Effective RPL - is it possible

I also listened to a great presentation by John Price on whether effective RPL is possible. As he says, sometimes RPL is referred to as RPHell...
There seem to be so many barriers to RPL and the question is - are there ways in which we can demystify the process and ensure that there are benefits for candidates?
There are barriers to the student in terms of the jargon we use - there are endless accronyms and references to units that are just meaningless to some students.
There is also a fear of endless paperwork as well as of a process that seems inflexible. Special needs don't seem to be catered for easily.
Students often don't feel supported and the costs can be high because the work is conducted on an individual, one-on-one basis.
The RTO itself is reluctant to get involved because of the extra time needed from staff and because of a lack of understanding about RPL.
Employers often don't understand why students want what is perceived as being 'a piece of paper' when they can get on perfectly well with their assigned tasks. They certainly question the value-add to the business.
So what can be done?
RTO's can work on streamlining the RPL process and this process in turn can be more adaptable to different circumstances:
1. Allow applicants to complete a user-friendly, plain English form.
2. Do some questions with the applicant in a conversational way - make sure that the questions relate to what the person does.
3. Let them do a practical demo if applicable or bring evidence
4. Get some 3rd party verification.
Adapt these steps based on the circumstances of each individual. Don't just go by unit - have a picture in mind of what a really competent person in the workplace looks like.
The key to RPL is that you do not know where the person was trained and how they were trained. So instead use the end as your starting point - and the end is a clear picture of a competent person.
You will then be able to map back to the units and to the critical pieces of evidence.

Changes to the AQTF

I recently listened to an excellent presentation by Margaret Willis, Director of VETAB.
She provided a very useful background to the history behind VETAB and reform in the VET system.
VETAB was established in 1991 because of the urgent reform needed in the vocational system through a co-operative federal set-up. ANTA was then established in 1992 and had as its role to establish a national training system. It did not however have a strong blueprint although it did know that there had to be a national register of competency standards, now NTIS and a meaningful way of collecting data through AVETMISS.
They also knew that providers had to be registered and in 1998 a framework began to appear that ensured mutual recognition of qualifications and it began a mindset for thinking about compliance.
These standards were however not strong enough and by 2002 the AQTF appeared. Providers did not all like the standards and in 2007 a new set of standards emerged that were more widely accepted.
The standards however worked from the assumption that all providers in the industry were about quality training. This assumption was however tested by providers who were not showing high levels of integrity and VETAB found itself drawn into ICAC investigations about the fraudulent issuing of qualifications.
VETAB was seen by ICAC as being too naive and trusting and so more changes are now introduced into the AQTF 2010 to ensure that the head of an RTO is a 'fit and proper person'.
There is more risk management and also far stronger tests on financial viability.
From April 2011 there will also be a national regulator and VETAB will disappear and hand over all responsibility to the national regulator.

Amazing Success with job-seekers!

We have been delivering a training program for a group of job-seekers who are seeking work in the field of marketing. What an incredible group of people!
Besides learning skills and new ways of applying these skills in work situations, they have achieved a remarkable turn-around in the way in which they market themselves in order to secure employment. They have all learnt how to do their own elevator pitch and how to 'sell' themselves into a role.
Here is an extract from an email from one of the participants where he thanks our MCI trainer Gavin and also Sally from a job network provider:

"Hi Gavin & Sally

Firstly to thank you both for all you have done.
Secondly to let you know how much the Diploma of Marketing Course helped
me, and I believe helped all the students.
As a result of the interactiveness of the marketing course, the students
got to know each other and it got us out of the rut that some of us had
slipped into.
Even though I have skills and experience, I was actually starting to
believe that I would never get another job again . . And whether there
was anybody or any job out there actually worth getting!
During the course, Tara as you know got a Product Development job and
Tracy a Sales/Marketing job.
Robbie got some work as a result of meeting an entrepreneur on the last
day of the course.
Warren got some work designing a website for the entrepreneur.
Kala appeared more confident.
Myself I was actually feeling more confident as a result of interacting
with the others, and from doing some of the presentations during the
course.
Interacting with the others also highlighted to myself some of my
weaknesses and strengths.
If nothing else, the course made me feel more positive about myself and
perhaps that even contributed to me gaining employment as some of that
positive attitude has to come across when applying for jobs.
No doubt a lot of this was due to Gavin Wedel the marketing course
assessor and the interactive course format he designed.
I applied for 3 IT jobs yesterday and today did the Agent Interview, Job
Interview and within 1 hour the agent rang back and said I had the job.
Almost I don’t believe I actually have a job after such a long period of
searching!
I have not had 12 months of continuous employment since 2000 and now i
have 12 months guaranteed!
I am sure some of the students were a little bit unhappy that the course
finished as attending bonded many of the students.

The marketing course was the most positive thing that happened during my
period of unemployment and it happened at the right time and I recommend
it to all who have some interest in learning something new about marketing
and also about themselves.

Thanks again Gavin and Sally."

All the best to everyone on the program!! You set the standard for all job seekers!!

Here are some before and after photos of one of the participants who has sharpened his image to become more professional.

Playing for survival

This is a great blog written by my colleague in Canada, Jacquie Llyod Smith. A very useful insight into why play is so vitally important in creating the right climate for innovation and on-going creativity.

Playing for Survival

In his book “Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul”, Stuart Brown, M.D., explains that not only have scientist proven that play is needed and used within the animal kingdom for survival, but that play allows the player to gain new insights, test new behaviours, and develop new strategies. John Byers, an animal play scholar speculates that during play our brain is actually making sense of itself though simulation and testing. In landmark research conducted by Marian Diamond in 1960, concluded that play has an important role in brain development, and it is not just the act of playing but the interaction of playing with ideas within an enriched environment, that term enriched environment speaks to the interplay between people and ideas.

Diamond discovered play is one of the most advanced methods that nature has developed for the complex brain to create itself. Within the business world, Strategic Play™ allows us the opportunity to imagine new possibilities and situations that never existed before, and most importantly can create to make the future better. This occurs during the process of play as the brain experiences rapid growth and neurons connect, disconnect and reconnect as the brain organizes information and learns. The process of play helps the brain to develop and prepare for the unexpected and create conscious and subconscious contingency plans that are agile and ready to adapt to the changing business landscape.

In today’s business world the idea of play for plays sake or for developing strategic thinking is not really acceptable. The game of golf, which is a stage of play called “games with rules”, has been referred to as the “green corporate board room” and this does seem to be an acceptable way for adult business people to play. After spending four hours together they can assess if their colleague cheats or embellishes and the players may emerge with a new sense of who the other player is based on their interpretation or respect for the rules.

But when we dig deeper into an element of play which is referred to as “making things” we can see many inventions that we use today actually came from the pure act of play. The airplane and the steam engine were first toys, and wind-up toys lead to the development of the clock. Fireworks came before the cannon and so we can see the act of playing with things for amusement has often lead to the development of useful things.

It is also clear the brain can not benefit from play when it’s faced with immediate danger and must react in order to survive. So it is also clear for Strategic Play™ to work and be of great benefit, organizations must build play and playful opportunities into their daily activities, systems and processes. And for Strategic Play to be of maximum benefit, scenarios must be tested randomly – there is no point for the manager to play out a situation that he has already experienced and has decided upon the answer or path forward. In fact the randomness of play is needed for full maximum learning and as such the Strategic Play™ facilitator leads the players through a process needed to fully maximize from the benefits of Strategic Play™.

These are some reasons why Lloyd Smith Solutions (www.lloydsmith.com) uses Strategic Play™ and why we see the value of play at work – this is the beginning of a play movement and we will continue to bring new ideas to this blog that we can all play with together.

The value of Play

One of my colleagues from North America, Jacquie Llyod Smith, has written this excellent bog on the Value of Play for any Company or Team

For years many innovative management consultants, who pondered the value of play within organizations, conducted their work in isolation. After all, the idea of ‘play at work’ in Western society seemed a bit eccentric and not widely valued.

However, when a handful of consultants including our company, Lloyd Smith Solutions (www.lloydsmith.com) met in Denmark in 2006, and began to collaborate, we recognized that we are seeing patters emerging globally.

Collectively, we have identified that not only are business situations becoming more complex but that the old systems that people have depended upon for years are not only out of date, but are actually doomed for failure. Many organizations continue to insist that old successful patters will continue to bring the same results. They might be right as we cannot see into the future. But it is more likely that change has occurred slowly and insidiously over time taking them off guard. Due to past successes these organizations may not yet be uncomfortable enough to change. Those that have recognized that their old approach will now sabotage their future success, come to us open to try a new approach.

The new approach is one that we call Strategic Play. It comes from a basic premise that we are all hardwired for play. For managers to be able to successfully adapt in a changing business world they need to be able to engage their imaginations and play with ideas in a place that is safe. In this way play allows the player to have a type of dress rehearsal and prepare for the subtleties of the changing business environment and function comfortably with ambiguity.

Within the Strategic Playroom everyone on the team can test out a theory, a hunch or a tried and true method and see if it will continue to bring successful results without putting their reputation or companies assets on the line. They can gather information from scenario testing that can be adjusted, built upon, or scraped all together without doing any damage.

But at the same rate through play their imagination can form new cognitive combinations that will likely develop an innovative idea. The team can then spring board into the next combination of ideas bringing great clarity to the situation. In a playful approach, nothing is lost but only gained and the team leaves the Strategic Playroom feeling engaged, activated and focused with an accurate shared mental model.

Keep in mind, what we do is not just play for play sake, as we use applied systematic creative play. The activities are lead by a trained creative facilitator that sets both the stage and the rules of engagement. The play is focused and structured enough with developed etiquettes that create the layers needed for building blocks that take the player into deeper and deeper levels where the brain continues to function at both conscious and subconscious levels.

It is through this process that the participants emerge with new insights. These insights may bring immediate actionable items or may percolate as the neurons within the brain connect, get tested and then sometimes break away and reconnect getting stronger and ready to put ideas into action, ready when the situation changes.

The fact that people enjoy the process of strategic play so much that they loose track of time is not just an accident, it is built into the approach. When we find ourselves fully in the zone, this is the state that psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called “flow” or the “flow zone”. This zone allows for the brain to think better and faster.

Research indicates that those who engage in this process of play are not only better able to problem solve but they are actually developing a higher social IQ. It’s clear in the changing world, and specifically for business a changing global economic environment, those who are able to “think quickly and respond strategically” are in demand over those who are just able to “do”.

These are the reasons why Lloyd Smith Solutions (www.lloydsmith.com) is on the cutting edge of organizational and team development including the use of playful and powerful techniques like the LEGOⓇ SERIOUS PLAY™ Methodology. We see the value of play at work – there are many more posting to come, so please stay tuned and we will continue to bring new ideas to this blog that we can all play with together.

Our new Office!

We are having such fun in our new office on Level 4, 23 Hunter St, Sydney.
All students have been enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and there has been some great networking taking place during the breaks. We also have IDEA PAINT on our training room walls and participants have been documenting their ideas in very creative ways.
We are going to rent out our rooms when they are not available.

Training Trifecta!

Management Consultancy International wins training award trifecta - Media Release

For the third consecutive year, Management Consultancy International has won the top award in training. Announced yesterday by LEARN X Asia-Pacific, MCI won the Gold Award for best training provider, the Platinum Award for Best Frontline Management program and Gold for Best training team.

Acknowledged as a hotly contested award process, what makes this award even more impressive is that it was won during one of most difficult and challenging economic eras in memory when organisations around the country were cutting back on training and development and only those who offered an outstanding program were able to successfully navigate the financial crisis.

“To be called best training provider and team is quite an accolade,” said MCI’s Managing Director Denise Meyerson. “And when you consider that we are a relatively new provider, we find this award a great compliment and an acknowledgement of the work we do with our clients” she added.

“Our commitment to help organisations prove the return on their investment has been rewarded. We were able to demonstrate how by doing this program one of our client’s Royal Wolf Trading Australia PTY LTD had saved almost $70,000 in recruitment costs during a 12 month period. The significant factor in this reduction was the introduction of the Leadership Development Program - designed and tailored specifically for our clients needs - as it increased their staff retention. The additional benefit is that four people have since been promoted, further demonstrating the positive and lasting impact and value of our innovative program,” Meyerson added.

“The LearnX Asia Pacific Awards are regarded as the most prestigious recognition that an individual, team or organisation from the corporate and public service sectors in e-learning and training can achieve. The winning solutions and the talent behind the many projects stand out for implementing innovative based e-learning and training in their organisations.” said LearnX founder Rob Clarke.