Train to Gain will soon be history. As I suggested nine days ago, this was an obvious target for the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review. Train to Gain has been of enormous value to SMEs, enabling them to operate more strategically and enhance leadership skills through coaching programmes. The existing contract will probably run for the …
I attended a Train to Gain consultants’ briefing last week and was surprised to hear how difficult it can be to give away free money. Organisations employing less than 250 people generally qualify for a £1000 grant towards leadership and management training. For a small firm this is a significant amount of free money, yet …
Ask two economists where the economy is heading and you may well get three answers. In uncertain times such as these, organisations need to hope for the best while planning for the worst. So what can be done in the face of such uncertainty? Here are some areas to consider in your contingency planning:
The Government has made no secret of its commitment to start cutting the country’s budget deficit this year. Even with these cuts our eye-wateringly big national debt will continue to rise for several years – see previous posting on this. The impact of these cuts on a fragile economy will be profound and could well …
The UK national debt is fast approaching one trillion pounds and will exceed that number next year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. For most people, big numbers like this are pretty meaningless. So how can we really understand the scale of a trillion – one thousand, thousand million?
It’s six months before you know what they are really like, I was told this week. I heard another story about a candidate who interviewed well and seemingly had all of the knowledge, technical skills and experience to do the job. Unfortunately he was completely lacking in people skills and the appointment turned out to …
I have avoided contentious or political posts so far but cannot sit on my hands over this one. Yesterday I received an email from QinetiQ – as a “valued supplier” (sic) – saying that their standard payment terms have been increased to 60 days from 30 and that “this change is in line with the …
It really does seem that the UK is coming out of recession. Today’s PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) figures show a robust January for the manufacturing sector with the strongest figures since 1994. Since manufacturing forms a significant part of GDP, this implies that business conditions generally are improving. That is very welcome news but concerns …
At the risk of sounding like Doctor Doom, 2010 is going to be a very tough year, but I do believe that there will be opportunities for resilient organisations (see previous blog on resilience. UK plc is in much worse economic state than the US and quite a bit worse than most major European nations. …
I enjoy the warm feeling of good customer service. Sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on exactly what made the difference between a good and bad experience – especially when the coffee was just the same. My point is that most jobs, whether customer facing or not, require a combination of hard and soft …