Learning, Training and Growth, by David BirchallI have just been watching Professor Robert Winston on the television showing me how we adapted and evolved from the apes. According to those many years of academic research, we have evolved from a race of small and not too intelligent apes into the species we now are because we were, in those dim and distant days past, highly inquisitive where other ape species were not. Our ancestors were "Jack's of all trades" which allowed them to have greater flexibility in an ever changing environment and it is that flexibility which fostered our evolution and adaptation.
Having an inquisitive nature means that you are able to solve problems as they present themselves and it is this critical ability that is responsible for bringing the human race from its humble beginnings to being the dominant species on the planet. Charles Darwin put it better than I ever could when he said;
"It's not the strongest that survive and thrive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones' most responsive to change"
What's that got to do with Education and Training you might ask? Well the reason I mention this is that we are currently travelling through a period of immense change which is driven by technology. Technological change moves at a pace which has us constantly running just to stay in the same place (or so it seems). Technology is changing for ever the way we do business, the markets we are in and the customers we serve. Skills which served us well for many years are fast becoming obsolete, assuming they have not already become so. Whatever we produce, it must now be done more quickly and at less cost but have more functionality, better quality and a longer shelf life; in short whatever we produce or provide - it must have more added value if we are to survive. Not much has changed in all those millions of years has it? We still have to adapt, change and be more flexible even if we have not realised it.
The reason I mention all of this is quite simply to dispel the old adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. If that was the case the human race would have perished along with all those other species that failed to change and adapt to circumstances as they presented themselves. More than ever before we now have to constantly acquire new skills for our businesses to survive and to keep us employable. However, in the past we could rely on knowledge gained through apprenticeships, college courses and on job experiential learning. But the speed of technological development out paces our ability to keep up so we now have a situation where NVQ's, City & Guilds, ONC's and OND's are no longer enough. These are now seen as basic educational and vocational requirements by customers who expect us to solve their problems through expertise.
The only way we can achieve this is to understand what and where our businesses knowledge lies, what knowledge we need now and what we are likely to need in the future. Not an easy task is it, or it may seem that way, but that is not really the case. There are simple easy to use modern management tools available to help the businessmen and business women today, but many of us have not taken the time to find out about them. Most small businesses that we work with know they are lacking something within their firms, but are not sure what that something is. With a little help it can be easy to identify what is missing or not quite up to scratch and to do something about it. Over the coming months we will be taking a look at what we call the hot buttons of owner managers, what we are told are the most pressing issues in their businesses and we will be sharing knowledge and techniques. Those owner managers who are part of our Small Business Networks are able to meet regularly, learn and practice new skills. |
