News: Performance Management
BBC show stokes interest in communication skills training
29 October 2008
Communication skills training is one of the best investments in staff development business leaders can make, according to BBC show The Apprentice.
In a new survey of over 250 learning professionals carried out ahead of next month's World of Learning 2008 conference in Birmingham, the programme was cited for illustrating the current primary lacks in the nation's managers.
Negotiating skills were also singled out as largely ripe for improvement, as were younger managers' leadership and team-working abilities.
A third of respondents alluded to the need for presentation skills training, while 29 per cent identified a lack of budgeting capabilities.
"It is interesting that so many learning and development experts were in particular unimpressed by the communication, leadership and team-working skills of young managers," World of Learning senior project manager Andrew Gee remarked to Consultant News.
Suggesting that "training the trainer" could be a consideration for the majority of organisations, he added that line managers' role in staff learning and development should be "embedded".
Coaching and mentoring schemes are a further solution with regard to nurturing employees' leadership qualities, he concluded.
Last week, global consulting firm the Hay Group also identified a need for communication skills training in many organisations where such skills' link to performance management and "employee engagement" is not fully appreciated.
