The search is on to find the UK’s top training team. Have you got what it takes to measure up?
For the last year, Training magazine and The Industrial Society, partners in the TD2000 campaign, have been working to create an understanding of how the status of training and development can be raised in they eyes of organisations and the wider business world.
Now the time has come to find the T&D team which has achieved most success in this area, as Will Hutton, chief executive of The Industrial Society, explains.
“Some organisations have clearly achieved a tremendous amount – they have influence and respect at the most senior levels, they know exactly what the real organisational issues are and they can demonstrate the value they add to their organisation. We think it’s time to recognise these high-flying teams and acknowledge their successes.”
The TD2000 Award will do just that. The award will be open to any training and development team in the UK – from the corporate or not-for profit sector, internal or outsourced.
The task of identifying the top team will fall to two judges – Nigel Crouch of the DTI’s Innovation Unit and well-known evaluation expert Paul Kearns.
Kearns says he is excited about the prospect. “Awards such as those run by IiP and the National Training Awards have made their own contributions to good practice but this award is about raising the bar. It represents a genuine challenge for the best training functions in the UK. It is a unique opportunity to recognise those proactive, business-focused professionals who have consciously shifted their role from training provider to business partner.”
He adds, “As a judge I see my role as ensuring this award really means something; not only to the winner but as a benchmark for the rest of the profession.”
The judges will be looking for teams that can demonstrate excellence in at least two out of three key areas:
• Integration with the organisation: areas such as partnership with line managers, performance consultancy, helping people apply their learning back in the workplace
• Top table influence: relationships with the senior management, boards and directors, involvement in decision-making and the overall business planning process.
• Evaluation: the ability to demonstrate improved performance resulting from training and development; success in measuring the value and effectiveness of the training and development activities
Entrants only need to write up to 300 words on each of the areas in order to enter. Those wishing to do so can also supply further evidence to support their entry.
The deadline for entries is 3 April 2000. After examining the entries, judges Nigel Crouch and Paul Kearns will draw up a shortlist of the three most promising ones. They will visit each of the short-listed teams during May. The award will be presented on 4 July at a special TD2000 event to be held at the NEC in Birmingham.
Andrew Rogers, editor of Training, says the award is likely to generate a lot of publicity for the successful team. “The award is also likely to unleash a wealth of successful practices which aren’t widely known of,” he adds.
The award is sponsored by Raytheon Training which specialises in the development, implementation and management of training systems and programmes designed to help organisations achieve their business goals.
Says Michael Nehrmann, director of marketing and sales, Europe, “We fully endorse the aims and objectives of this key initiative in recognising the importance of training and development to global business success. We believe that an organisation’s training must be inseparably linked to its business goals and fully integrated within the overall business strategy. Only in this way can the value of training and development be fully realised. As industry professionals we must also be able to clearly demonstrate the return on any particular training investment made.”
Nehrmann believes that in the information age, the ability to learn fast provides an organisation’s decisive competitive advantage. “However, learning must also be targeted and this can only occur through an integrated systems approach to training and development.”
Andrew Rogers says the TD2000 Award has already attracted interest from training and development professionals who have heard about it through the grapvine.
“The fact that this award is so focussed on the way training is integrated into the fabric of the organisation really seems to appeal to people,” he says.
• For more information, see page 20.
About TD2000
• The aim of the TD2000 campaign is to raise the status of training and development in the eyes of organisational leaders. Run jointly be The Industrial Society and Training magazine, TD2000 aims to explore the issues which underlie the widespread feelings that T&D lies outside the heart of many organisations. Its aim is to create an agenda for the industry to work towards in the 21st century.
Now Start planning your entry
3 April 2000 Closing date for entries
May 2000 Judges visit short-listed teams
4 July 2000 Winner announced
For more information about the TD2000 Award and how to enter, see page 20 or visit www.indsoc.co.uk/td2000
