these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

Training & Development
Coming from a person in charge
of workbased learning at a
college, you would expect me to
argue that training is a necessity,
and you would be right, I do.
However, I would also argue that it
should not be done as a right, e.g. “we
always put our staff through level 2 and
then 3 if they stay with us long enough”.
Training for all?
Training should be an aspiration of every
member of an organisations team.
However, it should not be a one size fits
all approach. Training plans should be
created by appraisal systems, and
identification of the skills needed by the
team and the individual, for example, it
should identify gaps in skills sets of the
team and how these will be addressed.
Apart for general greenkeeping
knowledge, a greens department team
might be seen as requiring specialised
skills and knowledge in the following
areas:
- irrigation
- drainage
- spraying/weed, pest and disease
identification etc.
- budget/supervisory/coaching
- first aid, health and safety legislation,
ability to carry out risk assessment etc.
Training should not be considered just as
college or training provider courses, but
all aspects of training should be
considered, such as seminars, trade
shows and in-house training. In-house
126 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
Some
thoughts on
staff training
Andrew Wight, Head of Workbased Learning for Land
Based Industries at Oaklands College, gives some
personal views on the benefits of training, with advice
to employers on how to safeguard their investment
training is often overlooked as a method
of staff development, yet is the cheapest
and often the most effective of all.
Training cycle model
When considering training it might be a
good idea to remember the training
model used by educationalists.
The cycle has five stages:
1. Identifying training needs
This involves looking at an individual or
team, and identifying where there are
skills or knowledge missing which should
be there. This might done as part of an
appraisal scheme, or as part of a
succession planning stage, i.e. to ensure
that, if key staff leave, their skills are not
lost from the team.
2. Preparation
This will mostly the responsibility of the
trainer, i.e. prepare for the delivery of
the training by producing learning
materials etc. However, the person to be
trained may also need to prepare, e.g.
doing some research on the subject so
when they arrive to be trained the
information is more readily absorbed
and understood.
3. Delivery of the training
The employer should ask how will it be
delivered, and will that be suitable for
me and my staff.
4. Applying the training
Once the training has taken place, the
news skill or knowledge must be used so
it is absorbed. A classic example of this is
the employer who sends someone to do
PA1 and 2 then does not ask that person
to spray for six months, by which time
they have forgotten most of what the
learned.
5. Evaluating the training
Once the training is done, the employer
should talk to the person who took the
training to see how effective and well
organised it was, as the skills and
knowledge gained should be tested to see
if training has been effective.
How do you persuade those who
fund the training cost to agree to
pay?
Getting people to spend money is never
easy, especially when the benefits are not
going to be automatically visible.
However, it’s always a smart idea to have
a good case:
1. The “No Brainer” scenario
This is where the reason is so clear that
no one would turn it down, for example,
“it’s free this year but may not be next
year”. At present training for 16 to 18
year olds is free, but limited to
apprenticeships. 19 plus can be free
depending on qualifications held e.g. a
25 year old with no full level two
qualification would be funded for their
course by the government, also 19 to 25
year old without a full level three would
be funded for their first level three even
if they have already had a level two
qualification*. (*Current situation subject to
change by HM Government).
“Training should not be considered just as college or
training provider courses, but all aspects of trading
should be considered, such as seminars, trade shows
and in-house training”