Carpe diem - Seize the day!

My old friend Steve Daw rang me this morning. Steve is an Australian who has been living in South East Asia for the longest time. Steve is a professional management trainer and motivator.

Confucius once said, "To lead an untrained people to war is to throw them away." That was true back then in 500BC. The fact of the matter is, it is still true today in 2008AD.

You know that phrase, "Your employees are your greatest asset?". I tell you now - It is bullshit. Here's the truth: "Your well-trained employees are your greatest asset." The rest of them are just there to make up the numbers. Passengers. Worse still, they're the dumb S-O-B's that are going to screw up your mission and put everyone in deep s**t.

If training is so important, why then does a recent survey indicated that 36% of middle managers have received no management training since starting work in an organization? This reluctance in spending on training and development often arises because of bosses' lack of faith. In addition, in Singapore where labour turnover is high, employers often refuse to invest in training and development for fear of subsequently losing trained personnel to their competitors. I am disgusted with this negative attitude towards staff training.

If one is a fair yet firm employer and your employees have confidence in your organization's mission, one should not hold back training and development for fear of the given reasons or to protect Gross Operating Profit.

I, for one, am authorised to speak on this issue. I am a passionate, qualified trainer who have had years of experience training various sales, power negotiation, customer retention programs for companies like Farnell Components, Sime Darby and Dell. I'd developed programs which are fun and interactive which are aimed at building confidence, lift morale, spark enthusiasm, stimulate creativity, teach a skill and ultimately achieve results in the real-time environment.