Sunday 1 February 2009
Short story
New this month, a short story about the workings of an investor relations department and the dangers of a share price being dependent on the reputations of one or two senior people. Please click here to access.
Who runs Britain? By Robert Peston, published by Hodder
This book was first published in February 2008 and was recently updated in September. It is a reflection of the speed of change that a number of statements still seem out of date since the events of the last few months (for instance the description of the now sacked CEO of HBOS as a ‘wunderkind’).
Peston is now well known as the man who broke the news about Northern Rock and who has become a central figure in events as well as a respected pundit. Indeed there have been criticisms that this involvement has compromised his independence as BBC Business Editor and that he has allowed his personality to become too high profile for his role. This was confirmed by the recent Panorama programme based on the book, which contained too much of him and not enough answers to the question.
The book contains none of this ego tripping; it is exceptionally well written and, unlike many other books on the economy, full of examples and interesting personal portraits. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Philip Green – as an example of someone who has become one of the ‘super-rich’ - and on the trials and tribulations of the roller coaster that is Marks and Spencer.
Though he clearly has a left wing background and sympathies, his description of the activities of Private Equity and Hedge Fund operators is objective and compelling, and the sums of money involved are mind boggling, both in total terms and the earnings of the individuals who mastermind the deals. He also makes a good job of destroying the myth that Private Equity operators are, in the long run, good for the businesses they buy and sell; his view is that the deals are, in the short or long term, only good for those who are made rich by them.
Peston also makes two other good points; firstly that these guys have become very rich because the banks have been willing to lend to them too cheaply, which is one of the under-rated factors that has caused the banks to be in such a sorry financial state. Secondly that the impact of these deals has been to move wealth away from the pension schemes who invest in equity markets to these few individuals, most of whom pay little or no tax here. He also makes the point that politicians have encouraged these investors by a favourable tax regime and a lack of willingness to regulate. Indeed some have been further encouraged through the honours system.
The book is a good read with simple explanations of complex concepts and deals, which are pitched at the right level for the average reader. However I was not sure after reading the book, that he has answered the question ‘Who runs Britain?’ Peston seems to be saying that it is the super-rich who control the politicians and call the shots on taxation levels and ownership of big businesses. I was not entirely convinced about this, particularly after his fascinating chapter on Royal Mail which described how the charismatic executive Alan Leighton could not overcome the resistance to change of the politicians and the unions, and was thus unable to force through the privatisation he wanted. More discussion about this kind of conflict would have been helpful.
This is however a book worth reading but I suggest you make it quick, it could be out of date in a few more months!
Peston is now well known as the man who broke the news about Northern Rock and who has become a central figure in events as well as a respected pundit. Indeed there have been criticisms that this involvement has compromised his independence as BBC Business Editor and that he has allowed his personality to become too high profile for his role. This was confirmed by the recent Panorama programme based on the book, which contained too much of him and not enough answers to the question.
The book contains none of this ego tripping; it is exceptionally well written and, unlike many other books on the economy, full of examples and interesting personal portraits. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Philip Green – as an example of someone who has become one of the ‘super-rich’ - and on the trials and tribulations of the roller coaster that is Marks and Spencer.
Though he clearly has a left wing background and sympathies, his description of the activities of Private Equity and Hedge Fund operators is objective and compelling, and the sums of money involved are mind boggling, both in total terms and the earnings of the individuals who mastermind the deals. He also makes a good job of destroying the myth that Private Equity operators are, in the long run, good for the businesses they buy and sell; his view is that the deals are, in the short or long term, only good for those who are made rich by them.
Peston also makes two other good points; firstly that these guys have become very rich because the banks have been willing to lend to them too cheaply, which is one of the under-rated factors that has caused the banks to be in such a sorry financial state. Secondly that the impact of these deals has been to move wealth away from the pension schemes who invest in equity markets to these few individuals, most of whom pay little or no tax here. He also makes the point that politicians have encouraged these investors by a favourable tax regime and a lack of willingness to regulate. Indeed some have been further encouraged through the honours system.
The book is a good read with simple explanations of complex concepts and deals, which are pitched at the right level for the average reader. However I was not sure after reading the book, that he has answered the question ‘Who runs Britain?’ Peston seems to be saying that it is the super-rich who control the politicians and call the shots on taxation levels and ownership of big businesses. I was not entirely convinced about this, particularly after his fascinating chapter on Royal Mail which described how the charismatic executive Alan Leighton could not overcome the resistance to change of the politicians and the unions, and was thus unable to force through the privatisation he wanted. More discussion about this kind of conflict would have been helpful.
This is however a book worth reading but I suggest you make it quick, it could be out of date in a few more months!
The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, published by Allan Lane
Gladwell has established his reputation with previous books, particularly ‘The Tipping Point’ which covered consumerism in the modern age. This book is very different but no less thought provoking. It looks at the factors that cause people to be successful in business and in life generally and challenges many of the assumptions that underpin our actions around selection and development of people. In particular he makes the point that innate talent, while obviously important up to a minimum level, is much less of a factor in success than is generally believed.
He starts by providing convincing evidence that, in sport and other aspects of life, the birth date cut-off periods for selection have an amazing impact on eventual performance. He quotes examples of sports squads made up almost exclusively of those who were born in the first quarter of the year, because they were older and better at the initial selection time. This superiority is then compounded by the extra attention, training and practice made available to the elite squads, making it almost impossible for those with later birthdays ever to catch up.
He then develops the theme of practice by suggesting that, in most fields of achievement, 10,000 hours of practice – as achieved by the selected elite – is essential for success. This seemed initially convincing but is stretching credibility when applied to the Beatles success as a pop group! This led me to a suspicion that Gladwell tends to construct stories to fit his theories and he would have been more convincing if he had not tried to develop the theory beyond those where there was firm evidence.
Another interesting theory is that the year of birth has been a key factor in the success of a number of prominent people, particularly business leaders. The most striking example is the group of entrepreneurs who were born in the mid 1950s and were therefore around at the right age in the mid 1970s when the opportunities in computer technology were at their most favourable. Bill Gates of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple are the most high profile examples but many more are added to a list that produces a convincing argument that talent has to be around at the right time.
There is also an interesting debate around the impact of conventional intelligence on success, backed up by some fascinating research about the achievements of highly intelligent people. The conclusion is that intelligence is a necessary condition of success up to an IQ level of 130, but beyond that point other qualities like creativity and social abilities become more important.
The book is full of stories though the latter half seems to lose its way rather, by telling rather too many stories that make the same fundamental point – that success is driven by a number of social, demographic and opportunistic factors that are highly complex and interwoven, and that it is as much about these as it is about God given talent. There is not much guidance about how this new understanding can lead to action to improve business performance but it is clear that the implications for people development are potentially enormous. Just as those basketball players with December birthdays were forgotten, how many people do schools and companies write off because they failed the initial selection process? How many people are assumed to be star performers just because they happened once to be in the right place at the right time?
This book is strongly recommended as an entertaining and thought provoking read. It might also allow you to say – if only I had been born in the right month or year, I could have achieved so much more!!
He starts by providing convincing evidence that, in sport and other aspects of life, the birth date cut-off periods for selection have an amazing impact on eventual performance. He quotes examples of sports squads made up almost exclusively of those who were born in the first quarter of the year, because they were older and better at the initial selection time. This superiority is then compounded by the extra attention, training and practice made available to the elite squads, making it almost impossible for those with later birthdays ever to catch up.
He then develops the theme of practice by suggesting that, in most fields of achievement, 10,000 hours of practice – as achieved by the selected elite – is essential for success. This seemed initially convincing but is stretching credibility when applied to the Beatles success as a pop group! This led me to a suspicion that Gladwell tends to construct stories to fit his theories and he would have been more convincing if he had not tried to develop the theory beyond those where there was firm evidence.
Another interesting theory is that the year of birth has been a key factor in the success of a number of prominent people, particularly business leaders. The most striking example is the group of entrepreneurs who were born in the mid 1950s and were therefore around at the right age in the mid 1970s when the opportunities in computer technology were at their most favourable. Bill Gates of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple are the most high profile examples but many more are added to a list that produces a convincing argument that talent has to be around at the right time.
There is also an interesting debate around the impact of conventional intelligence on success, backed up by some fascinating research about the achievements of highly intelligent people. The conclusion is that intelligence is a necessary condition of success up to an IQ level of 130, but beyond that point other qualities like creativity and social abilities become more important.
The book is full of stories though the latter half seems to lose its way rather, by telling rather too many stories that make the same fundamental point – that success is driven by a number of social, demographic and opportunistic factors that are highly complex and interwoven, and that it is as much about these as it is about God given talent. There is not much guidance about how this new understanding can lead to action to improve business performance but it is clear that the implications for people development are potentially enormous. Just as those basketball players with December birthdays were forgotten, how many people do schools and companies write off because they failed the initial selection process? How many people are assumed to be star performers just because they happened once to be in the right place at the right time?
This book is strongly recommended as an entertaining and thought provoking read. It might also allow you to say – if only I had been born in the right month or year, I could have achieved so much more!!
Comeback Kings, Economist January 10th, page 57
In November’s edition, I reviewed Steve Jobs biography and since then he has been in the news for all the wrong reasons; his precarious state of health has caused him to take six months leave, leading to concern about the impact on Apple’s market value without him.
He also features in this Economist article for a different and more positive reason, that he is one of the very few examples of high profile CEOs who have succeeded when brought back after leaving their company.
One of Jobs’s great rivals – Michael Dell – is quoted as the main example of a CEO who resigned to hand over to others but who, after poor company performance, could not resist coming back to ‘sort things out’. The article suggests that Dell is not delivering right now and that he is but one example of many CEOs who have failed in a similar way. Other examples quoted are ‘comeback CEOs’ from Starbucks, Xerox, Enron and Gateway Computers.
The article suggests that one reason for these failures is that, in many cases, they had never really left the company and their own flawed strategies were still being implemented. The poor guys who followed them were being made scapegoats for implementing their predecessors’ plans. Then, unable to resist coming back as heroes, they found they had nothing new to offer to meet the high expectations.
The difference with Steve Jobs is that he was sacked from Apple and was away from the business for a number of years before coming back with new ambition and new perspectives. He also saw that a new strategy was necessary and had the vision to see the potential from entry into the music business.
The article closes by suggesting that Michael Dell is belatedly accepting the need for a different strategy but the jury is out on whether it will be successful. His decision to move into retail outlets means that his company has lost the unique differentiation that created success in the first place and there must be doubts about its ability to compete with Apple and HP, those resurgent stars of the sector, over the long term.
To access this article go to http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12896749
He also features in this Economist article for a different and more positive reason, that he is one of the very few examples of high profile CEOs who have succeeded when brought back after leaving their company.
One of Jobs’s great rivals – Michael Dell – is quoted as the main example of a CEO who resigned to hand over to others but who, after poor company performance, could not resist coming back to ‘sort things out’. The article suggests that Dell is not delivering right now and that he is but one example of many CEOs who have failed in a similar way. Other examples quoted are ‘comeback CEOs’ from Starbucks, Xerox, Enron and Gateway Computers.
The article suggests that one reason for these failures is that, in many cases, they had never really left the company and their own flawed strategies were still being implemented. The poor guys who followed them were being made scapegoats for implementing their predecessors’ plans. Then, unable to resist coming back as heroes, they found they had nothing new to offer to meet the high expectations.
The difference with Steve Jobs is that he was sacked from Apple and was away from the business for a number of years before coming back with new ambition and new perspectives. He also saw that a new strategy was necessary and had the vision to see the potential from entry into the music business.
The article closes by suggesting that Michael Dell is belatedly accepting the need for a different strategy but the jury is out on whether it will be successful. His decision to move into retail outlets means that his company has lost the unique differentiation that created success in the first place and there must be doubts about its ability to compete with Apple and HP, those resurgent stars of the sector, over the long term.
To access this article go to http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12896749
‘Attention – the prerequisite for successful learning’ by Christopher Ball, page 45 Training Journal, January 2009
Though this article is not aimed primarily at management audiences, it does provide a lot of insight that is relevant. Indeed, having read many articles about the way children learn over the years, it is interesting how many parallels there are to managers, even senior ones!!
The author starts by making the obvious but important point that learning depends on attention and that telling stories is one way of ensuring that attention is initially secured. He then goes on to rather disprove his point by telling several stories that go on rather too long. Perhaps he should have said ‘stories of the right length’.
Nevertheless it is worth persevering because the article goes on to suggest that attention is closely related to confidence and motivation and that, without these, individuals will create their own ‘roadblocks’ to learning. He suggests a vicious circle whereby lack of confidence destroys motivation, lack of motivation destroys attention and lack of attention destroys learning.
This leads to what the author calls ‘learned helplessness’ and though the examples quoted are about the learning of maths at school, all of us at MTP would recognise similar symptoms from some high level managers when attempting to learn about finance. They convince themselves before the course that they can’t do it and this means that they don’t even try to learn. Our solutions are similar to those in the article, to convince the audience that the subject is less complex than they thought and increase their confidence by a range of learning strategies.
The article suggests five criteria for these strategies all conveniently beginning with ‘C’; the audience should be comfortable, confident, able to make choices, challenged and able to see clearly what success means. Stories are again important here, as are analogies to everyday life. And even more important is a facilitator with the warmth and sensitivity to make the learners feel relaxed enough to remove the blocks. It is often the knowledge that others in similar positions have the same lack of confidence and a belief that the trainer is there to help them, that enables the barriers to be overcome.
The article is worthwhile reading for the learning professional, even if it will probably only reinforce existing beliefs in most cases. However you may want to skip some of the stories and self serving personal references.
To access this article go to http://www.trainingjournal.com/tj/1883.html
The author starts by making the obvious but important point that learning depends on attention and that telling stories is one way of ensuring that attention is initially secured. He then goes on to rather disprove his point by telling several stories that go on rather too long. Perhaps he should have said ‘stories of the right length’.
Nevertheless it is worth persevering because the article goes on to suggest that attention is closely related to confidence and motivation and that, without these, individuals will create their own ‘roadblocks’ to learning. He suggests a vicious circle whereby lack of confidence destroys motivation, lack of motivation destroys attention and lack of attention destroys learning.
This leads to what the author calls ‘learned helplessness’ and though the examples quoted are about the learning of maths at school, all of us at MTP would recognise similar symptoms from some high level managers when attempting to learn about finance. They convince themselves before the course that they can’t do it and this means that they don’t even try to learn. Our solutions are similar to those in the article, to convince the audience that the subject is less complex than they thought and increase their confidence by a range of learning strategies.
The article suggests five criteria for these strategies all conveniently beginning with ‘C’; the audience should be comfortable, confident, able to make choices, challenged and able to see clearly what success means. Stories are again important here, as are analogies to everyday life. And even more important is a facilitator with the warmth and sensitivity to make the learners feel relaxed enough to remove the blocks. It is often the knowledge that others in similar positions have the same lack of confidence and a belief that the trainer is there to help them, that enables the barriers to be overcome.
The article is worthwhile reading for the learning professional, even if it will probably only reinforce existing beliefs in most cases. However you may want to skip some of the stories and self serving personal references.
To access this article go to http://www.trainingjournal.com/tj/1883.html
‘The year of the CFO’ by Lucy Kellaway, page 139 The Economist review ‘The World in 2009’
I have reviewed this article because of its relevance to the two management functions that MTP deals with most – Finance and HR – and because it raises interesting issues. Ii is chosen even though it is relatively short and is pitched at a light hearted level, because it predicts an interesting development during the challenging times of the recession, that power will move from HR towards Finance. At first this might seem an obvious point that will be true in many companies but when you look further at the arguments that Kellaway is producing, you have to question the logic and wisdom of such a power transfer.
It is surprising that a well known FT journalist like Kellaway should adopt a light hearted tone that is out of touch with the times and it makes you wonder whether she really is trying to make a serious point. The predictive nature of the article and the lack of evidence to justify the predictions, make it difficult to relate to; at times one wonders what such an article is doing within the pages of the Economist’s otherwise excellent review. These are serious matters that require a different and more balanced tone.
Among the questionable suggestions – which I hope most companies would not be implementing - are that:
It is surprising that a well known FT journalist like Kellaway should adopt a light hearted tone that is out of touch with the times and it makes you wonder whether she really is trying to make a serious point. The predictive nature of the article and the lack of evidence to justify the predictions, make it difficult to relate to; at times one wonders what such an article is doing within the pages of the Economist’s otherwise excellent review. These are serious matters that require a different and more balanced tone.
Among the questionable suggestions – which I hope most companies would not be implementing - are that:
- Emotional intelligence and thinking outside the box will no longer be rated by top management.
- Top CEO jobs will go to ‘ Beancounters’.
- Value rather than vision will be the order of the day.
- Companies will no longer be looking for talented people.
- HR priorities will be restricted to managing headcount and payroll.
- Marketing people will also lose power as their budgets are cut.
While it is true that there will have to be firm leadership from the finance function and that some cost reductions will be necessary, it is difficult to think of a selection of actions more likely to lead to long term corporate failure.
Lucy, I hope you weren’t being serious but if you weren’t, what was the point?
To access this article go to http://www.economist.com/theworldin/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12494665
HR’s role during the recession, Personnel Today 2nd December and 20th January
As a follow on from Kelloway’s contribution there are two short but interesting articles in Personnel Today, both about the HR role during the recession, one with good news and one with bad news. The good news was in December when the article spoke of the important role of HR people during the downturn, making sure that staff are fully briefed and that there are encouraging suggestions for responses to hard times.
These points came from the highly regarded CEO of Diageo Paul Walsh, who, contradicting the points made by Lucy Kellaway above, said that HR’s role of inclusion and communication was vital and that they must be ‘in the vanguard of talent development’. Another CEO, John McDonough of Carillion emphasised the need to maintain training investment – which of course we strongly endorse!! – to take advantage of the upturn when it comes; the CEO of John Lewis also made similar points about the importance of the HR role.
The bad news from the January article was a poll taken out by Roffey Park, which showed that only 30% of line managers felt that HR was adding value to the organisation. This is apparently down from 33% and 34% in previous years, results which must cause concern, even without the recent downturn. Can between 60% and 70% of managers really believe that the HR function is adding no value? Those who are interested in finding out more should approach Roffey Park; it would be interesting to see how the question was addressed and, if possible, how this compares with other functions.
Apparently one of the issues was the failure to be proactive and take timely initiatives. One comment in the article from an HR Director – Barry Hoffman of Computacenter – perhaps illustrates the problem. His solution is for ‘managers to engage creatively with their HR Departments …. , allow us to add value, ignore us at your peril’. Say no more!
It might be interesting for readers from the HR function to carry out their own internal surveys and make comparisons. From our observation of the image and levels of pro-activity of our clients’ HR functions, it is hard for MTP to relate to these results.
To access the articles referred to go to http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/12/01/48533/business-big-wigs-heap-praise-on-motivational-role-of-hr-in-tough-times.html and http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/01/15/48987/hr-profession-urged-to-stick-to-guns-despite-sniping-from-line-managers.html
These points came from the highly regarded CEO of Diageo Paul Walsh, who, contradicting the points made by Lucy Kellaway above, said that HR’s role of inclusion and communication was vital and that they must be ‘in the vanguard of talent development’. Another CEO, John McDonough of Carillion emphasised the need to maintain training investment – which of course we strongly endorse!! – to take advantage of the upturn when it comes; the CEO of John Lewis also made similar points about the importance of the HR role.
The bad news from the January article was a poll taken out by Roffey Park, which showed that only 30% of line managers felt that HR was adding value to the organisation. This is apparently down from 33% and 34% in previous years, results which must cause concern, even without the recent downturn. Can between 60% and 70% of managers really believe that the HR function is adding no value? Those who are interested in finding out more should approach Roffey Park; it would be interesting to see how the question was addressed and, if possible, how this compares with other functions.
Apparently one of the issues was the failure to be proactive and take timely initiatives. One comment in the article from an HR Director – Barry Hoffman of Computacenter – perhaps illustrates the problem. His solution is for ‘managers to engage creatively with their HR Departments …. , allow us to add value, ignore us at your peril’. Say no more!
It might be interesting for readers from the HR function to carry out their own internal surveys and make comparisons. From our observation of the image and levels of pro-activity of our clients’ HR functions, it is hard for MTP to relate to these results.
To access the articles referred to go to http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/12/01/48533/business-big-wigs-heap-praise-on-motivational-role-of-hr-in-tough-times.html and http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/01/15/48987/hr-profession-urged-to-stick-to-guns-despite-sniping-from-line-managers.html
‘Maximising your return on people’ by Laurie Bassi and Daniel McMurrer, Harvard Business Review, back issue, originally published March 2007
There is nothing of much interest to learning professionals in the latest HBR but the website is now re-offering back issues of key articles and this one stood out as of being of interest and relevance. Interestingly they are also recycling Kaplan and Norton’s original 1993 article on the Balanced Scorecard, which is strongly related to the key theme here – how do you measure the success of HR activities?
‘People are our biggest asset’ and ‘we need to measure our return on people’ have become the leading cliché and holy grail of management thinking in recent years. This article starts by restating the cliché but then goes some way towards the holy grail.
The authors – have you noticed how Harvard articles are hardly ever written by just one person? – have introduced their own ‘TLA’ to describe their work – HCM or Human Capital Management. I recall that similar concepts were being developed in the 1970s when I first entered management education and the objective was the same – to find a meaningful and quantitative way of measuring performance around management of people. Bassi and McMurrer claim to have found the answer via a framework for measurement involving five key categories that are determinants of organizational performance – Leadership Practices, Employee Engagement, Knowledge Accessibility, Workforce Optimisation and – thankfully included last but not least – Learning Capacity.
Within each of these categories there are between four and five sub-headings; for example for Learning Capacity these are Innovation, Training, Development, Value and Systems. The evaluation is carried out by a simple 1 to 5 scoring system related to a specific statement of success, eg for Training, ‘Training is practical and supports organisational goals’.
Though this is interesting and potentially useful, it is clear that it falls well short of the ultimate holy grail of measuring the return on people investment. The authors do however claim to have improved the HR performance of 42 organisations using this approach, though one assumes that this would be measured by their own indicators, an interestingly circular and self serving evaluation process. Their claim is that by monitoring period by period trends and by benchmarking against other similar businesses, this process fills the common void of quantitative accountability within the HR function. What is not mentioned is the potential cost of setting up and running the process.
Nevertheless, this is a useful article for the HR practitioner. If you are just interested the Executive Summary will do; if you are thinking a applying it, I suggest the full article.
PS
An interesting postscript. The article states that previous research could find only one traditional HR metric that predicted organisational performance – training expenditure per employee. It is surprising that this does not seem to feature in this latest research, perhaps because it is too simple?
To access this article go to http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2007/03/maximizing-your-return-on-people/ar/1
‘People are our biggest asset’ and ‘we need to measure our return on people’ have become the leading cliché and holy grail of management thinking in recent years. This article starts by restating the cliché but then goes some way towards the holy grail.
The authors – have you noticed how Harvard articles are hardly ever written by just one person? – have introduced their own ‘TLA’ to describe their work – HCM or Human Capital Management. I recall that similar concepts were being developed in the 1970s when I first entered management education and the objective was the same – to find a meaningful and quantitative way of measuring performance around management of people. Bassi and McMurrer claim to have found the answer via a framework for measurement involving five key categories that are determinants of organizational performance – Leadership Practices, Employee Engagement, Knowledge Accessibility, Workforce Optimisation and – thankfully included last but not least – Learning Capacity.
Within each of these categories there are between four and five sub-headings; for example for Learning Capacity these are Innovation, Training, Development, Value and Systems. The evaluation is carried out by a simple 1 to 5 scoring system related to a specific statement of success, eg for Training, ‘Training is practical and supports organisational goals’.
Though this is interesting and potentially useful, it is clear that it falls well short of the ultimate holy grail of measuring the return on people investment. The authors do however claim to have improved the HR performance of 42 organisations using this approach, though one assumes that this would be measured by their own indicators, an interestingly circular and self serving evaluation process. Their claim is that by monitoring period by period trends and by benchmarking against other similar businesses, this process fills the common void of quantitative accountability within the HR function. What is not mentioned is the potential cost of setting up and running the process.
Nevertheless, this is a useful article for the HR practitioner. If you are just interested the Executive Summary will do; if you are thinking a applying it, I suggest the full article.
PS
An interesting postscript. The article states that previous research could find only one traditional HR metric that predicted organisational performance – training expenditure per employee. It is surprising that this does not seem to feature in this latest research, perhaps because it is too simple?
To access this article go to http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2007/03/maximizing-your-return-on-people/ar/1
MTP News
Spring workshop
We would like to remind our clients and contacts about the latest in our series of highly successful workshops for learning professionals on March 20th on the highly topical subject of Reducing the Cost of Learning Delivery. This session will focus on the alternatives to face to face training now being used by some of our major clients, including the Virtual Classroom for global on-line delivery and Train Trainer solutions. Invitations will be going out soon but please email learn@mtpplc.com if you would like to reserve an early place.
See below for more about these activities.
Economic position
In the Autumn we reported that, despite the gloomy news on the economy, MTP’s programmes and forward bookings were looking good. Since then the external gloom has clearly increased but we are pleased to report that the present and forward position are both strong.
We believe that this is partly because we work with companies and managers who believe that continued investment in management training is essential to long term success and should not be sacrificed for short term reasons. Another factor is that we now work in a wide range of industrial sectors, most of which are resilient to global downturn. It is also a lot to do with our quality and flexibility of delivery method, with a lot of our new business coming from innovative non-classroom solutions.
We would be interested to hear from clients and contacts about the impact of the current economic environment on spending this year.
Virtual Classroom Training
Our innovative work in this area – the delivery of live, interactive, on-line learning - has been steadily developing over the last few years and we have already delivered virtual sessions for Unilever, Financial Times and Barclays. Our most ambitious project yet was started in October when we launched a virtual version of a two day learning programme in business acumen for the HR professionals of one of the world’s biggest high tech companies, a household name throughout the world.
This programme went much further than our previous virtual classroom projects, extending to four sessions of three hours and including many of the features that make our ‘face to face’ courses so successful - quizzes, polls, case studies and even a role play exercise. The session also includes a video covering the company’s investor relations strategy and it is all brought together by an MTP tutor working from our offices, using the most up to date on-line learning software.
The following quote is typical of the highly favourable response so far
“I was very surprised at the level of interaction and engagement with the use of the VC and teleconferencing technology. I’ve been in L&D roles and have really struggled with how to best facilitate this type of program at low cost to an audience that is spread across such a vast geography. This is definitely a big leap forward and I see huge opportunity for using this technology. Overall, the program was fantastic, delivery and use of technology was great; I hope we can do more of this in the future.”
The success has been confirmed by the booking of more than twenty programmes this year, with around 90% delivered via virtual classroom methodology and an audience extending for the first time beyond the HR function. We have also begun a number of new projects for Barclays, including the virtual delivery of role play exercises and a business simulation.
Train the Trainer
At one stage in our history we were reluctant to provide ‘Train the Trainer’ programmes and packages but we have changed our response as more and more clients search for low cost solutions to the achievement of global reach. Therefore we have, during the last few years, run Train the Trainer programmes and produced trainers’ manuals for a number of our courses, in circumstances where, after discussion, we believe that successful delivery can be achieved by an internal person.
We find however that the implementation of trained trainer deliveries is usually much more difficult than was anticipated by the clients concerned, particularly where it requires technical expertise outside the HR function. Colleagues in finance or marketing functions do not always have the time or the confidence to deliver, once they find out what is involved. We have however seen effective implementation by some clients – notably Unilever – where the necessary commitment and support was available.
It is interesting that the virtual classroom session mentioned above was developed after a train the trainer initiative had failed to be implemented, because it was difficult to find enough people with the right combination of business education and training expertise.
Computer Based Training
We are pleased to report that one of the world’s top oil companies has purchased a global license to use our on-line financial learning programme – Learning Value Creation – as their main medium for training middle managers in the basics of financial and management accounting. This follows a period of assessment of our programme by a selection of the target audience, in comparison with other products on the market.
Previous licenses for tailored packages have been granted to TNT, Unilever and another major food company.. These companies have found that the uniquely interactive and engaging nature of our programme appeals to management audiences, as does the practical approach of the content.
We would like to remind our clients and contacts about the latest in our series of highly successful workshops for learning professionals on March 20th on the highly topical subject of Reducing the Cost of Learning Delivery. This session will focus on the alternatives to face to face training now being used by some of our major clients, including the Virtual Classroom for global on-line delivery and Train Trainer solutions. Invitations will be going out soon but please email learn@mtpplc.com if you would like to reserve an early place.
See below for more about these activities.
Economic position
In the Autumn we reported that, despite the gloomy news on the economy, MTP’s programmes and forward bookings were looking good. Since then the external gloom has clearly increased but we are pleased to report that the present and forward position are both strong.
We believe that this is partly because we work with companies and managers who believe that continued investment in management training is essential to long term success and should not be sacrificed for short term reasons. Another factor is that we now work in a wide range of industrial sectors, most of which are resilient to global downturn. It is also a lot to do with our quality and flexibility of delivery method, with a lot of our new business coming from innovative non-classroom solutions.
We would be interested to hear from clients and contacts about the impact of the current economic environment on spending this year.
Virtual Classroom Training
Our innovative work in this area – the delivery of live, interactive, on-line learning - has been steadily developing over the last few years and we have already delivered virtual sessions for Unilever, Financial Times and Barclays. Our most ambitious project yet was started in October when we launched a virtual version of a two day learning programme in business acumen for the HR professionals of one of the world’s biggest high tech companies, a household name throughout the world.
This programme went much further than our previous virtual classroom projects, extending to four sessions of three hours and including many of the features that make our ‘face to face’ courses so successful - quizzes, polls, case studies and even a role play exercise. The session also includes a video covering the company’s investor relations strategy and it is all brought together by an MTP tutor working from our offices, using the most up to date on-line learning software.
The following quote is typical of the highly favourable response so far
“I was very surprised at the level of interaction and engagement with the use of the VC and teleconferencing technology. I’ve been in L&D roles and have really struggled with how to best facilitate this type of program at low cost to an audience that is spread across such a vast geography. This is definitely a big leap forward and I see huge opportunity for using this technology. Overall, the program was fantastic, delivery and use of technology was great; I hope we can do more of this in the future.”
The success has been confirmed by the booking of more than twenty programmes this year, with around 90% delivered via virtual classroom methodology and an audience extending for the first time beyond the HR function. We have also begun a number of new projects for Barclays, including the virtual delivery of role play exercises and a business simulation.
Train the Trainer
At one stage in our history we were reluctant to provide ‘Train the Trainer’ programmes and packages but we have changed our response as more and more clients search for low cost solutions to the achievement of global reach. Therefore we have, during the last few years, run Train the Trainer programmes and produced trainers’ manuals for a number of our courses, in circumstances where, after discussion, we believe that successful delivery can be achieved by an internal person.
We find however that the implementation of trained trainer deliveries is usually much more difficult than was anticipated by the clients concerned, particularly where it requires technical expertise outside the HR function. Colleagues in finance or marketing functions do not always have the time or the confidence to deliver, once they find out what is involved. We have however seen effective implementation by some clients – notably Unilever – where the necessary commitment and support was available.
It is interesting that the virtual classroom session mentioned above was developed after a train the trainer initiative had failed to be implemented, because it was difficult to find enough people with the right combination of business education and training expertise.
Computer Based Training
We are pleased to report that one of the world’s top oil companies has purchased a global license to use our on-line financial learning programme – Learning Value Creation – as their main medium for training middle managers in the basics of financial and management accounting. This follows a period of assessment of our programme by a selection of the target audience, in comparison with other products on the market.
Previous licenses for tailored packages have been granted to TNT, Unilever and another major food company.. These companies have found that the uniquely interactive and engaging nature of our programme appeals to management audiences, as does the practical approach of the content.