abdi monthly newsletter

Issue 32 - December 2009

Festive Greetings from abdi
Abdi ltd has a depth of experience unique in the UK, in impact measurement and ROI within L&D. We teach the tools to effectively plan, measure and evaluate all business activity. To discover how abdi can help you and your organisation, visit our website at
 www.abdi.eu.com




Editorial

As the year draws to a close, while many are hoping never to see another 12 - 18 months like it, there is an air of gentle optimism that the worst is over and the future does look brighter. However, it is essential to consider what lessons this enormous economic upheaval has taught us. A recent Bersin report supports our wide experience here in the UK and Europe, that the past couple of years has been a 'wake-up' call to those working in HR and L&D.

If it isn't aligned to the organisation's objectives, then why is it included in your work? And is it really aligned or only vaguely connected with no clear line of sight to the organisation's metrics? The discipline of planning investment in HR and L&D initiatives so they are clearly linked through a chain of impact to the organisation's metrics and a rigorous approach to ensuring efficiency and effectiveness for all people investments is simply no longer desirable, it is essential - not least in the public sector.

Bersin have developed their 'Trading Investment Model' which you may find useful to consider in your disciplined investment planning and analysis. All investment in any of the four parts needs to be aligned, and allocating investments to each part may help you deciding both what and when to invest going forward.

Reproduced with permission from Annual Training Industry Study 2009  Executive Summary. 
November 2009

Think about the percentage of investment in each quadrant as well as the expectations from all those involved in planning, executing or reporting on the outcomes of these investments. Is your organisation getting the most focused short and longer term outcomes and the highest value from your investment?

Remember Dr Jack Phillips' optimal investment model (Our ROI Evaluator Certificate workshop participants will be familiar with the idea of 'optimal investing').  All proposals for spending the organisation's money will need to be much more rigorously planned and if we truly want to engage our employees, we need to get much better at demonstrating the reason for as well as the benefit of our HR and L&D programmes.

Very best wishes at the end of this volatile and challenging year: I hope all our readers, workshop participants and organisational clients have a very peaceful and restful end of year and on behalf of the team here at abdi ltd, may I thank you for all the support and encouragement you have given us in our mission to deliver the best to you and your organisations in evaluation planning and reporting.
Jane Massy


Interview with Peter Block, Executive Director of BTSR

Peter Block is Executive Director at BTSR (Broadcast Training & Skills Regulator) and this month he talks to abdi's CEO Jane Massy about the importance of a sector that delivers significant economic value as well as employment in the UK and is a leading global player in building creativity and innovation in some of the most advanced technologies in the world today.

'We have overall a very high skilled workforce and over 85% have a first degree, but one that needs continual investment if we are to continue to compete and maintain our position as one of the world's leaders in the broadcast sector. We are charged with gathering and reviewing the data on the quality and status of training and skills in the sector. But gathering data doesn't focus on how we might encourage improvement and target where investment/improvement is needed.'

Peter led the team that developed a grid, providing a framework for quality and shared this with the industry where it has been used for the past three years, the last two online. It has proven to be a hugely successful tool for everyone in the industry to self evaluate and benchmark their performance against specified criteria within an overall standard. 'However, we'd really like to show that through aligned planning and robust evaluation, companies can show and legitimise in bottom line results the investment made by the best companies.'

The BTSR  has helped define through its grid, a standard from 'none to excellent' in professional practice in training and skills development which has helped sector organisations to review their provision as a first step to improve and develop their approach to investing in people. However, better business alignment up front for all investment and better evaluation and measurement at the end (Strands 1 and 7 on the BTSR grid) remain weak.

With this in mind and following Jane Massy's workshop at the Learning & Development in Broadcasting Conference 2009, Skillset, the Sector Skills Council for the creative media industries agreed to host a dedicated ROI Foundation workshop in January. Peter will be watching with great interest: our hope here at abdi is that we'll be able to see a real impact in the next BTSR survey results on these two fundamental aspects of professional practice as the ROI Methodology is embedded into the planning, measurement and reporting practice of the sector.

Peter promises to spend some time with the workshop participants in January and we look forward to welcoming him and to working with professionals in the sector in the coming months to deliver results.


The Shape of Business, the Next 10 Years, CBI report

The CBI have very recently issued a report The Shape of Business, the Next 10 Years 

It draws on widespread consultations and workshop discussions (Jane Massy participated in one of these as a member of the CBI East of England Regional Council) with senior public and private sector leaders.

From our perspective here at abdi, we find ourselves in agreement with much on the section on skills (pages 21-23) and anyone that has worked with us, will note how the key messages echo those we have been making for many years in our work with organisations here in the UK. For our newsletter readers from outside the UK, it is also worth reading as it will surely reflect your own findings about the very significant changes occurring in the way organisations think about, planning and reporting their investments in the workforce.

A few quotes 'businesses will secure greater return on investment in training employees in a number of ways. Training to enhance productivity will be the priority: for a training activity to be funded, it will need to be clear where and how it will add value to the business across the board, funding for 'non-essential' training and general career development training not directly aligned with corporate goals will be scaled down substantially or even stopped.'

As an organisation, our mission since we began has been the following: 'To be the number 1 contributor to the transformation of workforce investment so that our clients plan, evidence, monitor and report business impact and value for money (ROI) and in doing so, drive up the value from these investments and report robust evidence to senior management and boards when they make investment decisions in current and future workforce development and workplace learning.'

We believe we can provide the best guidance to make sure you are in a position to meet the challenges facing organisations today, tomorrow and beyond. Call us at 01223 360240 or email info@abdi.eu.com to find out more about the ROI Institute methodology and the global gold standard in planning, measuring and reporting business impact and ROI.


Certificates awarded

abdi are please to announce that the following candidates have all passed the ROI Foundation Certificate Course and will all receive their Edexcel certificates.

Simon Holmes: Learning and Development Manager, Sheffield Children's NHS Trust
Jim Chapman: Audit and Knowledge Manager, Sheffield Health and Social Care
Vanessa McPhail: Training and Development Manager, Bedford District Care Trust
Isabel Brislen: Senior Nurse, Education and Development, Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
Katherine Mary Wiggan: KSF Project Head and General Training Officer, Airedale NHS Trust
Sarah Waterson: Learning and Development Engagement Partner, BT Global Services
Lindsay Rich: HR Process and Education Manager, Mitchells and Butler
Catherine Forber: Leads Teaching Hospital
Kristy Skimming: Training and Development Government Head, Huddersfield Royal Infirmary
Allison Foster: Organisational Development Manager Directorate of OD and Corporate Affairs, NHS Doncaster PCT
Roy Ackema: Consultant, Tracoin Quality BU, the Netherlands
Anna Elizabeth Maciver: Senior Training Specialist, The Old Course Hotel Golf Resort and Spa, Fife
Deborah Stiff: Workforce Information Manager, Human Resources, Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
Vanessa Roberts: Employment Project Manager, Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
David Gaunt: Business Manager Development and Events, Leeds Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Linda Palmer: Staff Development Officer, NHS Barnsley, Care Service Direct, Centre for L&D
Barbara Anna Henderson: National NVQ/ Lifelong Learning Manager, NHS Blood and Transplant
Lesley Emerson: Learning and Development Manager, City Health Care Partnership, Hull


Bob Muddle

Bob Muddle has joined abdi full time as part of our sales and marketing team. He brings a wealth of new skills and experience to our growing organisation and we are delighted to welcome him to abdi. If you require any information about project or programme evaluation and consultancy services or would like to discuss the possibility of running one of our in-house courses to build the competency of your HR and L&D teams, contact Bob Muddle at info@abdi.eu.com


ROI is a key tool for managing L&D and HR objectives and budgets

Make yourself one of the smart practitioners who can bring Gold Standard impact planning and evaluation to your organisation - reserve your place on one of our 2010 courses now

ROI Foundation Certificate for the Broadcasting Sector
28-29 January

ROI Foundation Certificate courses
8-9 March
21-22 June
20-21 September
15-16 November

ROI Evaluator Certificate courses
7-9 June
17-19 November

To talk about bringing our course in-house to you and your colleagues, for further information on any of abdi ltd's courses and to book your place call (01223) 360240 or email us at info@abdi.eu.com

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Instead of sending Christmas cards to you all abdi will instead be placing a charitable donation of £250 to Action Aid to find out more about the charity visit www.actionaid.org.uk  abdi would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and successful 2010.

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