Good practice example: an Austrian experience

(Case study provided by MERIG)

This case study report describes how the pilot action was implemented in a small Austrian social economy organisation working in the field of regional development and assistance. The company employs ten employees, mainly working as senior and junior project managers in the areas of social care and employment assistance, regional and organisational development.

Involvement in the pilot testing

The organisation was involved in the implementation of the TSESME project since an early stage. It is one of the organisations which contributed already to the initial survey, dedicated to the elaboration of training needs of small and micro enterprises in the social economy which has been conducted within the first project months.

One senior project manager had been asked to give his opinion during the pre-pilot testing phase by reviewing the questionnaires. Beside some technical features, that had not been implemented for this test version, the tester annotated that because of the large amount of articles, checklists, questionnaires and tools it was very complicated for them to find 'the right way' through the offered tools. His general comment was that the TSESME toolkit was rather huge, the questionnaires were too long and too detailed for small social economy organisations.

The organisation was again contacted and took part in the final pilot testing phase of theTSESME toolkit. The test-users did not experience any problems accessing the webpage or with the navigation and the structure of the toolkit. The final-pilot testing focused on the application of the offered profiling tools, the results and recommendations and the training sessions that targeted some of the detected training needs.

The results gained by the organisational tool correspond, according to the statements of the test-user, with the situation within the company. All four sections of the tool were rated positive – the 'traffic lights' switched to green. This indicates that the company is aware of the importance of human resources development.

In a next step one employee undertook the individual tool. The output of this matching process can in short be described as follows: The results of section 'technical and methodological competencies / skills' highlighted some shortcomings in the contribution to high quality-level work and language skills. ICT skills scored green; all other sub-sections yellow. In the section on 'social and communicative competences / skills' all sub-themes scored yellow.

Training Seminar

Based on the results of the individual profiling tool the trainer, the manager of the organisation and the employee agreed on a training measure on communication skills that could serve the employee best to improve his situation, as communication skills are very important for the completion of the employees´ tasks. As this is the case for all employees it has been agreed that other colleagues shall be invited to partipicate in the training session as well.

Progress of the training

A training session on Personal Presentation Skills was organized for the social economy organisation and four employees plus the manager participated in a half-day workshop that comprised theoretical and practical elements. The trainer gave inputs related to personality and impression to audience; presentation skills and authentic behaviour. Furthermore relevant presentation devices have been tried out and their utilisation discussed.

• Theoretical input on methods and techniques;
• Exercises based on presentations with own chosen contents;
• Feedback;
• Corrective measures;
• Exercises;
• Feedback and
• Discussion about body language and behaviour and effects on others.

Feedback

In the feedback round after the testing and training phases the attendees of the training measure stated that the TSESME toolkit did not exactly work out detailed needs, but did draw a general picture about specific needs.

The training participants stated that the TSESME toolkit is very complex, has a high standard and is to a certain extent demanding.

It is necessary to invest some time in order to learn what is covered by the toolkit, as it covers most elements which are related to training needs assessment and further education. It is a very valuable tool for small organisations.

Conclusion

To summarize the TSESME toolkit and especially the individual tool outlined improvement potentials. It can be seen as a good method that provides general feedback and generic suggestions about specific training needs and provides a good basis for discussions with training institutions (trainers) for the definition of a training programme. Additionally it encourages managers, HRD managers and employees to think about the importance and need for vocational training in general and also points out relevant training fields and can be seen as a starting point for raising awareness.

Awareness of the importance of training needs assessment has been raised by using the TSESME toolkit and its different features. The team plans to use the toolkit on a regular basis.