Skills development on the move to Higher Education & Training.

The national elections have come and gone with all the campaigns and promises to match. The split of the Education Department came as no suprise, as many educators and trainers have felt strongly that it was too cumbersome a portfolio for one department to handle. From early childhood development (ECD) through to workplace education and training it was a great challenge for Naledi Pandor to drive. Particularly because of the separation of powers with regards to the provincial departments which act fairly autonomously from the National Department and have proven to be rather badly managed. Ongoing logistical support problems for schools and colleges have been the order of the day for quite some time.

Our keen interest lies with Dr. Nzimande who as an ex-academic himself from the University of Natal heads into the hot seat driving both higher education as well as workplace training. A recent insider tip has skills development and its related organs all falling under his new department. Thus severing the ties with the Department of Labour and its key role in actively managing the skills development process in South Africa.

With the rather intricate legal mechanisms in place there will no doubts be a overhaul or series of major amendments to all the skills development, further education and high education acts to reflect this change. What does this all mean for us out there? Well it looks like the Sector Education & Training Authoritie's will fall under the new Higher Education and Training Ministry and that the skills levies and supporting funds like the National Skills Fund will be realigned to implement the new reality.

We can only congratulate the new Minister and wish him and his team the best of luck. We look forward to a more focused and integrated era under his watch. Hopefully some of the issues that plagued the Department of Labour (DoL)and the Department of Education (DoE) historically will not be a feature of the new structure moving forward. In my view policy development and project planning expertise has been lacking in both departments for quite sometime and a focus on integrated and joined-up policy is needed. Knowing that the new National Planning Commission is housed within the Office of the Presidency driven by Trevor Manuel provides some relief in sight for me. But rather than focusing on planning the concept of an integrated monitoring and evaluation system also housed within the Office of the Presidency provides even more hope. It is within that realm that skills development and training has suffered due to teh late detection of implementation issues of various public-led training projects. Particularly learnerships and related activities. It will be very interesting to see how the existing education and training quality assurance (ETQA) framework will contribute to the state led monitoring and evaluation (M & E) mechanisms.

Until then we are moving into our last month before submitting Workplace Skills Plans (WSP) and Annual Training Reports (ATR) to our respective SETA's. If you have not done so yet, I would sincerly suggest that you start your workplace training needs planning for the year ahead. Bear in mind that the skills levy and grant cycle runs from 30 June to 30 June over a twelve month period. So your plans for 2009-2010 and your report for the year 2008-2009 are almost due.

Make sure you have your registered skills development facilitator (SDF) working on it for you. A first step is designing a training needs analysis tool and reviewing the SETA template for the WSP submission which have all been loaded up on to the various SETA websites. If you are a large organisation you should be scheduling a training committee meeting to examine the companies training needs. I will be posting some more tips on skills and training planning for you all shortly.

Great news, dtermined work pays off and the Tourism Education Authority visit scheduled for 20th May at First Resorts.

Outstanding news arrived today from Ebrahim Boomgard, the Education Quality and Assurance (ETQA) Manager at the Tourism, Hospitality & Sport Education Training Authority (THETA) has notified Charne Webb the Training & Development Managers at First Resorts Management.

This recent communication is the culminating point of over a year of focused projects and investment in the development of resort and head office staff to achieve higher and more stringent service outputs to meet the demands of an ever-discerning market. The need to create value for guests and simultaneously ensure staff development as a key route to empowerment and growth opportunities especialliy for rural balck staff resulted in first resorts taking the far-sighted decision to address both its skills needs, its equity challenges and the creation of opportunities for growing stagnant black staff into management over a sustainable vocational pathway.

First Resorts model combines a variety of short skills-based interventions, onsite coaching and accredited skills programmes shortly and with twelve months the first run of hospitality focused learnerships. I personally cannot wait for the accreditation site visit which will no doubts act as a confirmation of the existing great pratice that the team and company have, whilst also providing an opportunity to gain an external perspective with regards areas which need further development.

Well done team, as the external training and development company we take great pride and joy in seeing the opportunities for growth through focused accreditation and certification processes. Its not all just a paper trail. It can be a highly meaningful opportunity for company self-reflection, adoption of people-centred strategiges and ethos particularly in such pressing global times.

Adult literacy training a success at top resort management company

It has been fantastic to be associated with the development and drive to take First Resorts guest and member service to the next level. Through the sheer determination, talent and drive of Charne Webb the Training & Development Manager, the team and the resorts have benefited from the focused attention and direction provided. Charne has taken the time to evaluate the performance needs, investigate current service challenges and adddress staff development aspirations. Speaking to managers and staff members alike which has certainly brought a fresh approach to the First Resorts human management focus. All very admirable considering that her current team is very small and covers resorts across the depth and breadth of South Africa.

Over above this Charne is currently studying towards her higher certificate in occupationally-directed education training and development practice at the Business Studies Unit at the Durban University of Technology.Charne has brought a wealth of experience and academic grounding with her from her student days at the International Hotel School in Durban.

My direct involvment in facilitating and building a training and development system has been really easy working with such a strongly committed individual. As one of the first Resort Management companies to be on track to be accredited First Resorts has already been invited by the Tourism Sector Education Training Authority (THETA) to be able to implement publicly funded adult basic education training (ABET), targeting basic literacy and numeracy skills. Obviously a huge area of concern in South africa hwere the lack of basic reading and comprehension skills limits otherwise highly motivated individuals from advancing their careers, engaging in more demanding vocational training or developing their expertise further.

We look forward to the accreditation visit by the Tourism SETA Quality Assurance Department which will also give recognition to the high standards of training that First Resorts are delivering to their staff and even beyond to sub-contracting companies in the cleaning services environment. Charne well done to you and your team. Our next challenge is to offer fully-accredited learnerships in hospitality reception - the forefront of the guest and member experience. Hold thumbs for us.

Workplace Skills Plans and the state of the industry

Recently the Services Seta CEO Ivor Blumenthal addressed stakeholders at a series of national roadshows. He stated that he is not so happy about the Workplace Skills Plans (WSPs) that his Seta receives from employers in their sector.

“95% of WSPs we receive are fraudulent, and the majority are prepared by external SDFs,” says Blumenthal.

Well I think that the obvious key issue here is the prevailing perspective on the development of the WSP's. Many levy payers ultimately treat this as a compliance led exercise rather than a critical reason to conduct a thorough annual training and performance needs analysis for the organisation. According to Marius Meyer and others South African lacks key expertise in evaluating training and performance needs at organisational and local level, relegating it to a reactive role striving to get the levies back in the form of their grant.

The structure, composition and nature of the WSP and the needs analysis process leading to its development must be organisataionally focused, yet take cognisance of staff development and broader sectoral skills needs. To do a little extra benefits the sector and its skills pool, which is always a good thing.

South African corporate structure by and large still does not acknowledge the role of training and performance as a key strategic lever for business performance. We lag behind leading OECED states.

The USA by contrast has long recognised the need for director or executive level training and performance representation, with directors of learning and performance commonly held positions throughout corporate organisations. Interestingly these executives spend a significant amount of time focusing on the start and end of the training and development process. The needs analysis and return-on-investment (ROI) components whilst project managing the design, procurement and delivery of learning and performance interventions.

The legalistic approach by the SETA's as well as the corporatist lack of vision certainly complicates the issue behind the validity and the actual development of the content. As Ivor points out either low-skill level employees or external consultants fulfil this role. The consultants generally lack insight into the business performance needs and although can provide positive insights into the opportunities presented by levy compliance they often mislead or understate the commitment to monitoring and managing training performance for their clients.

A corporate has to have a clearly defined skills development policy, highlighting the key needs analysis procedures and associated templates and tools. In addition HR or Training Managers should include skills planning expertise as key performance indicators for remuneration, recognition and reward purposes.

Lastly the SETA WSP templates and reporting forms need detailed revision and should not just cover key labour market reporting statistical fields but be more formative and be a resource for conducting needs analyses.

That would benefit the levy payers and their employees to a far greater degree.

Do the needs analysis first!

I could not start my blog about training in Southern Africa without tackling the one area that is so lacking. The needs analysis. Too many training departments and organisations invest in misdirected training programmes and 'courses' for their employees. Often assuming that training is going to fix everything. Its just not true and if anything can impact on performance to a far greater degree. As it is training managers and human resource professionals are fighting to hold on to their budgets in these uncertain times, when organisations are protecting their cash-flow and literally tighten down on expenditure in what many still consider a 'soft' operational focus or department.

We only have ourselves to blame here. By doing a thorough needs analysis of the performance requirements of the workforce a training or human resource management department are in a better position to really understand the fundamental dynamics of the ever-changing needs to deliver human performance. Well take a step back for a moment and also consider that the staff performance is dependent on allot more than pure applied skill and individual expertise. Strong 'leading-from-the-front' managers are just as critical and as Peter Senge aptly puts it. If you are not a learning organisation, you are already as good as dead. Fairly radical? No, actually with the rate of change globally, the internet (Web 2.0) as a catalyst for development and factoring in economic instability plus growing climate change concerns has created a veritable cauldron of dangerous elements. Not all of them necessarily compatible with each other. Yet for a training professional we are at the crucible, the molten core, trying to figure out where we can make a difference by understanding the needs of our workforce and the world they and your organisation is operating in.

Its no longer enough to understand just the individual, his or her team, or the department. Its more, its the whole business and the environment it operates in and the community and customers it serves. Key to this is a true understanding of of what competition really means to your business. You might be wondering what that has got to do with you as a training professional. Its actually key for you to know as much as you can about who and what the competitive environment is like for the staff that you develop, procure and train courses on. It will assist you to really understand the performance requirements of the employees from a different perspective and will support your training needs analysis and its design.

A decent training needs analysis thus cuts across the strategic external environment as well as its internal dynamics. To defend your budget and in fact grow your influence beyond budgeting you have to take a more proactive stance in the determination of organisational strategy, the competitor analysis and other key strategic planning processes that your organisations might undertake. Rather than being delegated to fulfilling strategic training needs by others, get yourself into those strategic conversations.

Do it with credibility though. Do you homework, build your internal network with other key managers in a cross-functional sense. Whether its marketing, sales, production, operations, etc it really does not matter. At times like this passivity is the death knell of many a training department and team.

Have a look at at Michael Porters YouTube video below explaining the concept of competiveness and forces that influence organisations.


Knowledge Resources well-known events and publishing organisation in South Africa are conducting a HR practices survey. It can give you some idea of the issues that various organisations have identified as being key. Although more HR-centric than training oriented, you as Tribe members might find it a useful exercise. Click here to complete the survey.