Roadworthy skills

Broad areas of application

The Human Achievement Skills embody principles that have application at many levels. The process of growing effective organisations follows the same steps as growing effective people:

• exploring the current experience to know the current reality;
• understanding the implications of that reality;
• identifying the impediments to progress;
• reframing those impediments in terms of relevant goals;
• having strategies to select the most viable option to achieve those goals;
• developing manageable programs to implement those goals;
• exploring the current experience to know the new current reality;
• repeating the steps — so that latent potential continues to actualise.

The following remarks relate to applications where we have been involved. The list is by no means exhaustive.

Counselling

The core process skills form the basis of all types of counselling. The differences between the specific types of counselling relate to the specific therapeutic techniques that can be used in the initiative phase of helping to address particular problem areas.

Interpersonal skills training

All humans who interact with other humans, either as part of their job, or their social and family life, benefit from using effective communication skills. People we have trained invariably report increased effectiveness in their jobs and increased satisfaction in their lives, including:

• managers at many levels;
• financial, travel, and computing consultants;
• parents;
• teachers;
• agricultural advisors;
• health workers and general practitioners.

Problem diagnosis and goal definition

It is possible to ‘screen’ oneself, or another, against the assessment tools that we have developed (in Roadworthy skills, Appendix I), and so identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in personal skills, values, personal resources, and personal strategies.

Career development

The core process skills can be used to help oneself, or another, to explore personal values and career desirables, refine the options into preferred directions, identify career goals, and take action to achieve those goals.

Mentoring/Supervision

The core skills can be used to support another in their work and to help them identify strengths and weaknesses and build personal capacity.

Executive management/Team development

The core skills can be applied to group analysis and processes that are at the foundation of assessing and building managerial capacity.

Human Resource Analysis

In the same way that it is possible to screen people (problem diagnosis and goal definition, above) it is also possible to assess an organisation. This is a very complex application of the skills because there is a need to triangulate data from several sources to get accurate profiles and their inter-relational effectiveness.

Staff selection

We have been involved in many staff selection processes using the decision-making skills used in the ‘technology’. We have also developed materials ‘tailored’ to the specific job against which to ‘screen’ applicants. The process leads to a defensible choice of applicant, because it challenges panel members to be very clear about the rationale for the decision. It also assesses any preferred applicant against organizational culture and job goals so that the preferred candidate is also viable — even if not ideal! On one occasion, an unsuccessful candidate for a senior Public Service position appealed against the selected nominee on the grounds of ‘improper process’. His appeal failed, and in summing up the Presiding Officer of the Industrial Tribunal noted that our process was ‘the most rigorous he had ever come across’.

‘Trouble shooting’

We have been called in to several situations where tensions within the work place were untenable. We applied the skills to ‘get the picture’, ensure that all felt ‘heard’, summarized the implications for individuals and the company, and facilitated problem solving for change. Changes can always be made to create new approaches, adapt (comfortably) to that which cannot be changed, or leave the untenable with good grace and dignity.

Managing conferences

We have facilitated several major conferences and applied the skills to ensure that all necessary information was given to participants, ensure all felt heard in discussion, ensure all summaries were validated by participants, ensure all agreed goals were operational and clear responsibilities were identified before the conference ended.

We have also been engaged to develop and apply rigorous assessment tools to determine the effectiveness of the program and procedures developed by state delegates at a national conference of a major primary industry.