Journeys with my Gun

(36)Craigburn Trg Systems

Civvy Street...Moving out of the Public Service.
So, it came to pass after a meeting with the State managers of the Food and Beverage and the Textiles Industry Training Councils in Adelaide.
The outcome being that I had first refusal in regard to their companies' training requirements for staff and company development across the state.
It was surprising to note that there was no such thing as staff development training but rather only technical input across a vast number of manufacturing companies.
Management did not like spending money on staff development, as it was not understood and worse management didn't want to hear of it.

However a good start was had by initially touring the state to introduce companies to the benefits and although take up was limited the project was rewarding, not only financially but satisfying due to the positive reactions of trainees, who in the main had never experienced on the job training. ( It is very interesting to me now to remember the almost total absence and interest in developing people and business in South Australia in the 1980's)
I worked in many large well known brand factories and businesses,  I was surprised at the total absence of any organised training especially for their trainers and as a result of the introduction to organised objective based learning, the results were simply amazing.
Factory Trainers were mainly women who were placed in the position for long service and knowledge of the product. They took to learning with very high enthusiasm and were openly proud of their achievements. As well the trainees became highly motivated and felt secure in the knowledge that they had attained. Feedback from management over time was always positive and they could easily identify progress in the manufacturing process.

When I look back now at the dreadful state of employee development in the 1980's related directly to their job, I wonder at the price that business was paying to keep them uninvolved in training skills and teamwork  in the growth of the company.
A simple management model was present in those days which turned the management pyramid upside down, thus demonstrating the real role of the boss in providing the opportunity, resources and appropriate leadership in order to grow the willingness, knowledge and skills of the team. It went unheeded. 
As well, the absolutely well honed Myer:Briggs communication model and the Blanchard system of providing appropriate interventions developed in the 1920's from the employee studies at Bethlehem Steel in the U.S. was yet to see much sunlight in the mid 1980's Adelaide.
I never worked it out early I must admit but the situation was that development in the current and future roles of employees was simply not understood, was washed away in the lemming behaviour of rushing ahead regardless.
The only management input for staff was information sessions. Mostly employees would be sitting around at times listening to some overpaid consultant and that was too boring to imagine, resulting in the absence of competent, efficient and effective employees and trainers which in practice all helped in denying people and business development.

Then all too often there were poor Supervision and Management practices......

On a more serious personal note I must admit that I was then naive, not confident and not properly prepared for the opportunities that passed me by particularly with the world famous American Blanchard organisation, when at breakfast at a hotel in Adelaide, the CEO, Ken Blanchard said to me - 'Get yourself in contact with our agent in Sydney'  - whom I knew.
I had just successfully supported Ken in his presentations in Adelaide - and a fabulous opportunity went through to the keeper as it appeared too early and not properly understood. His model was not known at the time in S.A. and it was available to me.
That organisation now is a multi billion dollar success story in the U.S.

The company bosses were happy with my work and in the main the business rocked on with Rhonda at the helm of administration.
Much work was had in the above industries plus others which I quickly picked up. Most new training centred around training supervisors in the people skills, particularly Leadership (very popular in the late eighties) and training shop floor trainers in trainer skills  - Shop floor trainers provided me with an amazing experience with their willingness to learn, the pride that they had in their company and the pure excitement at proving their new skills with confidence. As well they gained new confidence gleaned from their training achievement and certification.
Some of my Adelaide female trainers informed me that they would have been better off financially by staying home on the dole as the difference in income by going to work was reduced by the bus fare.