Title: 675 Ways to Develop Yourself and Your People
Author: Laurel Alexander
Publisher: Gower, 2001.
Format: A4 ring-binder, 228 pages,
ISBN: 0 566 08381 7
Digital version ISBN 0 566 08458 9.

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This innovative and particularly useful resource collection offers information, advice and activities to trainers and learners in a comprehensive and practical learning manner.
It contains 50 sections arranged in alphabetical order from such titles as Achieving ambitions with goal setting, Coaching others and Giving and receiving feedback; through Managing your anger, Networking and Presentation skills; to Surviving redundancy, Time management and Working with gender differences. Each section, averaging five pages each, follows a practical format of Introduction (a summarized text description of the subject); Individual tasks and reflection (activities, checklists, questionnaires, instruments, etc to enable self-development in the subject); Working with others (processes to help to identify and develop the learner’s skills with others when working with them); Working with a mentor (activities and discussion topics to assist learning with a mentor); and Developing others (suggested activities etc when you are training and helping others to learn in a training programme). Each section is completed by references to related web sites and also recommended Gower titles. The ‘675’ relates to the mass of ideas, suggestions and practical help in the 50 sections (although I haven’t counted them!).
This resource is packed with a wealth of information and advice that takes it beyond a self-development manual and is collectively a subject text-book, a training course and session planning and design aid, and an activity resource. I feel it is of exceptional value in view of the multiple uses it offers.
A version is also available in digital form (.pdf files plus Adobe Reader) with easy access for yourself or the rest of the organization on an Intranet.

Reviewed by W Leslie Rae, Ellray Associates