportunities and Diversity.  jml-Training and Consultancy does not offer "open courses".

If you would like further information any of  jml-Training and Consultancy's management training courses please visit the "Training Courses index here"

Isn’t it time that you arranged your 2012 training programmes for your organisation?

Effective Leadership Training Reminder

Effective Leadership in any organisation is vitally important in today's working environment.

The CIPD has issued a press release today -
"Effective leadership key to successful business, highlights learning and development event"

The dynamic behaviours needed to secure capable, inspiring leaders for the future will be showcased at this year's Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) learning and development event, HRD 2012. With the recovery of the UK economy in part reliant on the growth of small and medium sized organisations, good quality, innovative leadership has never been more valuable.



The conference will offer delegates practical, best practice guidance and techniques for development in their organisations, along with the latest insights into leadership development. Expert speakers will include: British Gas, Cancer Research UK, ASDA, Mars Inc, Tesco, The Army, and Mercedes-Benz, among others.

Highlight sessions include:


• C2: Identifying and Improving your Leadership Capability and Capacity: Elizabeth Sideris, Executive Director of HR, Cancer Research UK, will explain how the organisation is better placed to be more effective in identifying and building a pipeline of emerging leaders. By focussing on individual assessment and leadership profiling they have developed a successful emerging leaders group.


• H2: Developing Leaders who are Fit for the Future: Becky Ivers, Director of OD at Premier Foods, will demonstrate its approach to development as a business investment rather than a cost, using a robust measurement of ROI. She will also highlight the importance of designing leadership development based on need and with interventions at the right level.


Vanessa Robinson, Head of HR Practice Development, CIPD, says: "Leadership is a constantly evolving discipline, which has a number of different areas for development. Some industries may place greater value on certain behaviours than others, with certain organisational cultures requiring different guidance and leadership. What is apparent across the board is the need for an agile, future focussed, skilled workforce, fit for the business today and with the capabilities the business will need tomorrow. Developing the right leadership at the top is the best way to ensure the right environment for sustainable organisation success."  (Source CIPD)

jml Training's Leadership and Management Development Programmes run over a period of several months,working with groups of participants to develop their potential as star managers. There is a  combination of training, coaching and feedback helps each participant identify a highly effective, personal management style. They learn new techniques, skills and strategies and most importantly, how to make them work in practice.

Now is the time to plan your training for the rest of the year and a successful business organisation in the private or public sector must have excellent leaders and when many employers have been cutting their staff it is so important that the workforce is properly managed so the organisation remains profitable.

To find out more about jml Training and Consultancy Leadership training follow this link

Women are suceeding better in the 2011 jobs market

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has today issued a Press Release "Women do better than men in 2011 jobs market despite public sector cutbacks"

CIPD says that The recession of 2008-9 is sometimes referred to as a 'mancession' because men were hit relatively hard when it came to jobs. Women accounted for only around a fifth of the fall in employment during the recession and only around a third of the rise in unemployment.

But there is a widespread expectation that the opposite will occur in the wake of ongoing large scale public sector downsizing, given that two-thirds of public sector workers are women, and weak consumer demand in private sector services, especially retail, that employ lots of women in part-time jobs.

However, as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) highlights today in its latest Work Audit, official statistics show that while men benefited most during the initial post-recession jobs recovery in 2010, it's been tough for both sexes in the 2011 jobs market and women have actually fared slightly better than men despite public sector cutbacks and a sharp fall in part-time employment:

• The female unemployment rate has increased steadily from 6.5% to 7.5% since the end of the recession, with the number of unemployed women reaching a record level of 1.09 million, but in 2011 has fallen very slightly relative to that of men.

• The gap between the male and female unemployment rate narrowed from 2.5 percentage points to 1.4 percentage points in the first year following the recession but has since widened again to 1.5 percentage points as economic growth has stagnated, with the male unemployment rate (now at 9%) rising back to where it was at the end of the recession.

• The number of women in work has fallen steadily throughout 2011 but the number of men in work has fallen even more, with the result that by the third quarter of 2011 the number of women in work was still 32,000 higher than at the end of 2010 while the number of men in work was 86,000 lower. Men, not women, have been hit hardest by the substantial loss of part-time jobs in 2011.

• There has been a comparable rise in male and female unemployment in 2011 but for men this was dampened by a fall in the number of men participating in the labour market, whereas for women unemployment has been raised because more women have entered the labour market to look for jobs.

Dr John Philpott, Chief Economic Adviser at the CIPD, comments:

"As the economy weakens, private sector job creation dries up, public sector job cuts gather pace and unemployment continues to rise, it's far too soon to conclude what will happen to the relative fortunes of men and women in the jobs market in the coming months. Indeed our final view of 2011 may yet alter once we have a full year of data.

But what we do know is that the relative position of women has not so far worsened as much as commonly perceived or was widely anticipated given the high concentration of women workers in the public sector and in part-time jobs more generally. This might indicate that the impact of economic austerity will prove to be more gender balanced than at first thought, although it also underlines how tough things are becoming for both sexes in our increasingly depressed jobs market."


Source CIPD


Would your organisation benefit from some specialist training for Women? At jml Training, we offer an excellent  Training Development for Women programme. Coaching for Women - Women's Management Development Programme - Confident Communication for Women + more

To find out more Click Here

Keeping Stress in Check

November the 2nd is National Stress Awareness Day and Staysure the specialist insurance company ran a small article on their community news at the end of  last week "Keep stress in check with regular exercise"

They were saying that "Exercising has a wide range of physical benefits, but it can also help psychologically, helping to keep stress under control. Keeping active helps to keep the body's emotional chemicals in balance, underlines Ann McCracken, chair of the International Stress Management Association."

"This means we think, behave and react more appropriately to the situation we find ourselves in; this in turn increases the resources we have to deal with situations we perceive as difficult or challenging," she explained.


Diet can also play a large role in lowering stress levels. Eating starchy foods such as rice and pasta along with plenty of fruit and vegetables, some protein-rich foods and milk and dairy has a positive effect on stress.

Ann McCracken also recommended that people trying to control stress should stay away from eating too much fat, salt or sugar.

They should also drink plenty of water, which nourishes the cells in the body, allowing all organs and functions to work better."


The International Stress Management Association UK is the UK's leading association for stress management professionals

According to the October 2011 CIPD survey "Stress has become the most common cause of long-term sickness absence for both manual and non-manual employees"  More information on this on jm Training blog 12th October

Are your employees feeling stressed.? jml Training & Consultancy offers an in-house Stress Management Course Information Here

Want to find out more about Staysure Insurance - Travel Insurance for the over 50s - Holiday Home Property insurance for the over 50s Find out more Here

Advancement of women in the workplace

There has been a great deal of media activity around the arena of "women in the workplace".

Earlier this year Lord Davies report was published on the "Equalty in the boardroom" issue and the Prime Minister David Cameron was calling for more women to sit on the boards of UK companies.

Today the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has issued a press release "Entries now open for the Opportunity Now Excellence in Practice Awards"

The CIPD said "The Opportunity Now Awards recognise the advancement of women in the workplace through a celebration of outstanding examples of best practice, innovation and individual achievement. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is proud to partner with Opportunity Now for the Directing Diverse Talent Award for the fourth year running. The Award recognises the individual impact of an HR professional's ingenuity and determination in driving diversity forward in their organisation.



The opportunity to enter applications is now open and any employer with a UK presence is eligible to enter, the deadline for submission is Wednesday 7 December 2011. A panel of expert judges will review the applications and score individuals against a scale of best practice. The award winners will be announced at the Opportunity Now Awards Dinner in London on Wednesday 18 April 2012. Organisations that achieve the highest overall scores will be included in The Times Top 50 Employers for Women list.


Last year's winner of the Directing Diverse Talent Award was Caroline Stroud, Employment Partner and Global HR Partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Ms Stroud succeeded in presenting the business case for a diverse talent strategy. She developed an action plan to improve gender diversity including an initiative to provide unconscious bias awareness training to all partners, which ensured a fair and open way to develop talent.


Dianah Worman, CIPD Diversity Adviser and expert on the judging panel, says: "In a difficult economic climate it is even more important for employers to sharpen up their approaches to recruiting and developing people from as diverse a pool of talent as possible. This is the only way to compete successfully in the global marketplace. Our research shows that personnel professionals are well placed to deliver useful insights into developing a sustainable agenda for diversity within the organisation and that they should use their influencing skills to do this.


"I hope HR practitioners that feel they are making a difference by engaging their organisations in driving the diversity agenda will enter the competition as a way of celebrating their successes."


Awards categories include:


• The Advancing Women in the Workplace Award


• The Agile Organisation Award


• The Champion Award


• The Directing Diverse Talent Award (in partnership with the CIPD)


• The Global Award


• The Inclusive Culture Award


• The Santander Award: Inspiring the Workforce of the Future


If you are looking for more information on "Training Development for Women" take a look at the specialist page on the jml Training Website Here

Stress and Appraisal Course details now on jml Training website

jml Training has been providing Appraisal and Stress Management courses for a number of years and has recently updated the details on the jml Training website

Appraisal Training from jml Training and Consultancy

Two appraisal training courses are featured - Performance and Effective Appraisals and Managing Your Own Appraisal.

The Performance and Effective Appraisal skills course is an interactive workshop designed for people managing the performance and appraisals of employees.




It provides a combination of theory, skills development and practical exercises that will increase the professionalism, competence and confidence of the participants when conducting appraisal interviews and managing performance


Managing Your Own Appraisal - In many organisation appraisal and performance training is provided for people managing the performance of others. The idea of providing training to employees being appraised is much less common and this is a great mistake. Details of both these courses Here


 As reported in this blog last week at  "Stress Workplace hits the news again" This subject never goes away and is very important for organisations to  provide this type of training for their employees.

Pressure is a part of everyday life. This can be positive when the pressure is a source of stimulation and creativity or negative when it becomes a source of worry or tension. If people experience an inappropriate amount of negative pressures over a period of time they will become stressed.
Find out more about this course Here

Managing Stress in Your Organisation