Achieving the TQS - Was it worth it?

There are more than one hundred and twenty organisations listed on the TQS website as having achieved Part A of the Training Quality Standard.

In some cases more than a year has passed since they achieved their certification.

This means it’s possible to ask the question: “Was it worth it?”

You can ask yourself this question, too, wherever you are on your TQS development journey.

Will holding the TQS bring in more business?

Many provider organisations sought certification as a means of differentiating themselves from other providers. They hoped that gaining the TQS would mean that they gained more LSC contracts, or gained larger contracts, and that more employers would value their new status.

The organisations which gained their certification earliest have had the most opportunity to generate new business. Their views are, therefore, of interest to providers who are still on their journey to certification.

I interviewed Rachael Fidler of HTP about the impact of holding the TQS on her business some time ago. She was very positive about the business benefits.

She said:

“We find that employers are seeking us out, as are the LSCs. People see our certification as a statement about the quality of what we do and about our responsiveness to employer needs. That’s good for our business, because more people want to work with us.

I think the impact on us as a business is also very positive. We always knew we worked hard and tried to do a good job. Now we are confident that we do. We are also a stronger team because we worked together on this.”

So that’s one endorsement.

Several of our customers have said that following certification they have been having more conversations with more people and that some of those conversations are leading to business.

In broad terms then, they are saying that achieving the TQS is worth the effort.

Have you built your reputation?

This is a more difficult question.

There are really two parts to it. Reputation building takes place within the FE sector and with employers, too.

Within the sector organisations are looking for their work to be recognised by funding bodies and by OFSTED.

There are quite a few LSCs asking their providers to look seriously at the TQS and anecdotal information from providers in several regions indicates that holding the TQS is now being seen as something of value in the contracting process.

Most providers are aware of the links between the Framework for Excellence and the TQS, so most people in the sector know that holding the TQS certainly helps with aspects of this framework.

But what about building a reputation with employers?

This is more difficult to judge.

Where providers already have good relationships with employers, and with employer groups, there is evidence that relationships are being enhanced, once the provider gains the TQS.

Where a provider is looking for new business, holding the award seems to be of less help, simply because the majority of employers don’t know too much about the TQS. Thus, they are meeting a new provider and being introduced to a new quality badge at the same time.

However, providers do see the potential of the award. I interviewed James Billingham, managing director of TTP about how holding the TQS will help providers and he was very clear about how holding the TQS could offer an organisation advantages.

“The standard is only given to those organisations that can demonstrate a high level of customer satisfaction and a fundamental understanding of their industry. Those training providers that achieve the standard should be the first that employers turn to for good quality training.”

(This article was featured in Fast Forward, the journal for training providers in the logistics sector.)

Have you thought about what you will gain from achieving the TQS?

Now’s the time to think about that you want from your TQS certification. Now’s the time to set some objectives. Now’s the time to think beyond gaining certification and about how holding the TQS will help your business.

• Have you thought about the gains you will make by achieving the TQS?
• Do you know what you want, in business terms, as a result of your TQS certification?
• Have you thought about the opportunities that will be available to you as a holder of the TQS that are not available to you now?
• Have you thought about how you will capitalise on your achievement?

You won’t know if what you gain is worth the effort you put in to achieving the TQS if you don’t know the answers to at least some of these questions.

So ask yourself sooner rather than later if achieving the TQS is going to be worth it.

See also: Goodbye to the early adopters.

Good questions - and great answers

Back in September I was very pleased to publish an interview with Peter Hillman, a TQS assessor with Investors in Excellence.

At the time Peter agreed to answer questions about the TQS on this blog.

Here are the first three questions that were sent to me. Thanks again to Peter for his clear responses.

Why aren't assessors drawn from education and from OFSTED?

"As I indicated in my earlier interview, the assessment includes the perspective of the "employer's experience". It is an assessment of how a provider defines, implements and manages the processes that support this, and how achievements and performance are measured in relation to the objectives defined in the strategy for each aspect of performance - i.e. planned outcomes, employer satisfaction and assessment of impact on the employer's business.
The Standard is an assessment of continuous service quality improvement which is fundamentally different from OFSTED's inspection role.

Part of this difference is that TQS is a process driven assessment framework which looks at how well specific approaches are developed and implemented, where "soundness" (or degree of "good") relates to the contribution to the achievement of the organisation's (provider's) strategy and not to an objective model of educational excellence.

Hence what might be "sound" for one provider may not be for another. Consequently assessors need to understand how organisations and processes are managed appropriately and effectively and it is this background that is looked for in assessors rather than a specific educational knowledge.

Experience has shown that having many assessors with a limited background in education (and not limited education!!!) has been valuable in bringing a fresh perspective on provider practice.
There is no bar on assessors from an OFSTED background becoming TQS assessors as long as they have the background experience and knowledge e.g. EFQM Excellence Model experience."

What proportion of organisations being assessed now are gaining conditional certification?

"This is information that is not routinely published and individual assessors do not have access to this information. However an initial report published by CFE is on the TQS website."

Is it a problem if people in a provider organisation haven't seen the TQS application?

"Not really.

However it is highly likely that the verification visit will include discussions with a range of staff involved in the employer responsiveness processes. We would expect them to know how things are done and whether this should be consistent with the information provided in the application.

Remember the application should reflect what actually happens in the organisation rather than "what is thought happens" or "what should happen". The evidence in the application should be "naturally occurring" which means it is "what happens on the ground" and it is key to ensure that this is the case.

So if you are confident that the application represents what is actually happening - particularly in relation to implementation - then it would not matter if everybody has not seen the application!!"

If you have more questions for Peter, please post them in the comments section of this post.

See also, the original interview with Peter: An assessor's view on the TQS and the series of good questions in the blog archive.

Teamwork wins every time

I’ve written quite a lot about the TQS team over the past few weeks. That’s because it’s important to remember that gaining the TQS is all about teamwork.

Good teamwork doesn’t just happen.

There’s a lot to creating effective teams, but it always starts with the senior team. That’s why one of the early posts in the series was about preparing the senior team to support your TQS development.

There are still quite a few senior managers who are less aware of the differences between the TQS and inspection than you would like them to be. This means you will need to allocate time to working with your senior team to ensure they have the right level of understanding of the TQS.

Then there’s the issue of getting a working team together.

Of course, there are teams within teams, and teams working in different areas of your organisation. There are larger teams and smaller teams. There are teams with more influence than others.

Your job is to keep them focused and moving in the right direction. This can be easier said than done.

That’s why I wrote a post entitled: Is your TQS team really working as a team?

It’s a good question. You need the answer.

I also wrote about the TQS Part B team.

It’s important to give some thought to how best to help the people working on Part B. Often they are not as heavily involved with the TQS development journey as those who are working on Part A. They can be forgotten, unless you keep reminding yourself that they need to be included in just about everything you do.

Finally, I brought many of the key issues together in the post: Fantastic TQS team – what’s the secret?

That’s a post that shows what you can achieve when you take your team seriously and take the time to build a strong TQS team.

So now you know.

Teamwork wins every time.

Teamwork will definitely help you to achieve the TQS.