A Vision for Helping Young People

 

I’ve been telling people for some time that I had a vision, but it was a bit rough around the edges and not quite ready for sharing with you. It’s been quite a year for my business, but the  vision is ready to be shared, although it will continue to evolve because I’m learning all the time. One of the most important and sometimes painful lessons I’ve learned boils down to this:

·         No matter how good you are, you’re not for everyone and  some things are better left to people who do it better than you do.

This can be a blessing in disguise because I can’t offer quality service to more than about 15 schools, 25 at the most. Even with the limited budgets within which schools have to operate, people are paying me to do deliver all kinds of training, talks or motivation with employability development in mind. With only one exception, every paying customer has asked me to come back again. I think this proves that I can justifiably claim that:

1.       I’m pretty good at what I do.

2.       I’m pretty good at not taking on projects if I lack the expertise or experience to handle them, or I know someone who would do it better than I can.

Every child in the U.K. is offered access to a first class education, irrespective of socio-economic background. Now here’s the thing:  champions in every field you care to name have a personal, professional coach. Why would we expect interview candidates to be memorable without on-going professional support?  But, how many full time “employability” coaches are out there? It’s the one piece in the jigsaw that’s almost always missing.

Schools and local business are already forming partnerships. Business led projects both in the class room and in the workplace are now commonplace and have already been proved to be successful. I can’t believe that I’m the only one who’s thought of this but, so far, I have not come across any partnership which includes the opportunity for students to have access to a personal, professional “employability coach,” committed to supporting that student from G.C.S.E. year right up to the day they land their first job, no matter how long the journey might be.

We want to change lives don’t we? And we do, up to a point; but I do not have what it takes, not on my own I don’t. Neither do schools, neither do businesses, neither do parents; but in partnership….

 

So here’s the vision I want to share with you:

·         I want to build partnerships not just between schools and  businesses, but involving parents and professional coaches with long term commitment to each other for the benefit of students, irrespective of socio-economic background.

The value of this might be:

FOR SCHOOL PARTNERS

·         Opportunities to enhance your reputation with local businesses and with parents.

·         Offering students and their parents the chance to receive consistent professional support which will not be interrupted when you pass your student to a new establishment.

·         An opportunity to include an article in my course booklet, acting as a branding item.

FOR BUSINESS SPONSORS

·         Opportunities to enhance relationships with local schools.

·         Opportunities to enhance “social responsibility” image or impress your trade association.

·         Opportunities for sponsors to advertise or write articles (free of charge) in my training course booklet and influence the content of local courses.

·         Ability to target local schools when you want to appoint apprentices or full time staff, knowing that the standard of candidate  is more likely to meet your “employability” standards.

FOR PARENT PARTNERS

·         The peace of mind you expect from working with a professional coach, whose  on-going commitment to your son or daughter can be relied on from G.C.S.E. year to landing their first job, no matter how long that might take.

·         An answer to the fear, felt by so many parents, that even when the education system has delivered excellent qualifications, this might not turn out to be a sound investment of either time or money.

ALL PARTNERS

·         Be involved in piloting and being associated with an initiative with the potential to “go national”

·         Regular newsletter.

·         Access to value added services (see below)

TIME SCALE

JANUARY TO SUMMER HOLIDAY, 2010…..Pilot local partnerships

SEPTEMBER 2010 TO SUMMER 2011………Develop 10 Regional leader coaches

WITHIN THREE YEARS……Leader coaches to put together a National Team.

 

 

ADDED VALUE SERVICES (UNDER CONSIDERATION)

Introduction to businesses offering services I am not qualified to offer. Examples might include financial advice for students and partners, outdoor team building providers etc..

 Driving lessons for students at competitive rates.

A password protected website where students/former students can network with each other and with business partners all over the country. (no cost)

Access to professional coach via webinars (subject to demand, but open to all partners free of charge)

Access to paid training webinars (subject to demand)

F.A.Q.s

Q: How much time will be involved in setting all this up?

A: Rather a lot, mostly mine. I’m the full time coach and you have more important things to do.

Q: Will the courses be run in school or at an outside venue?

A: There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Courses must not interfere with the core curriculum time table; but schools do bring in outside professionals during lunch times, for after school activities or as part of “enrichment days.” On the other hand, there are excellent business premises available for hire that would enable training to take place during half term or school vacations.

Q: Should parents be encouraged to make contributions?

A: As a last resort maybe, but, if funding is an issue, I have a better suggestion. Give me a ring. I certainly see no reason why parents wouldn’t at least want to be informed of an opportunity like this, where the long term career prospects of their son or daughter might be involved.

Q: What about students whose parents are struggling, perhaps on income support?

A:  No student should be included or excluded based on whether they come from a privileged or deprived background.

Q: Are you expecting that every student in participating schools should be offered a place on one of your courses?

A: The key word is “offered.” Not every student will want to be involved and parental permission will not always be granted. Parents and teachers that support any  course of mine have a right to expect that trainees will find themselves in an environment that is stimulating, supportive and nurturing. The best way to achieve this is to allow disruptive elements to “select themselves out.”

Q: What size groups do you have in mind?

A: Since most of the training will be interactive, involving discussion or role play, it works best in groups not smaller than 5 and not larger than 20. This allows me to encourage each trainee to get involved and to give individual attention to each of them.