Skills for life

Last October, Island Hotels Group, in collaboration with Work Assist, launched a new training and development programme for staff at middle management levels. The training consisted of a personal and professional development programme entitled 'Skills for life'. The philosophy behind this programme is based on a holistic view of employees - whole people with multiple aspects to their life and not simply workers.

By providing opportunities for holistic development, people improve as individuals, also becoming better persons at work. 'Skills for life' reflects this philosophy and provided participants with skills that they will use in all areas of their life and throughout.

The programme was also designed to be practical and experiential, giving participants plenty of opportunities to bring personal and professional challenges to the sessions and discuss them with their peers and the programme facilitator. Every session was based on a number of practical exercises so that participants could practise the skills being discussed.

The programme consisted of six full-day sessions spread over a six-month period with the aim of creating a drip-feed effect of continuous personal and professional development. The topics covered were:

• The role of self-awareness in effective leadership: this session focused on the importance of knowing one's personality characteristics and strengths and weaknesses, especially when relating to others in a leadership role and in life in general.

• The psychology of body language: This session focused on learning how to read body language so one can be more effective when communicating with others. It also focused on being aware and in control of the various messages given out through body language signals.

• Communicating with positive impact: This session focused on the importance of creating positive dialogue and effective communication in all relationships, with an emphasis on work relationships. Eight key communication principles were learnt and practised. These principles are proven to reduce defensiveness and resistance and increase openness and co-operation in others.

• The effective use of authority: This session focused on the practice of authority in a fair and assertive way that motivates people and strengthens relationships between them. It also focused on practical ways of avoiding unconsciously demotivating others through one's behaviour.

• Motivating and inspiring your team through empowerment: This session was based on the principles of motivation and how to translate these in one's daily interactions with people.

• Self-management and work-life balance: This session dealt with the utmost importance of effectively managing oneself to maintain long-term effectiveness in both personal and work life. A four-domain model of well-being was explored and worked with throughout the session.

The response to these sessions was encouraging with attendance remaining high until the very end. Participants showed a high degree of interest and enthusiasm and this was reflected in their active participation and engagement as well as the general feedback received.

A key component of skills for life is the mentor support system that accompanied it. Every participant was assigned a mentor, with whom they met from time to time during the span of the programme. Participants could use their session with their mentor to discuss issues, challenges, difficulties and ideas that emerged from the session.

Participants were also asked to develop an assignment at the end of the programme, which consisted of a practical action plan based on a personal challenge they identified during the programme.

The programme was designed and delivered by Patrick Psaila, a registered psychologist and master practitioner of NLP, who specialises in the area of personal and professional development of managers and leaders.