POLITICS
Tackling the Skills Elephant
It’s hard to remember a time where Brexit wasn’t dominating national discussions. However, in a parallel universe somewhere, our main focus of discussion right now would be on how we deliver against the Government’s Industrial Strategy. For those in need of a refresher, the Industrial
Strategy is the nationally produced strategy, to be delivered locally, that asks partners to focus on the five pillars of Ideas, People, Infrastructure, Business Environment and Places. The strategy, currently being developed at a
Local Enterprise Partnership level across the East Midlands, aims to boost our productivity and our earning power and, got right, could lay the foundations for a successful East Midlands economy for years to come. But there is an elephant in the room. And that
elephant is something that is raised at all Chamber meetings across the region and, indeed, according to Chamber QES findings, it’s one of the few things that could be described as ‘Brexit Proof’. Approximately six-in-ten of our members
reported difficulties recruiting prior to the referendum and approximately six-in-ten continued to report difficulties in all the Quarterly Economic Surveys since the referendum. In short, we lack the skills needed for the
economy of today and are often found grasping in the dark when it comes to understanding the skills we need for the economy of tomorrow. There are many issues to be considered if we
are to address this topic meaningfully, a key one perhaps being summed up by the parable of the blind men and an elephant. In the story, a number of blind men are asked
to describe what an elephant looks like, one insisting it’s hard and smooth like a spear, another that it’s large and solid like a wall, the third that it’s leathery like a thick snake. In the parable, the men are each describing a
different part of the elephant and each is insistent that his definition is the right one. And each is, of course, as correct as he is wrong. When it comes to skills, businesses will often
proclaim there is an issue. However, when you probe, more often than not you find they are describing different parts of the problem. For one business the issue is about young
people entering the workplace for the first time but lacking the so called ‘soft skills’. For another, the problem is a shortage of experienced managerial and leadership candidates. For the third, the angst arises from a lack of people with the technical skills needed for a region that is the
The Chamber is helping to bridge the gap between schools and the workplace
spine of UK manufacturing. Delve further and other influences are at play. It might be about having the right kind of workplace practices and remuneration. It could be about technological development, living wage, millennials, Generation Z. Or it could come down to national policies, local policies, education policies, immigration… The reality is that the Skills Elephant is all of
these descriptions and more. The solution to fixing these problems does not
lie in any one action or place. In fact, the only common denominator across all of them is that business needs to be actively involved in delivering the solutions. And given the scale and number of the issues,
this is a mammoth task. The danger of thinking about all of the above
in one go is that it creates a risk that you end up doing nothing – the task is too big so best to put off thinking about it until another day.
‘Supporting businesses and schools to engage with each other is something we’ve been working on for a long time’
48 business network April 2019
This approach, obviously, can’t be the right one. For us, the key is to understand what falls
within our gift to influence, and then to take steps to make sure we develop meaningful initiatives. That doesn’t mean we turn our back on the larger issue, we merely focus on it one part at a time, always being considerate of what the impact of what we can deliver will have on the rest of the problem. And there is one very specific area where the Chamber thinks it is best, and uniquely, placed to make a difference. We recently introduced a new goal, to ‘Support the Development of the Current and Future Workforce of the East Midlands’. We will be working on this through a variety
of programmes and activities. However, there is one area that we think we have a specific offer that can help address some (but not all) of the issues raised when our members talk about skills, and that’s supporting young people looking to enter the workplace. Specifically, we are going to work with schools to generate strong links with businesses.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
