A round-up of training news

A major breakthrough in the coaching industry has occurred with key professional coaching bodies in the UK signing an agreed 'statement of shared professional values' at a coaching roundtable. This has defined the common ground in the codes of ethics and practices currently used by such bodies in the UK.

The statement gives all buyers of coaching services a clear frame of reference for the ethical requirements surrounding good quality coaching. Drafted by Robin Linnecar of Praesta, it synthesises the best ethical practice of all the professional bodies.

Neil Scotton, president of the International Coach Federation in the UK (UK ICF) commented: "This agreement clearly shows how the main professional coaching bodies are working together to build coaching standards and the coaching profession in the UK. It's an important first step on a journey that will benefit all professional coaches and everyone they work with."

Katherine Tulpa, chair of the Association for Coaching (AC) was delighted:
"We are excited by the possibilities that lie ahead for the Coaching roundtable. The statement of shared professional values hallmarks the success of how we have evolved as a group - one that is collaborative and coach-like, working towards a common aim."

Gil Schwenk, chair of the Professional Bodies Liaison committee of the European Coaching and Mentoring Council - UK (EMCC -UK) added: "The Statement of Shared Values is another result of the ongoing collaboration between the coaching professional bodies. Together we increasingly share responsibility for the leadership of coaching and mentoring excellence in the UK."

Statement of Shared Professional Values

This statement has been agreed by the coaching professional bodies in the UK who cooperate to enhance the reputation of the coaching industry. In the emerging profession of coaching, we believe that:

Every coach, whether charging fees for coaching provided to individuals or organisations or both, is best served by being a member of a professional body suiting his/her needs.
Every coach needs to abide by a code of governing ethics and apply acknowledged standards to the performance of their coaching work.

Every coach needs to invest in their ongoing continuing professional development to ensure the quality of their service and their level of skill is enhanced.

Every coach has a duty of care to ensure the good reputation of our emerging profession.

The following are fundamental principles by which we expect our members to operate:

Meta Principle: To continually enhance the competence and reputation of the coaching profession

Principle One - Reputation
Every coach will act positively and in a manner that increases the public's understanding and acceptance of coaching.

Principle Two - Continuous Competence Enhancement
Every coach accepts the need to enhance their experience, knowledge, capability and competence on a continuous basis.

Principle Three - Client Centred
Every client is creative, resourceful and whole and the coach's role is to keep the development of that client central to his/her work, ensuring all services provided are appropriate to the client's needs.

Principle Four - Confidentiality and Standards
Every coach has a professional responsibility (beyond the terms of the contract with the client) to apply high standards in their service provision and behaviour. He/she needs to be open and frank about methods and techniques used in the coaching process, maintain only appropriate records and to respect the confidentiality a) of the work with their clients and b) or their representative body's members information.

Principle Five - Law and Diversity
Every coach will act within the Laws of the jurisdictions within which they practice and will also acknowledge and promote diversity at all times.

Principle Six - Boundary Management
Every coach will recognise their own limitations of competence and the need to exercise boundary management. The client's right to terminate the coaching process will be respected at all times, as will the need to acknowledge different approaches to coaching which may be more effective for the client than their own. Every endeavour will be taken to ensure the avoidance of conflicts of interest.

Principle Seven - Personal Pledge
Every coach will undertake to abide by the above principles that will complement the principles, codes of ethics and conduct set out by their own representative body to which they adhere and by the breach of which they would be required to undergo due process.

Management Slog Reaps Few Rewards

Despite working longer and harder hours, managers are seeing little return for their efforts. This is according to a report by the Chartered Management Institute, which has revealed that as many as 89 per cent of managers' work over their contracted hours - the equivalent of working an extra 40 days a year on average.

Over half of managers who work overtime do so because of the amount of work they have to get through.

Director of marketing and corporate affairs at the Chartered Management Institute Jo Causon said the long-hours culture is impacting health: "Why are employers ignoring the impact of long hours on the health and performance of their employees and what responsibility are employees taking for how they manage themselves? It is clearly having a negative effect and will create longer-term problems for organisations."

In a warning to bosses, ClickAJob chief executive Yngve Traberg said: "Involvement, showing concern, one-on-one engagement, ensuring job satisfaction and demonstrating advancement opportunities are critical issues. Ignore them and your employee will walk, even a manager on a premium salary, with share options and all the perks."

Work Bully May be the Boss

As many as seven in 10 employees have felt bullied at work with almost half of bullying instigated by management.
The research conducted by Peninsula employment law service shows that bullying has increased significantly since 2003, with 69 per cent of employees saying that they have been exposed to bullying in the workplace, compared to 52 per cent in 2003.

Worryingly, just under half said the bully is a member of management, whilst 56 per cent who have felt victimised said that they were bullied by a work colleague.

Sadly, 62 per cent of those who feel they have been bullied in work say that it has had a detrimental impact on their personal life.

David Price, head of employee relations at Peninsula, said he "urged" employers to have a system in place where workers could speak to someone if they felt bullied and said bosses should consider having an Equal Opportunities Policy and an IT policy to prevent cyber bullying.

"When talking to employees it is apparent that those that are bullied by management or their employer are reluctant to work as hard as those that are not bullied. Silent bullying presents a major problem, where someone feels isolated when left out of group discussions and decisions. Employees and employers need to remember that harassment is in the eye of the recipient and the question employers need to consider is whether the situation could be considered severe enough for the employee to take legal action," said Price.

The research showed that 69 per cent of workers would never consider reporting bullying to their employer whilst 89 per cent are not sure whether their employer has policies relating to bullying and harassment at work.

Workers Leap at Chance to Train

The opportunity to develop and train is what workers really want this leap year. According to a new survey conducted on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), almost a third of UK workers would like to train on their extra working day, but 42 per cent lack confidence in their bosses to fulfil their desire despite half of supervisors saying they would give workers the chance to train.

Time is unsurprisingly a barrier for 61 per cent, with 49 per cent saying they are put off by the expense of it; but according to the LSC, employees that do invest in training can reap the rewards and grow their salary from £2,000 to £3,000 every year.

Statistics from the Labour Force Survey show that, on average across England, if we have either no qualifications or just level one qualifications, we earn £19,100 per year. If we have level two qualifications we earn £21,500. And if we have level three qualifications we earn £24,500.

Train to Gain director Glenn Robinson said: "Given that it's a leap year, why don't you propose to your employer? Don't get left behind: this is the perfect opportunity to speak to your employer and ask for the training you need. Improving your skills will help you take control of your future and will have as much impact on your career as it will on your general wellbeing."

Sainsburys 'Graduates' Make an Impact

Food giant Sainsbury’s has developed a graduate community action learning programme. The programme is designed to enhance the personal leadership skills of Sainsbury’s graduate recruits through a community-based project with a primary school in Newham.

Impact, which recently won three star accreditation in the Best Companies awards, designed the community-based learning project, which included providing an allotment for the school. Impact’s design challenged the graduates to bring to life sustainability and a green theme across the school.

Joanne McGuire, graduate development, Sainsbury’s, commented: "At Sainsbury's we aim to fulfil our responsibilities to the communities and environments in which we operate – and the graduate community action learning programme Impact designed for us truly embodied this."

Righttrack Rewards Two Top Delegates

Righttrack has named Ghassan Ayyad as it's delegate of the year and Andrew Smith as its learner of the year. Ghassan, who works for Zain (formally known as MTC Vodaphone) in Kuwait was given the award for "the highest contribution to the success of a training programme, who really came with a positive learning attitude, embraced all activities and helped keep the moral of the group high".
Andrew, who works for ISS in the West Midlands, was the delegate "who implemented and remained committed to their learning throughout 2007".

Dyslexia Website Tackles 'Hidden Disability’

Iansyst Ltd, a Cambridge-based provider of consultancy and software technology for people with dyslexia, has launched a website to help the three million dyslexic people in the UK workforce. Despite dyslexia being covered by the Disability Discrimination Act, many employers are unaware of how best to provide reasonable adjustments to support this type of disability, an issue which is exacerbated by the individual characteristics of dyslexia.

The company’s new website www.re-adjust.co.uk will provide appropriate information, including practical steps to aid dyslexic employees, pointers to assistive technologies, advice on conforming to the DDA and grant information. It also introduces new consultancy and training services to help both employers and dyslexic employees.

Free Direct Marketing 'Guru' Sessions

The Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM) is this year adding three high profile guru sessions to its popular Academy programme at the International Direct Marketing Fair. The IDM Academy will also be running at Internet World which takes place alongside the Fair. The guru sessions will be delivered by godfather of UK direct marketing, Drayton Bird; multi-award winning creative, Steve Harrison and recipient of the IDM’s first ever lifetime achievement award, John Watson of Watson Phillips Norman.

Rather than the traditional lecture presentation style of the IDM Academy, these special sessions will take the form of 'An audience with...', where the emphasis will be on audience participation in order that show delegates get the most from their attendance.

The full IDM Academy programme details are at http://www.theidm.com/idmf2008
All sessions are free to show delegates and are available on a first come, first served basis. Tickets to IDMF can be booked at http://www.idmf.co.uk