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.

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?