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2010 is an auspicious year, in fact, some would say the next 3 years to 2012 are brim full of potential! While I certainly like to believe in the positive energy abounding in the universe, I also like to ground my thinking and positivity in practicality. For example, we know that Australia has weathered the GFC so well that the economy continues to grow with house prices rising and unemployment at low levels. All the economic indicators for the Australian economy are currently positive and business confidence is increasing as is job security and choice. In fact in the week before Christmas I spoke to a number of people changing jobs over the break or in the New Year who were seeking to up-skill and/or update their qualifications accordingly.

In this more buoyant atmosphere it makes sense to review your career aspirations and to take actions towards achieving your career goals. If you are thinking of changing jobs or even careers, it can be valuable to add necessary or desired qualifications to your CV before you change jobs.

 If you are already experienced in the job you currently perform then one way to achieve a relevant qualification is to have the knowledge and skills you have gained in your job formally recognised.  This method of gaining a qualification through current job recognition is frequently overlooked and I often have individuals enquiring about a program of study to achieve a qualification for either a new job or another job as a result of retrenchment even when their last or previous job required use of the same knowledge and skills sets as the program of study they are now enquiring about! Unfortunately and all too often these people have left the job and so are no longer able to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required for the qualification.

Now, in early January is a good time to reflect and act on achieving qualifications. If you are currently working in a professional job role you should consider enrolling in a program and applying for recognition (Recognition of Prior Learning – RPL) and then just studying for the ‘gaps’ in your own learning rather than spending valuable time off the job studying for an entire qualification.   If you are thinking of changing jobs then you should act quickly to achieve recognition before you leave the job.

The College for Adult Learning offers recognition as RPL in a range of qualifications in business & management, HRM and project management.

I recently read a paper analysing Australia’s possible future workplaces and workforce development requirements where 3 potential future scenarios for Australia in 2025 were explored. The paper, builds on the Shell Global Scenarios and focuses on the Australian context and, it makes for very interesting reading. Of course it poses more questions than it answers however; one thing that really stood out for me was the importance and emphasis on trust. In all 3 scenarios put forward for 2025 there is an emphasis on relationships, social networking and a strong and definitive building of and focus on personal and business trust at all levels.

It seems that we are moving towards a ‘Trust Economy’ perhaps fuelled, in part by the blurring of boundaries between work and social networks where relationship are becoming the dominant currency and return of influence is becoming the new ROI. I know my own team constantly move back and forth between work related online networks and their own social networks where the line or boundary between either is definitely blurred or less real. Their communication channels are all open all the time. More and more often I receive work related communications from a team member sent from a club or a bar after midnight!

In preparing for a session on project management, I came across an article written by Michael Aucoin titled ‘How Trust Fuels Agility’ and in it he talks about the importance of trust in project teams and the need to foster an environment that promotes respect and trust. Stephen Covey says about trust: ‘Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people.’

There are many articles on trust and its importance in the workplace yet I wonder how we prepare ourselves and coach our people towards this values driven paradigm? How prepared are we to move to a trust based economy and economy built on relationships and integrity? Can we train people or is this part of society values & beliefs inculcated in our children from birth?

Cheers,

Helen Sabell

You can download the above mentioned report “Australia 2025: Three Global Scenarios” here.

Some years ago I was asked to value the inventory of a store that was to be sold. The business owner was in his seventies and had owned the store for 40 years in regional Victoria. The potential buyer had worked in corporate life and was looking for a business opportunity. The business was for sale at $100,000, $90,000 stock and $10,000 goodwill. The potential buyer wanted an independant valuation of the stock.

The business owner saw the sale of his business as his superannuation and was very inflexible about the stock valuation, he had receipts for all stock and fully expected to 100% of the value for each pair of shoes. With the sales for the last financial year of $200,000 it was not rocket science to see that much of his stock would be over valued which proved to be correct with a valuation of $32,000 for all stock.

The deal fell over and the prospective buyer was aghast at how close he was to buying a ‘lemon’ that could have sent him broke in the first twelve months!

Rob Golding, 2009