Could improved skills tranform your business?

In the first of a series of features for Startups.co.uk designed to help you impact on productivity and profitability by upskilling your workforce, the Learning and Skills Council looks at how a new guide to skills can benefit small firms.

Many of you are building what you hope will be the most successful British companies of the future. As directors of young companies, you’re no doubt painfully aware that human capital is a key factor to driving productivity and profitability. Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, recently said that “the best British companies already know the value of investing in leadership, management and a skilled workforce”. Many of you may not, however, always know how best to channel the investment of your time and money to get optimum results.

One in five UK employers still say that their workforce’s skills are not up to scratch, according to research done by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the organisation that exists to make England better skilled and more competitive. As you would expect, this figure has a direct impact on the bottom line of a third of employers, who report that deficient skills result in higher operating costs, orders being lost and new product development being delayed.
 
The good news is that there is a great deal of help available to directors of small and medium-sized businesses who want to upskill their staff. The LSC is transforming the way the Further Education sector delivers quality training for employers and has also made significant progress in working with businesses to create and deliver training which is specific to business needs. Companies across the country are already upskilling their staff through Centres of Vocational Excellence, Apprenticeships and Employer Training Pilots, among other initiatives.

Furthermore, in response to the tendency of owner-managers to neglect their own skills while providing training for their employees, up to £1000 is now available from local LSCs for the skills assessments and leadership development of business directors employing 20-250 employees. This financial support is part of the LSC’s Leadership and Management Programme which addresses the skills needs of top levels of management.

If you’ve recently started your own company, or even if your business has been up and running for a while, an ability to answer the following questions will help immeasurably in getting you on track to upskilling your workforce:

1) How do I go about auditing the skills of my workforce?
2) How do I develop a skills strategy that is aligned to my business strategy?
3) How do I go about upskilling my existing workforce?
4) How can I attract new talent?
5) Once I’ve begun implementing a skills strategy, how will I measure progress?

The LSC has partnered with the Institute of Directors (IoD) to this week launch Skills: Transforming Business, an authoritative guide to help company directors manage and improve skills to meet the challenges of leadership, profitability and growth within their businesses.

Written by independent business journalists, Skills: Transforming Business answers all of the questions addressed above and more. It contains comment from leading industry figures and experts, real life case studies of companies of varying size and sector, and also shows you how to use the training support available from the Government.

Every fortnight for the next 10 weeks, Startups.co.uk will be working with the LSC to draw on advice and case studies from Skills: Transforming Business. We will answer key skills-related questions and show you the easiest ways to navigate your way around the UK skills landscape on a clear route to positive results. Next week, we’ll be looking at taking stock: how to complete an effective skills audit.

Copies of Skills: Transforming Business will be available to download from www.lsc.gov.uk