Workshop A - Session 2

Title: Employability and Competitiveness - Learning Organisations Chair: Sarah Perman, Trades Union Congress, UK Peter Kearns, THK Consulting, UK

Peter Cairns is the Managing Director of THK Consulting, which specialises in supporting organisations to achieve improved business success through developing people. He started the business 10 years ago, after 10 years working in the oil industry.

I am a real enthusiast for lifelong learning, but I think it is something which is very easily lost through lack of structure and through lack of responsibility. The one issue I want to raise today is: who should be responsible for lifelong learning? The answer can be, very generally, 'different people in different situations'. But I want to look specifically at lifelong learning in the employment situation.

The traditional view of education is that the bright kids learned what they needed to at school and college and universities, and people like me were left in the corner to look after themselves. The bright kids were then offered a little bit more education over the next 10 years, became managers and then assumed that the only way the other members could progress was through a formal education.

In the last few years those ideas have changed radically. A lot of employers are now beginning to realise that the key to success, in an environment of very fast changing technology and economy, is through competent people competently managed and it does not matter what their background is.

Investors in People

In the UK we have developed Investors in People, a national standard which is gradually moving into other countries. What Investors in People does is give a commonsense basis for ordinary line managers to make sense of the idea of 'competent people competently managed', to ensure that people can, and that managers can, help each individual make the best possible contribution to the success of their employment or business. They do this through being able to understand the job they are meant to be doing, to have the knowledge and skills they need in order to deliver that.

Therefore for me lifelong learning becomes a route for success for the business as a whole, as well as considerable satisfaction for the individuals and for their managers. It means that the business can run more efficiently and more effectively through effective delegation to people who know what they are meant to be doing and know how they can do it. It means that an organisation can approach change positively, that individuals will enthuse for change rather than see it as a threat and will help that organisation move ahead rapidly, into a future which is uncertain in every way except one. One thing we know that will not change is the need for change in the future; effective investment in people in a structured way is a key to success in such a future.

I would like to finish with one comment about my own company. Having achieved Investors in People 3 years ago, we came up for re-assessment a few weeks ago. At the end of the assessment, the assessor commented to me that she had never before seen a Lifelong Learning company work in the way that we have. That is because nearly everybody in my company has had at least two full careers before coming to us. At 48, I am the youngest employee but one in the company. Most of them have worked in industry and then worked in further education or in training in companies. We very much see ourselves as a company of the Third Age. I think we are addressing issues which will be the basis for the future of European economy.

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