Resources - Sharing Skills & Relationships
Skills are increasingly being recognised as the foundations of successful businesses and the key to sustainability and development. Sharing skills is a mutually beneficial activity with opportunities for learning and growth present for both parties - and building relationships consolidates this.
Top Tips
Investing in Human Capital
Skills, knowledge and potential are increasingly being recognised as the cornerstones of effective business and investing in your employees' skills - and those of individuals within the community or voluntary sector organisations - is an important component of Corporate Social Responsibility.
Mentoring schemes or offering training
For organisations this is an excellent way of developing skills and helping individuals to progress. Mentors / trainers are then offered an opportunity to develop a new capacity, whilst mentees / trainees learn a new skill.
Value your staff
An organisation's treatment of its employees can also be considered as part of CSR, as the benefits of increasing their skills and knowledge can impact on a wider community. Review your organisation's internal practices and ensure that you offer employees:
- Training and development opportunities;
- Assessments and appraisals;
- The chance to pursue new skills or interests;
- Flexible learning initiatives to accomodate individuals' personal and professional needs.
Investing in the community
The local community is a company's potential workforce and supporting the development of skills in this context is of long term benefit to your organisation - and to the participating individuals.
- Could employees offer training in their skills to the local community?
- Does your organisation offer work experience or work placement schemes?
- Do you engage with schools and identify any opportunities for partnership, for example, as older students receive careers advice?
- Do you work with local VSOs to identify and engage with individuals in the community?
- Do you have spare places on your internal training course or have access to flexible training systems that could be extended to disadvantaged groups?
- Does your organisation run any sponsorship programmes or present secondment opportunities for VSOs?
Flexible Working
Implementing flexible working initiatives means that more people can benefit from the developmental opportunities which you offer.
Flexitime, flexiplace, compressed hours and home working make employment more accessible to a wider range of people - meaning that your organisation can benefit from a wider range of talents and insights.
Marginalised groups, including lone parents, carers, individuals with disabilities and the long term unemployed could be more involved with your organisation - either as employees or as consummers - through this type of approach.
- Explore a range of training formats. Would online training make it more accessible to your employees. Could you extend these programmes to be used by employees from a local voluntary organisation?
- Ask for feedback. How would your employees like to learn? Would home learning be an appropriate or welcomed scheme for employees with external responsibilities? Do any employees currently feel excluded from training opportunities - and how would they like to be included?
- If you are seeking to develop the skills within the local community, see if the times which suit them could be matched with the flexible working needs of your staff. For example, if working in the evening or compressed hours would be more convenient, could offering evening classes be possible?
Case Studies
John Lewis Watford and Leavesden Green Primary School
Alastair Boot, General Manager based at John Lewis Watford, has been mentoring a Head Teacher at a primary school in Leavesden Green for a number of months.
?I applied to mentor a Head Teacher because I wanted to be involved in the community outside of the business boundaries and to use that involvement to develop myself and my skills. It has been a tremendously satisfying and useful.
As so often is the case, managers from different backgrounds find lots of common ground and common difficulties. That has certainly been the case when talking about Leavesden Green Primary School and John Lewis Watford. The Head has been excellent in providing me with challenges and support in particular with managing business relationships and managing time.
I know that the partnership has been of benefit to the Head also. The meetings gave me an opportunity to practice my coaching skills as well as to discuss areas we have in common: performance management, self development and vision setting.
I recommend business people from the private sector to mentor. They will be surprised how much they can give but also how much they can get back from a partnership.
Giving Specialist Support to VSOs
Caroline Cook works for Business in the Community and volunteers in her spare time as a trustee with St Albans Council for Voluntary Service (CVS). As a business mentor she is also able to offer free 1:1 support and advice to their Chief Executive in the areas of business engagement and social responsibility. This has helped the CVS to prioritise and develop these areas of their strategic plan without the need for an expensive consultant.
Useful Links
Cranfield Trust
Free consultancy in areas such as planning, marketing, financial management
LawWorks
Connects small/medium sized voluntary organizations to lawyers for free legal advice
Media Trust
Works in partnership with media businesses to meet the communications needs of voluntary organisations
Pilotlight
Business and professional skills for small charities
Prime Timers
Providing high quality individuals to work on projects for free, and in the process help those individuals who are seeking a new career.
REACH
Professional volunteers are recruited by REACH and then placed with local organisations
The Chamber of Commerce
Information on developing skills and guidance on qualifications and training.
Working for a Charity
Runs courses aimed at people wishing to move into the voluntary sector from the public or private sector
Investors in People
Investors in People provide straightforward, proven frameworks for delivering business improvement through people
Team Building information from ACAS
A brochure to support organisations or individuals in developing teamworking.
YourPeopleManager
Free practical advice to help you manage your employees and business more effectively.
