Training is not a tick box exercise

1. Training is not a tick box exercise Sharon Davies, HCPA Director of Business & Workforce Development

2. Inspectors... • Will want to hear from your stakeholders how you are doing. • If you continue to stay stuck in the 90’s and believe a training matrix with boxes ticked will be sufficient, you are seriously deluding yourself • Welcome to the new world of DEVELOPING staff

3. Making development count • There are 3 things you should be doing if you want to ensure training is not a tick box exercise in your organisation • Fully understand your business, what is currently going on and where you will need to be in 1-3 years time • Book training that meets the needs of your business – asking the right questions and getting what is really needed • Check your training did “what it said on the tin” – was it value for money, did it make a difference to your business?

4. Quality • How do you get your staff to provide quality? • Be aware of what training your staff actually need • Understand how your customer care culture will make a difference to your marketing • Ensure your staff feel valued and respected • Capture the outcomes on a daily basis Consider booking senior staff on ‘Leading & Recognising Excellence in Care’ OCN Level 3 accredited qualification ~fully funded

5. Do something different! • What is Mandatory Training? Mandatory training is the training your staff needs to meet the needs of your service users • What therefore is Mandatory for you? (clue:I refer you back to understanding how your business will change and what market you are aiming your services at)

6. It doesn't have to be a qualification • To develop a strong staff team you will need to look at 3 areas • Knowledge = training/learning • Confidence = mentoring/shadowing • Competence = observations of practice Remember it is easy to show an inspector a certificate – it is much harder to show some mentoring or other learning has taken place...think about how you capture the evidence

7. Make training important • Who in your organisation has responsibility for managing the training of your staff? • Is your training giving your staff what they need? • Are your staff fed up with refreshers? Our network of Learning Champions is ever growing and is really making a difference in Hertfordshire...do you have a Learning Champion?

8. Share the responsibility • Value your staff by giving them specialist skills...and they don’t have to be a senior • Build a structure where you have ‘champions’ in all areas of care • Use team meetings to share information • Make proper use of supervisions and appraisals to find out when mentoring from your ‘champions’ could be useful – again if this is a tick box exercise, you are simply wasting your money...make every minute spent with staff count.

9. Think outside the box • Let’s think about development interventions available in Hertfordshire • QCF units are funded – pick these carefully with your training providers • Tailored training from External Training Providers • Open Courses • Short Qualifications • Distance Bite Sized Learning through SCILS • HCPA qualifications eg Learning Champions, Activities, Leading & Recognising Excellence in Care • HCPA building better teams • Ladder to the Moon Activities programmes • E-learning – HCC, SCIE etc • Conversion courses to Personal Assistants and Inductions

10. Internal training for regular courses • Have you thought about becoming an HCPA Approved INTERNAL Training Provider? • Did you know you could draw down funding for staff you train yourself (if you do it well) • Use internal trainers for induction and regular courses, use HCPA Approved External Training Providers to provide you with training from EXPERTS in their fields

11. Become approved • Why not become an approved centre with one of the Awarding Bodies • This will enable you to have more control • Staff can be assessed doing the ‘real’ job on a regular basis

12. Can you see what it is yet....? • Understanding your business and what may happen, ensuring your staff are fully equipped to deal with service users with knowledge, competence and confidence = A service that people will CHOOSE • ...do you want them to CHOOSE YOU?

13. I never again want to hear these words “What training do I have to have” You tell me!HCPA will do our best to help you get there, we look forward to joining our members on their journey.