Gordon Brown's £10M "Woment & Work" project to help women secure better training and support to fulfil their
potential is entering its second phase and Karen Brady boss of Premiership Club Birmingham is heading the initative.
Karren is urging women workers across the UK to participate by helping to test new recruitment and career opportunities for up to
10,000 women over two years in nine sectors where there are skills shortages and
where women are under-represented. It is being delivered by Sector Skills
Councils working with employers.
An exemplary role model, Karren has encouraged her own
female employees to achieve their potential through mentoring systems and
training programmes.
"There has been progress since I started out but the glass ceiling
still exists for women in the UK - only 33 per cent of managers and senior
officials in business and the public sector are female. But women are the hidden asset in ambitious companies looking to increase
productivity. Working with Sector Skills Councils to unlock the potential of
women in the labour market could be worth between £15 and £23 billion to the UK
economy. From my experience, you need to enable women to take control of
their careers, inspiring them to achieve higher and give them the right tools to
succeed."
The Training Journal reports that the project has many success stories including grandmother of two, Cheryl
Mundy, who recently gained her LGV qualification through Women & Work after
working for years in accounts at logistics company J.Pickard & Co of
Umberleigh. She said: "The scheme was a fantastic opportunity for me to gain new
skills and grow in confidence to do something I've always wanted to do." Her
Managing Director Graham Short said: "I'm pleased that Cheryl has been given the
chance to progress in her career. It's also been of huge benefit to the firm as
we now have a relief driver available on site."
Karren is asking more employers to develop the skills of their female
workforce so as to increase the productivity of their businesses and public
service organisations.
The Government investment is matched by contributions from employers to
provide skills training, development and support - offering women the
opportunity to train for a new job or progress within their company into higher
skilled, better paid jobs.
Whilst I am a keen supporter of any initative that provides people with personal development oppotunities I remain unsure if programmes focused on women work. In the 80's whilst workin for a major utility company we ran various initatives to provide access for woment into management. Whilst delegates found the training very good they often told me that they also felt slighty patrionised whilst those excluded felt discriminated against. The lesson? - Great care is required if, like Karren's football team, such schemes are to survive the threat of relegation!
13:31
According to Personnel Today referring to research by Roffey Park,
Gathering dust on a bookshelf at home is a thick hard-back book with a faded brown binding: 'The Origins and Growth of Action Learning', by Reg Revans. But take note, action learning is making a comeback and could become a key learning tool in developing management.