Launch of 'Navigator' men's work and personal development programme

Citation

(1999), "Launch of 'Navigator' men's work and personal development programme", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 31 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.1999.03731gab.009

Launch of 'Navigator' men's work and personal development programme

Launch of "Navigator" men's work and personal development programme

Keywords: Personal development plan, Men

Following the success of the "Springboard Women's Development Programme" over the last ten years, the Springboard Consultancy has responded to requests from their corporate clients for a "brother" programme for men, by designing and launching the "Navigator Men's Development Programme" with James Traeger of "Menswork". The two programmes have many similarities, enabling employers to run them in parallel.

The Springboard Women's Development Programme is a three-month work and personal development programme, specifically designed for women in non-management positions in organizations, as these are the women who traditionally have difficulty in gaining access to work and personal development training in the workplace. The "Navigator" programme is aimed at the same level - non-management men.

Why develop a men's programme now, ten years after the women's programme? Because it is only in the last couple of years that enough men have expressed serious interest in wanting to change and for this to become an issue for employers. Jenny Daisley, chief executive of the Springboard Consultancy, says: "This change in attitude is a direct response to recent changes in the workplace resulting in the demise of a 'job for life', the increased use of technology and the changing needs of employers".

Both programmes enable employees to identify the next steps that they want to take in their lives and then equip them with the confidence and some of the skills needed to take those steps. Some topics (such as goal setting and assertiveness) are common to both programmes, whilst other topics are particular to either the women's or men's programmes.

Both programmes have four one-day workshops spread a month apart. In between the workshops, participants work on their own with a 300-page workbook. Both programmes use guest speakers to talk about their own lives and encourage participants to support each other over the three months.

To enable as many organizations as possible to use these programmes, the Springboard Consultancy selects, trains and licenses other trainers to deliver the programme nationally and internationally. To date, there are 360 Springboard trainers active in 13 different countries and over 100,000 women have participated in "Springboard". For the "Navigator" programme, it is still early days. The "Navigator" workbook has recently been published by Hawthorn Press and the first group of Navigator trainers has been selected, trained and licensed, enabling "Navigator" programmes to be available all over the UK.

The "Navigator Men's Development Programme" has been extensively researched inside organizations by James Traeger and Jenny Daisley. Participating organizations included: BT Mobile, Hampshire County Council, MCL Group (Mazda), NatWest Bank, Midland Bank (HSBC) and the University of Cambridge.

For further information, contact The Springboard Consultancy, 2 Atcombe Terrace, South Woodchester, Stroud, Glos GL5 5EP. Tel: 01453 878540; Fax: 01453 872363; E-mail: springboard@compuserve.com; Website: www.springboardconsultancy.com