A personal message from Neil …
While my career is not quite over yet, I am well aware that I am not far off the end of that journey – although I would like to think that the legacy of my life’s work will remain well beyond my active role in the education and training world.
So, what do I regard my legacy as being as I approach the latter stages of my career?
Well, my books are obviously a key part of that. I take great pride in the consistent feedback that people appreciate my ability to explain complex ideas clearly without oversimplifying them.
For some years now, I have also been heavily involved in developing online learning. This has now reached the point where I have been able to establish an online academy that offers a range of e-learning opportunities:
- The Avenue Subscription Service: This offers access to 60 online courses for up to 300 staff for a full year for just £3 000 + VAT. It is also available to individual subscribers at £118.80 – less than £2 per coursel
- Chartered Management Institute qualifications: The Academy offers Level 5 diplomas in adult social care; children’s social care; and people management, engagement and wellbeing as well as Level 7 diplomas in social care and people management, engagement and wellbeing.
- Leading for Success: This six-months online management programme is designed to promote excellence in team management and leadership. It is more than a conventional course, it is a learning system – that is, a structured, step-by-step programme of learning.
- System 3V: This innovative six-months online management development programme is based on the V2V principle – the importance of converting Vicious circles into Virtuous ones to enable staff to flourish and achieve optimal organisational outcomes.Management and leadership qualifications from the Chartered Management Institute: The Academy, in association with TFL Education, offers CM1 diplomas in social care leadership and in People Management, Engagement and Wellbeing.
- The All the World’s a STAGE mental health therapeutic education programme: Available in virtual reality format, this structured programme of mental health awareness and development is being developed with Gizmo Media. It will be an ideal tool for promoting positive mental health.
- The Social Work Finishing School: A professional development programme for final-year students, newly qualified workers and ‘old hands’ wanting to revisit their roots as a refresher. I have also been involved in creating a range of development tools to help managers and leaders to achieve the best results:
- TOPPER is a set of tools designed to develop and sustain positive workplace cultures. It stands for Towards Optimal Productivity, Performance, Engagement and Results.
- Wellbeing Champions Resource Pack: A set of tools for recruiting, training and making best use of wellbeing champions as part of a strategy of promoting employee health and wellbeing.
- Company Health Review: This tool offers the opportunity to review effectiveness in terms of people management and leadership across 30 categories. It can identify strengths to build on and areas for development to build up.
Throughout my career I have built my work around the 3Ps framework: where there are People, there will be Problems, but there will also be Potential. My books and learning resources, although quite diverse in their coverage, all have one thing in common: they are geared towards tackling problems and fulfilling potential. I very much hope that my Academy will be able to help you to tackle problems and fulfil potential to help individuals and organisations to flourish.
