Pictured above: Ellen Morley

The Principal of a leading business improvement and training development consultancy will be focusing on Performance and Capability when she talks to county business owners on her firm's stand at this year's Shropshire Chamber of Commerce Business Expo event. The event, which is being held at the White House Hotel, Wellington, is on March 18th.

Ellen Morley believes organisations need help to understand that training is a route to an end and not the end result itself. "Businesses that come to us are invariably looking to maximise their efficiency, improve their performance and increase the capability of their people. And whilst achieving that may well require some form of training," she says, "training alone is not enough."

"To improve the overall performance of a company every thread within the business must be examined," she explains, "starting with a Skills Audit to identify what existing skills lie within the business and whether they are being utilised in the right places. A 360° perspective review of the business will ascertain what the marketplace is demanding, whether customers feel their needs are being fulfilled, what the hierarchy of the business is demanding, and what the people whom the hierarchy manage are demanding. After this has been carried out the business is ready to identify its training needs."

"But whether the identified requirement is for a piece of action learning, individual coaching, an improved appraisal and performance review process or new customer retention programme," says Ellen, "there must be someone within or linked to the organisation who is capable of coaching it into the future development strategy of the business. That person must also be able to measure performance to ensure the training has achieved what it set out to do, and additionally there needs to be some kind of performance incentive factored in to encourage trainees to reach their maximum potential."