More Skills!

Skills Third Sector, Chaired by the truly marvellous, Jane Slowey, ACEVO member and CEO of the Foyer Federation, together with the equally talented James McHugh who works from ACEVO Towers have just published their sector skills consultation.

The third sector, like any other sector, needs a skilled workforce in order to thrive and provide quality services, particularly in the face of rising expectations about what it can deliver. To ensure that this is the case, Skills Third Sector have launched this national consultation to produce a Skills Strategy.

The aim is to ensure that funding spent on skills development and training creates the greatest possible impact on the sector’s capacity to provide services and build strong communities. How important this is in an era of public spending cuts and threats to training budgets.

The consultation will draw together the knowledge of training providers and sector leaders on learning and skills, as well as the steps needed to ensure that the sector has access to cost-effective and user-led learning.

I think it is key that CEOs look at this. Don't leave it to your training person (if you have one of course!). Skills can seem so second order when you have t balance a budget. But we have to develop staff. Its a core CEO responsibility. Too often we leave these things to the training geeks who then produce all sorts of techy train- speak stuff. The CEO can make it grounded.
To get involved please see the online consultation. Click here.

Or even attend one of the regional roundtables mailto:round.table@skills-thirdsector.org.uk .
　
The more CEOs who contribute, the more useful it will be as a tool for supporting the further growth and improvement of our sector! Do it!

And finally, a concluding thought on skills from Turkey as I leave for dear old Blighty!

It's a Roman stele from the 1st century AD in the impressive Istanbul Archaeological Museum. I like the rather grumpy old man (an early CEO perhaps?) and the inscription says;

"You know that death is right beside all mortals."

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