Everyone wants their business to be successful. But how to ensure success?
Many choose to put their faith in a dedication to staff training, and it’s an approach that has a lot to recommend it.
In today’s knowledge economy, the argument goes, the better your skills base the better your chance of competing and winning.
It’s a philosophy the government has taken to heart, with investments in initiatives like Train to Gain to deliver vocational training to those in work.
For businesses, however, practical training to improve staff performance isn’t the whole story.
For our cover piece this month I spoke to key figures working in the creative industries, and one issue that cut across a diverse sector dominated by micro-businesses was the need for more entrepreneurs willing and able to expand their businesses to the next level.
You might argue that kind of flair, drive and ambition isn’t something that’s taught, but in the right environment it can surely be fostered. Those lecturing and teaching in higher education, in particular, can help to create a culture of optimism, ambition and belief among students, as well as enabling them to develop their essential skills.
The point is, education and training are different things, and as the links between learning and business become stronger we should hope that it still leaves a space for education that turns out people who can think for themselves and understand the world on their own terms.
Giants of the internet, Google and social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, aren’t just the work of techies; they succeed because they’ve been dreamed up and developed by those with a good grasp of people and how they tick. And that, just as much as the workaday stuff, is the art of good business.
Closer to home than cyberspace, this month we’ve also profiled five long-established manufacturing businesses that have seen off several recessions in their day.
Christian Annesley, editor