So what now for the TQS?

Where is the TQS going?

Are you still working towards TQS certification?

Is the TQS still as important in your organisation as it was a year ago?

Ask yourself these questions as we move into 2011.

Congratulations to East Surrey College

I'm now able to congratulate another of our clients - East Surrey College - on achieving the TQS.

We've been working with the college for some time and it's great to have helped another college to gain certification.

Congratulations!

Today I'm congratulating another of our clients.

. . . I won't publish the details until the organisation has sent out its press release, but we have another TQS success today.

Hooray!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to one of our clients - The Warrington Business School on achieving TQS Part A with excellence in Freight Logistics and Warehousing.

The Warrington Business School worked hard to achieve the TQS.

Here's a picture taken at a TQS training session that I delivered at the school just over a year ago, where every one was very focused on gaining certification.

Well done, Warrington!

Still very quiet . . .

Every one seems to be waiting for the outcomes of the spending review before making decisions about the TQS.

Two of our clients have just had verification visits.

They applied before the June 30th deadline but holidays and other issues prevented the verification visit taking place any earlier.

All the other organisations we are working with are watching and waiting.

TQS Assessments - Summer Feedback

There are lots of disappointed people out there.

Quite a few organisations are finding that they are applying for certification and coming out of the assessment and verification process with nothing.

I've heard of four organisations in the last week that have had a verification visit recently and been shocked when they haven't gained certification - even conditional certification.

The New TQS World

Some of the organisations coming forward for assessment have said openly that they're "only" looking for conditional certification. That is they have accepted that the standard is really too hard for them, or that they don't think they can meet the requirements of A5.

Some organisations have been hoping to get onto the certificated list but haven't realised how difficult a task gaining the TQS is.

There have been some surprises in colleges and in training provider organisations mainly because the task of gaining the TQS hasn't really been considered fully.

I know that when I'm asked to get involved with an organisation looking for TQS certification, my first question is always:

Are you sure you really want the TQS?

My next questions all begin with:

Are you prepared to .....?

If you know some of the disappointed organisations you'll be hearing their versions of the story.

From my position, working with organisations in the South East, in the West Midlands, in the East of England and in the North West, I think the summer feedback should help to focus people's minds on whether they want the TQS and what they need to do to gain it.

Today's message is a firm one.

The TQS is attainable, but it will be hard work.

Are you prepared to do that hard work?

What's your view of the changing TQS scene?

TQS Rule Change

Are you keeping up with the TQS rule changes?

The employer validation element was removed from July 1st.

Conditional certification remains but there is some new guidance about what conditional certification means.

There is also some additional guidance about A5.2.

Training Quality Standard: A 5.2: Technical Note is worth downloading and reading carefully.

What is the impact of these TQS changes?

Well, my customers who worked hard to get their applications in before June 30th are all trying to work out if they made a wise choice.

In all cases we've been working through the new regulations and seeking clarification about specifics.

The answer to the question about the timing of the submission has to be that most people are not really sure whether it's better to be classifed as a June 30th submission or a July 1st submission.

We'll all have to wait a while to find out if people have made the right choice when they sent off their completed applications on June 30th.

Is there a future for the TQS?

I’m asking this question because lots of other people are asking it. I’ve had telephone discussions around this theme with four providers this week, and this exact question, typed into the search engines, has brought this blog several new readers.

Welcome!

I don’t know if there is a future for the TQS, but I do know that the people who are asking the question are more likely to have the answer than the people in the funding agencies.

When people ask me if the TQS will survive, and if it will flourish, I now have my answer ready.

“It will if you value it.”

Do providers value the TQS?

Think for a moment about your own TQS journey. Did you decide to go for the TQS because of the value that you think it will add to your organisation? Did you decide to go for the TQS because someone was pushing you in that direction?

Your answers will shape your view of the TQS.

If you’ve decided that having a systematic approach to working with employers will help your business, then you know that the TQS will help.

You can use the standard and the framework to help you to devise systems and processes to support your work with employers. You can reorganise the way you work with employers. You can follow the principles of the TQS – all at very little cost.

If you’re just starting out on your TQS journey, I’d advise you to buy the Training Quality Standard Applicant Guide, if you can’t get one for free. It will set you back £30, but that will be the extent of your outlay.

You can then use the TQS as a development tool.

I remember getting on for twenty years ago now I spent a lot of time delivering workshops all around the country for MCI (Management Charter Initiative) helping people to see that the newly-published management standards could be used for more than gaining qualifications. They helped business, too, in organisational development, in recruitment, in performance management and so on.

I think the same applies to the TQS. You can gain a lot of benefit from using the standard without thinking of certification.

Does anyone say you must gain certification?

This is the thorny question. Do you need TQS certification in order to gain access to government contracts? Is the ground shifting beneath the sector?

In all honesty the answer matters less than you might think.

If you decide to work with the TQS and apply its principles, then gaining certification is a short additional step to take. You can take that step when someone says you need your certification to take part in the next round of contracting. You will have travelled a long way down the road towards certification using the TQS as a development tool. Gaining the plaque won’t be too big an additional job.

Is there really a future for the TQS?

There are some questions to think about.

• What else is there to put in its place?
• What are the feelings about the TQS in your part of the country? Does it have lots of advocates?
• Has the TQS passed that very important test? Does it actually add value?

It’s your decision.

See also:

Is the TQS still top of the agenda?

Do we have to have the TQS?

TQS Validation: What will you tell your employers?

Update on June 10th
We posted this article on June 8th and new information about validation was released on June 9th. You can read about it here.

Two changes to TQS assessment rules

Be that as it may, how are you preparing your staff and your employers for the fact that you're seeking TQS certification?

Original article

Quite a few of our clients are in the final stages of countdown to submitting their TQS application.

They are looking to have the option of achieving conditional certification and so they are finalising applications now.

Most of our clients are also starting to think about verification and validation. They are wondering how best to prepare their employers for the possibility of the validation telephone call. They want guidance on how to handle this activity well.

So, how should providers deal with the validation issue?

Here’s my advice.

Talk to your own staff first

Make sure every one in your own organisation understands what TQS validation is all about. You don’t want any incorrect messages out there, so make sure every one is clear what happens.

A useful starting point would be to make sure every one understands the concept of net promotion.

I’ve written about the concept of net promotion. Click on the term net promotion to view the post.

Decide what to communicate to employers

This needs to be an organisation-wide decision. It also needs to be implemented in exactly the same way in all parts of the organisation. It’s amazing how messages can get confused. There is scope for ambiguity and misunderstanding in all major communications activities, so make sure you minimise that scope by briefing your own staff on validation issues.

Give your own staff a document which summaries your approach to communicating the information about validation to employers.

Next think about your communications process.

• Are you going to send every employer a letter?
• Are you going to visit every employer?
• Are you going to speak to every employer on the telephone?
• Are you going to do a mix of the above?
• How often are you going to communicate your intentions?

What’s right is what works for you.

You can find the validation notification template letter on the TQS website. Click validation notification template letter to visit the relevant page.

What are providers doing about the validation issue?

We’re working with three organisations which are on the brink of submitting their applications at the moment. Each one has adopted a slightly different approach to preparing for validation.

• A small training company we are working with is visiting all of its employers to explain the validation process. The account managers are showing employers the validation letter on line and explaining the validation process.

• A large college we are working with has a timetable for telephoning all its employers about the TQS once the application has been submitted. In the ‘phone call managers will be alerting employers to the fact that they will be receiving a letter about the TQS in the post and reminding them to look out for it. In the case of this college the senior team has decided that, immediately after the verification visit, the top fifty employers will be telephoned again to remind them of the validation activity.

• Another provider we are working with is handing out a postcard about TQS assessment, verification and validation to its employers during a visit. On one side of the postcard is the TQS information. On the other side is a calendar of forthcoming networking events for employers.

What should you do about validation?

The short answer is that it’s up to you to decide what fits your own client base and your own methods of communicating with your employers best.

It does seem, however, that most providers are doing something, so perhaps you should, too.

Attract More Business - Newsletter

Have you signed up for our Attract More Business newsletter yet?

The May edition will be out next week.

Each month I take an important aspect of employer engagement and offer guidance on how to deal with that issue.

The feature article in April was entitled:

Sign up for our list and stay the course!

It was about getting employers to sign up for your e-newsletter and other communications. It was also about making sure you keep people on your list and opening your e-mails.

When you sign up for the newsletter you'll be able to download our special report:

Bridging the Funding Gap.

The title says it all. It's a guide to help you to earn more income from non-governmental sources.

The main sections in the report are headed:

1. Be clear about how much revenue you want to generate from employers
2. Be clear about who you serve
3. Be clear about what you are selling
4. Face up to the big challenge
5. Create a customer pipeline
6. Manage relationships with employers
7. Build your reputation
8. Promote your organisation effectively
9. Get some feedback
10. Measure and improve

The report is filled with useful advice that you can apply today, so you might want to take a look. All of the advice will also help providers looking to achieve the TQS.

Remember, you'll receive the Attract More Business newsletter, too.

This month I'll be writing about how to get employers to hand over real money.

So, I look forward to sharing this information with you.

The sign-up box for our Attract More Business newsletter is on the right hand side of the screen.

Your TQS application - three reasons why you should write it in-house

Over the last two years or so I’ve been asked many times to write an organisation’s TQS application. On every occasion I’ve turned down the request. I always turn down these requests because the best people to write your TQS application are already working for you.

Of course, you can ask for guidance on how to shape and frame your work, how to make sure your application makes sense to an outsider, how to check that you’ve covered the requirements and so on – and I’ve done all of these tasks several times – but writing your TQS application is a job for you, for three reasons.

It’s your TQS journey

You have made a development journey towards readiness to be certificated. You know the details of that journey. You know about your successes and the areas where you have had problems. You know what you’re really proud of.

Most of all you know how all the different pieces in your jigsaw came together.

This is the story you need to tell, and no one can tell this story better than you.

You know where the evidence is

In your TQS application you make statements about how you address the different aspects of the standard. You then use evidence of how you work in practice to help you to prove your points.

An external writer – even a great writer – won’t have this sort of information to hand. Even in you give him or her lots of material to work with, it will still be difficult for an outsider to decide which items fit the requirements of the different parts of the standard best. It takes someone who knows the standard and knows your work to do that.

You will have to work with the assessors on the verification visit

When the assessors come on site to verify, amplify and clarify what is in the application you’ll have problems, if you don’t own your application.

If you don’t know why something has been written in a particular part of the application, or why a particular example has been offered, you’re going to struggle to have a meaningful discussion with your lead assessor about it. If you don’t know how the application was constructed and the rationale behind your choice of material, you will find the verification visit difficult.

It might look like you’re removing a problem from your over-long list of things to do in your very busy day by outsourcing the writing of your TQS application, but in the long run you’ll be making more work for yourself.

Do yourself a favour

Write the application in-house, but remember to leave plenty of time to write, edit, review and rewrite. In the end the secret of good writing is all in the editing and rewriting.

So, to make sure your TQS application is really well written, don’t outsource the writing, but do make sure you write several versions of the document along the way.

If you’d like to link to this post, please do.

If you’d like to use it in your own TQS newsletter, then that’s fine, provided you acknowledge the writer and the source.

See also: TQS Application writing - the five big mistakes

Your TQS Application Writing Strategy

As most of the readers of this blog know, I spend quite a bit of my time looking at TQS applications before they are sent off to the appropriate certification body.

One of the problems I see again and again in applications is the inconsistency between what has been written in A0 and what is written in A5. To state this a little more directly, what is in A0.3 doesn’t seem to be picked up in A5.0 – or anywhere else in A5 for that matter.

The advice I always give is that:

• The person writing A0 should write A5, too.
• The person writing A0 should write A5 as soon as he or she has finished A0.
• The person writing A0 and A5 should put the two aspects of the application alongside each other to make sure that there is some relationship between what is said in A0 and A5.

Saying something is one thing. Getting people to follow the advice is more difficult.

I find that what people really like is the diagram below.

1. In summary, think about your strategy first.
2. Think about the results you achieve next.
3. Then consider the approaches you use to implement your strategy.

Easy . . . or not?

Is the TQS still top of the agenda?

The fact that I’ve been asked this question several times in the last month seems to suggest that the answer is: no.

More than one hundred and fifty organisations have gained the TQS to date. A lot of those organisations are colleges.

Inevitably this means that for some colleges the TQS is not now top of the agenda. They’ve achieved certification. They have the badge, even if – in some cases – that badge is held provisionally. This means that quite a few colleges can now focus some of their attention on something else.

In many cases funding issues are now top of the agenda. Strategies for increasing income, often from employers, are centre stage.

In those colleges that haven’t gained the TQS, as yet, some serious questions are being asked?

• Do we need the TQS?
• Does anyone say we have to have it?
• If we can’t gain it by the summer should we bother?
• What are other colleges doing?
• What will we lose if we don’t go for certification?

In private training provider organisations the same questions are being asked, along with a couple of others:

• Will be still be able to sub-contract from colleges if we don’t achieve the TQS?
• Can we find a way to go through as a small organisation – because it’s cheaper that way?

Colleges and private training providers are also asking whether they need to think about Part B or if they can concentrate on their Part A activities.

These are all legitimate questions, but finding the answers is problematic.

With the demise of the LSC and the end of the World Class Skills programme, a lot has changed in the sector. On the larger stage the outcome of the general election could change a lot, or not very much. Then there’s the issue of the stance of the Skills Funding Agency or of the National Skills Academies with regard to the TQS and how much influence they have.

So what’s the best way forward?

It’s worth going back to the actual standard and reviewing it. Then the key question is:

• Will working with the TQS help our business?

Any organisation looking to work with employers will be certain to see the value of addressing the key principles in the standard, so every provider organisation can improve its business prospects by using the TQS as an organisational development tool.

Working with the TQS in this context remains a valuable activity, and one that can remain top of the agenda.

Seeking certification is quite a different issue and it is the external environment that will dictate decisions in that context. It will take some weeks or months before it is clear how the environment in the sector will change and develop.

We will all need to wait to find out if TQS certification will be top of the agenda in the autumn and beyond.

The shrewd organisations will probably hedge their bets.

If they can achieve the TQS by the summer they will. If they can’t, they’ll work with the standard and be ready to seek certification if and when they need it.

Do we have to have the TQS?

I’ve written responses to some very good questions over the life of this blog. The question above is probably the best question of all. I hope I can do justice to the question in my answer.

Where are you going?

Whether or not you need the TQS depends on your business model and your business objectives. If you’re looking to rely on government funding for your income, then you definitely need to consider the TQS seriously.

If the funding bodies with which you work expect their suppliers to hold the TQS, then clearly Achieving the TQS will make business sense.

It might also make sense to achieve certification if you want to become a member of your National Skills Academy (NSA). TQS certification could become a condition of NSA membership in the future.

However, you need to think of some other issues, too.

Will it matter to our customers if we gain the TQS?

To address this think about your relationships with your customers.

Will your customers think differently of you if you hold the TQS? Will they do more business with you? How much value do your customers place on the TQS as a brand and as an indicator of training excellence?

Will you take action to make the most of that certification with your customers? Are you going to use your TQS certification as a means of differentiating yourself from other provider organisations? Will you use your certification to promote yourself strongly?

Will you take a hand in promoting the TQS brand? After all, once you hold certification, it will be in your own interests to promote the TQS concept, too.

Will it matter within the learning and skills world, if we gain the TQS?

Will holding TQS certification help you to fulfil the requirements of other assessment frameworks? Will your TQS certification help you with inspection issues?

Don’t just look at the requirements of each framework as you think about your answer. Think also about whether the work you do in the TQS context will make life easier for you when you are preparing for inspection. Will having systems, processes, frameworks and structures in place for managing relationships with your employer customers will help you with your preparations for other assessments?

Doing more with less

Achieving more with limited resources is going to be important for many years to come.

Will the process you go through as you prepare for TQS certification help you to work more efficiently and more productively?

Have you thought about the benefits you will gain by overhauling the ways in which you manage relationships with employer customers? Will those systems and processes help you to work smarter? Will the new systems help you to do more business with your existing customers? Will you give your employer customers a better experience because you have a systematic approach to dealing with them?

For example:

• Do you record the costs you incur in order to gain a new employer customer?
• Do you work out how much it costs you to hold on to an employer customer?

The systems and processes you introduce to help you to achieve the TQS may cut the costs of both activities. To be sure of this you will need to do some measurement of current expenditure.

In the end you might decide you can’t afford not to seek certification, but you won’t know until you do that measurement.

Is the TQS providing a framework for excellence?

Irrespective of TQS certification issues does the TQS provide you with a framework that will help you to serve your employer customers better?

If you believe it does, then you will probably have the answer to the question about whether you have to have the TQS, too.

See also:

How much LMI do we need?

An assessor's view of the TQS

What did you gain as a result of working with us?

How often do we keep in touch with our employers?

Meeting the A5/B3 Challenge

If you're planning for your TQS assessment, you will be thinking about A5 and about B3 - if you're looking to be certificated for both parts of the standard.

What is all the fuss about?

Why do so many organisations seeking TQS certification struggle with A5 and B3?

Well, the answer has a lot to do with how the FE sector views awards and how the sector goes about getting endorsed, certificated and approved.

Anyone who has worked in FE – and that means colleges and learning provider organisations – knows what happens when an organisation decides to go for an award.

People are asked to focus their efforts on gaining the prize: Investors in People, the Matrix Standard and so on.

It doesn’t matter what the challenge is, the approach is the same.

Busy people are asked to apply lots of effort to preparing to meet the new challenge.

• They are asked to focus on the requirements of the award and make sure they address them.
• They are briefed about why this prize is important.
• They are asked to give the award their full attention.
• They do lots of extra work to ensure their areas comply with requirements.
• Their organisation gains the award.
• Their organisation moves on to the next challenge.

This approach is the main reason why so many organisations are struggling with the TQS. The usual methods for getting through don’t work.

Why?

The assessment process is looking to confirm that, over time, you have been doing what is necessary to achieve the standard. Come the assessment, it’s not a case of simply looking at what you are doing right now. You need a history of working in a particular way, and you need to demonstrate that the ways in which you work generate results – results for the employers you work with.

The assessment looks for results and for trends in results.

Consider the following when you think about trends.

Is progress being made towards increasing levels of performance? If already at a high level, is it being sustained? Is the trend sustained for two years or more?

Think also about your results and the targets you set.

Are targets being set and on what basis? Is performance against targets being monitored? How well are targets being achieved?

Then there are results in comparison to others.

Are results achieve being compared with those of other organisations? How well do the results compare, given different contexts?

Oh yes, and where do you write about results? You’re right, in A5 and B3.

Of course, for the moment, those who can’t show the results and the data necessary to address these aspects of the standard can gain conditional certification, but that all changes later this year.

The reason for this is obvious. Every one has had plenty of time to become familiar with the TQS requirements, so every one should now be working towards addressing them.

Of course, that’s the theory, but life isn’t really like that.

Quite a few organisations are still using the tried and trusted FE development model outlined above.

Your organisation doesn’t fall into that category, does it? You don’t go for the short-term approach, do you?

If you think you do, now’s the time for action. Change the model you use for developing your organisation, if you want to Achieve the TQS. Start to develop a longer-term perspective, and think about those trends, over time.

See also:

Planning the TQS development journey: first things first

What's the real difference between Part A and Part B of the Training Quality Standard?

A thought for January 2010 - Are you creating the right impression?

Here's an activity to try out whilst the snow seems set to keep us all at home.

There’s nothing more satisfying when you come to think about how you’re progressing with your TQS development journey than to be able to set out in front of you your systems and processes for managing your work with employers.

I say “set out in front of you” because it’s a good idea if you organise your development journey so that you’re able to do this.

You will be better able to be clear about what you do and how you do it, if you use a visual approach.

What does your employer engagement system look like?

Some people use process maps – and there is software around to help you to do this. Some people use flow charts. Some people use a range of colourful and fancy methods. It’s not important which approach you use. What is important is that you think about what needs to be done to manage your relationships with employers. Then set out the processes you use to do the job.

When we help people with this task in our workshops, we start with the employer’s journey.

We look at the various stages of an employer’s involvement with a provider.

These include:

1. the time before the employer works with the provider organisation
2. the contracting stage
3. the time when the employer is working with the provider organisation
4. the time when the first piece of work/contract finishes.

We then look at what the provider organisation needs to do to support the employer at each stage of that journey.

This is the time to draw up a list of the processes you use.

For example, in the time before you begin working with an employer, you will need a process for managing enquiries, a process for deciding how and when to refer an enquirer on, a process for checking that the employer doesn’t get lost in the voicemail limbo, a process for undertaking organisational needs analyses, and process for getting proposals completed . . . and so on.

We provide a list and help people to decide what they need. Of course, we also have some sample processes, which people find helpful.

All of this means the value of mapping management processes is established quickly in the workshop. People draw their flow charts or their process maps. These then become the documents used throughout their organisation.

As a result of adopting this approach they make rapid progress with the tasks linked to consistency and standardisation.

• They have something to work with when they are training their staff.
• They have processes that they can document in more detail if they wish.
• They have an approach which is easy to communicate.

Pause for a moment then, and think just for a moment about how you start your relationship with an individual employer.

• Can you set out your process simply?
• Can you fit the overview onto a single page?

Think about the various stages and the impressions you will create with employers at each stage.

If you have difficulties take a step back and look again at the posts on:

What exactly are you trying to do to support employers?

Employer engagement basics - the summary