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Training Managers Breakfast meeting February 2008 - Meeting Notes

A bright sunny February morning welcomed the attendees of the latest Wright Solutions Training Managers Breakfast meeting at the Birmingham IOD. As ever the early start to the morning was helped by the coffee and pastries, the time allowing for individual meeting and greeting and the opportunity to chat with fellow attendees before sitting down to a thought provoking discussion on Training for Innovation, Insight and Idea Generation.

With an audience poised for discovery and discussion, our speaker Doug Miller opened the floor to what was to be a challenging and stimulating snap shot of how the Training role will be able to support organisations to adapt and change to succeed in today’s and tomorrow’s business world.

I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who attended and to those unable to attend this time round I look forward to welcoming you all to our future Training Managers Breakfast meetings.

I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting which will be in June 2008. We will send out details nearer the date.

Best regards

Paul Wright

Paul Wright
MD Wright Solutions

The Wright Solutions Training Managers Breakfast Meeting
A forum dedicated to views and opinions on how it affects you and your people.

So let us enjoy a quick overview on the various subjects discussed and what challenges we may face… A quick review of Trainings role in today’s business environment Many of today’s Training Managers would recognise the business environment where they, as managers, are involved less in ‘hands –on’ training and more in managing training teams or external programmes. Whilst this allows them to support their organisations it does leave many wishing they could get back to the excitement and personal satisfaction gained from working directly with their colleagues. Training will need to adapt to reflect the changing business world in which we all live. To do this it is important that the Training Manager has a good understanding of their business and how that business will survive through the next business life stage and future business changes. Innovation & Creativity within Training Doug opened the discussion out by asking a thought provoking question for the audience to think about, discuss in small groups and then to feed back as a group. How are we currently approaching the subject of innovation and creativity in our organisations and within Training? A lively and interesting discussion followed. One of the benefits of the meeting is the diversity of businesses attending allowing for a real cross section of how other businesses work, appreciation of their business issues and how they are planning to solve these issues. As a group we then discussed our individual observations and thoughts on how Innovation & Creativity is being included in our own organisations. Below are a few comments coming out of the feedback. Within Organisations: It was generally felt that we will need to change the organisational culture from training & learning to support and influence the successful business in the future A few of the comments coming out of this part of the session included: Individuals are trying to change their internal culture to promote more creative solutions Many businesses are slow to turn or change in culture (oil tanker rather than yacht) We should focus on people rather than processes Maybe not to use the word ‘creativity’ as this has a negative connotation and potentially hampens the process rather than supporting it Supporting the Business argument (ROI) for training budgets Is there time to be creative? – General feeling was that we need to find the time to take new ideas forward Get away from weakness and problems and promote a more positive environment Change the mindset of the business Within Training: A need for ‘workshops’ to promote innovation and creativity Training Managers need to be ‘innovative’ at the concept stage A need for management coaching to allow for a ‘no blame’ environment where people can take calculated risks without recrimination		Doug Miller Doug is a leading author and trainer in the field of innovation, creativity and positive attitude. His next book (his fifth) 'Brilliant Idea' has just been published by Pearson/Prentice Hall. Doug has also just completed the latest HR Business Survival Guide - HR and its role in innovation available as a FREE download from the Wright Solutions website simply click here to check it out.
The Business Aging Process A view of business life stages and where your business is today? Doug shared The Innovation Centre Europe vision that the organisations of the future will have some key assets to consider: 1. Knowledge 2. Cleverness 3. Passion 4. Creativity and Innovation Briefly discussing each of these attributes we then concentrated on the last one - Innovation & Creativity. It was recognised that innovation & creativity training now has a crucial part to play in the generation of a more creative/innovative workplace. Doug took us through some typical characteristics of the type of organisations we might be operating in. From the new start up company, with their fresh ideas, masses of energy and endless possibilities through to the current, modern, well established business enjoying the success of a stable yet still energetic trading environment. Right the way up to the leviathons of commerce, well established, but like the oil tanker, sometimes slow to take the new and innovative pathways available to them. To summarise there are three potential states for organisations: Young Dolphins Young, full of energy, an open creative attitude, risk taking. The Happy Dinosaur Possibly old, possibly traditional but surviving in the modern world The Unhappy Dinosaur Dying on its feet through lack of creativity, innovation and ideas. Doug emphasised that it is perfectly possible to be an older business but to adapt to the needs of the future if they inject dolphin like thinking and change their culture to encourage a climate of innovation and creativity. Doug believes that Training has a central role to play here. Training will need to influence and encourage the organisation to take on board a more innovative and creative stance toward training its staff. This may involve the organisation changing long established cultural processes and perceptions to training methods, introducing new techniques and focusing on people and not processes to achieve their goals. Total Innovation Management (TIM) Introducing ‘TIM’ (Total Innovation Management) to the audience Doug explained how the 4 factors of Knowledge, Cleverness, Passion and Creativity & Innovation will keep tomorrow’s business moving forward. Using a ‘life cycle theory of organisations’ to demonstrate how a business can grow, get older but to sustain it at its ‘prime’ for longer or even forever! We then set about to decide what was most important within a business for success. The results were: 1. Cost 2. Service/Quality 3. Newness/creativity/innovation It was felt that all were important and that for a truly successful business environment a mix of all three is required. Closing the gaps on the 13 Dimensions Before the meeting the attendees had been given the opportunity to complete online an Innovation Climate Questionnaire which asked questions about the individual’s organisation. This has been developed through 25 years of research by Innovation Centre Europe and organisational psychologist Goran Ekvall. This questionnaire is based around identifying how individuals feel about their organisation and measures this across 13 dimensions. These dimensions include: Commitment, Stress and Risk Taking, which together with the other 10 dimensions give a very good indication of the suitability of your organisation’s climate for innovation and creativity. Breaking into smaller discussion groups allowed the attendees to focus how all of this could or would impact on their business and to identify certain areas where their business needed to address how a positive and creative company culture could benefit the business. In particular we focussed on which of the 13 dimensions Training could get the ‘quickest wins’. The dimensions highlighted were: Work Recognition Positive Relationships Risk Taking Idea Support Shared View - Direction

A thought from Doug – “Making sensible mistakes”
From our very brief look into the future of Training I believe it is possible to see how Training professionals and the Training role within the business has to change to enable growth and success for that business as we move further into the new century. A paradigm shift is occurring within the commercial environment as global businesses remodel themselves and expect their staff to adapt to these new environments and challenges. Training has to be there to support not only the business but the individual, to allow both to design how the business operates, innovates and incentivises. The working environment is changing as new technology and business practices change the landscape on an almost daily basis. Gone are the days when a business could find commercial success and simply ride the same wave for years. That same success has to be rediscovered almost continually to compete on an increasingly competitive stage. To achieve this new business environment the company or organisation will have to nurture the individual’s creativity within all areas of the business and recognise that today’s employee expects a more inclusive work environment; an environment within which they can make their own mark on the success and personality of the company. To do this there has to be a culture where new ideas can be discussed in a sensible, supportive and positive way. This environment must allow for ‘sensible mistakes’ to be made and important lessons to be learnt, giving an environment where innovation will push tomorrow’s successful businesses forward. It can be an exciting, energetic environment full of discovery and reward. Note: Wright Solutions and Innovation Centre Europe are currently working together to promote Innovation in organisations through the use of The Innovation Climate Questionnaire (ICQ) as an assessment tool and subsequent training interventions.


If you would like to attend the next Training Managers Breakfast meeting please click here to register. Or for further information please contact Wright Solutions on 0121 687 4040 or by email at enquiries@wrightsolutionsltd.com

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