The Foundation for Human Resources Development has embarked on a number of initiatives this year to revamp its strategy towards those who are involved in learning and development of people at the workplace.

As part of its annual HR Awards, the FHRD shall introduce two initiatives. The first initiative is to recognise those companies that meet the five criteria in the Excellence in Training and Development Award. These criteria consist of organisation values, the training and development function, identification of training and development needs, training and development methods, and evaluation and monitoring. Companies will be assessed against a set of evidence formulated against each criterion.

The second initiative consists of recognising the Best Training and Development Initiative of the year. The assessment criteria are based on the innovation and originality of the initiative, the implementation strategy, employees' involvement/participation, performance and quality measures, and results.

These and another two awards, namely Excellence in People Management (Malta) Award and the Best HR Initiative shall be launched at the end of May and the Awarding Ceremony is scheduled for next December.

Among the other strategic initiatives for 2006, FHRD is offering two new courses. One course with two levels, designed and delivered by a UK consultant, aims at equipping the training practitioner with consultancy skills. The other course which is a certification course helps delegates to remodel the behaviour of people at the workplace.

The Level 1 course, would help those who are new to the training profession and wish to become HR consultants within their organisation. The Level 2 course would help those who are established in their profession and wish to become HR consultants not only to their organisation but also to other companies. This course, specifically designed for FHRD delegates, will certainly open new horizons for training practitioners and so it is not to be missed.

The second course is a certification course of 10 days in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP is a tool most useful to those who in some way deal with people as it equips them with the skills, techniques and attitudes that enhance performance radically and multiply results.

It is therefore highly recommended for all HRM and HRD professionals as they strive to reach their business objectives each day in the best possible ways through their people. This course will have a profound effect on participants as they discover new choices that will help them to be more effective and gain more satisfaction in the areas of their life that are most important to them.

On completing this course, delegates will receive certification by the American Board of NLP and a one-year membership to this board. It will be run by an NLP-licensed Trainer and Master Practitioner, at the FHRD premises, in San Gwann.

This NLP practitioner course will be delivered at FHRD in November. Since there is some pre-study material that will have to be purchased from overseas, it is imperative that the FHRD receive confirmation of bookings by not later than the end of September.

A payment facility is available from Bank of Valletta plc under their educational scheme.

It is not possible to highlight all the initiatives the FHRD is undertaking for training professionals in this brief commentary. One thing is sure: such initiatives will be further developed year after year and any suggestions from our readers, which could further enhance the skills of those in the learning and development profession, will be most welcome.

In the meantime, we highly recommend readers to browse often through our Website www.fhrd.org to be updated with the latest learning activities.

With our motto 'Together we learn', we invite all those who have the management and development of people at heart to help us implement our vision of making the FHRD the hub for people excellence.

Ms Chircop is the FHRD's CEO.

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