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personal improvements, including exciting new training courses.
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Previous Newsletters
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Testimonials
Here are testimonials from people who have attended our courses in the past 12 months
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"I learnt a lot about Change and Communication"
Supervisors Training – Supervisor from Quality Beverages
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"I learnt how to help an employee identify and solve problems"
Supervisors Training – Supervisors from SA Fine Worsteds
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"Very Good, I now have confidence to motivate my team"
Supervisors Training – Supervisor from SA Fine Worsteds
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"Very professional, helpful and involved audience"
Fundamental Management Skills Workshop – Director, Takata Petri
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"Excellent, communication is key to success in any organisation"
Fundamental Management Skills Workshop – Manager. Takata Petri
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"If everybody did this course our company would be a better place"
Employee from Braitex Tensilon who attended the Business Awareness Training
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"The whole course was fantastic, it is a mind changing experience"
Employee from Braitex Tensilon - Business Awareness Training
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"It taught me how important teamwork is, and how important it is to have good communication with the rest of the team"
Employee from Parmalat Dairies - Business Awareness training
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"Our Productivity is at 80% and climbing. Since July 2003 we have achieved 100% delivery performance without a single late delivery"
Manager Be Bop a Lula (Clothing Company) - Business Awareness Training
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"It takes someone with extreme knowledge on a topic to be able to do what you did for us"
Manager SA Airways - Project Management Training
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"Very, Very Good, this was excellent"
Employee Anchor Yeast - Productivity Improvement and Business Skills Training
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Previous Newsletters
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Distance Learning - LCT News #3 2004
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Can you believe we have nearly come to the end of summer? I can already feel the air has turned
and the mornings are a fair bit cooler. It is amazing how easily the season's change around us,
and nature begins to prepare itself for the new season. It nevertheless amazes me how resistant we
humans are to change. Well I am inviting you to change, or at least open your mind to some new possibilities.
We have been living in a technological age for some time now and I think most of us are fairly accustomed to
using the Internet. The advancement in technology and the Internet in particular has added a whole new dimension
to our lives and enables us to achieve a whole lot more today than we could 20 years ago. I have a son of
middle school age (11) and he is now getting real projects to do (reminder to self organise Project Management
training for kids!) Wow is it easy for him - www.whatever and all the information is at his fingertips.
I remember having to go the library and search through old dusty books, most of which were written 30 years
earlier and the facts were out of date. My son still complains about how hard it is. I guess that is kids
for you.
This brings me to my main topic - distance learning. The internet has opened up all sorts of possibilities and one area that has provided a huge benefit to individuals and companies is distance learning or as it is fashionably called e-learning. So why e-learning?
Why are so many companies switching to e-Learning? Simply put, e-Learning delivers more training to more people for the fewest Rands.
It's flexible, fast, and convenient. It saves time, money, and resources. And it delivers measurable, tangible results.
Today's world is driven by access, information, productivity improvement and speed. The key to success is moving knowledge from the people who have it to the people who need it. e-Learning gives you the power to do exactly that. Virtually anyone can sharpen skills or develop new ones. Pick up quick tips or launch a whole new career. Earn nearly any certification or enhance business skills. The possibilities are just beginning.
Here are some of the key benefits of e-Learning:
Just-In-Time Training: Deliver knowledge on-demand, with up-to-the-minute information. Students can access training instantly-at the office, at home, or on the road, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Education is available when and where they want (and need) it.
Cost-Effectiveness: Without travel time or expenses, you're putting more training Rands into training-and saving up to 40 to 60 percent. And students can take as many courses as often as they need for one flat or annual fee.
Flexibility: Students can choose online instructor-led courses or interactive self-paced courses, and they can take advantage of an extensive online reference library.
Customization: You can quickly assess individual and group needs, then tailor learning modules to appropriate interests, career objectives, and job profiles.
Measurement: It's easy to set up new users, monitor their progress, and produce detailed usage reports. With the ability to create assessments, you'll know what employees have learned, when they've completed courses, how they performed, and their levels of improvement.
Variety: Hundreds of in-depth courses are available instantly-covering everything from business skills and IT certification to workplace safety.
Accesability: If you look at the need for training in this country and new skills Act, e-learning is
the one way in which we can quickly, efficiently and cost effectively deliver training and uplifting
skills to those who need it.
I am looking at adding some of my programs into an e-learning environment and in that way make them
available when companies need them and provide the flexibility and all the other good points mentioned above.
As I mentioned in my last newsletter I was hoping to have some very exciting news regarding new programs.
Well you need to wait just a little longer, I am at an advanced stage in the negotiations and as soon as this
is done I will let you know. WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!
In the meantime watch nature change season and take the time to enjoy it. Till the next time.
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Keeping Focused - LCT News #2 2004
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The year has taken off at a rapid rate yet again. We are already into February and the festive season seems a
distant memory. I hope you are still sticking to those New Years Resolutions. Just as I thought, they have
also been forgotten. Don't give up, no one said it would be easy. I have been reading a great book by Lance
Armstrong titled "It's not about the bike." In his very first race, shortly after Lance had turned professional,
he came stone last, and as he crossed the finish line the Spannish spectators jeered and said, "look at that one
in last place". His immediate thoughts were "Why don't I quite?" He even phoned his manger and coach and said he
was thinking of quitting. Well as we know he has gone on to become the greatest cyclist of all time even after a
life threatening illness (cancer). The message is very simple, don't quite just because you are not achieving what
you thought you were going to achieve when you set those resolutions. Keep going you too can become your own champion
and the best ever. It takes time to get there, but as fast as the months fly by, and by sticking to your plans /
goals you will soon have forgotten the old bad habits and you will be not only feeling a real sense of achievement,
but will have achieved your goals!!
I titled this letter "keeping focused" and for very good reasons. We live in times when we have access to
and are bombarded with so much information it is very easy to become distracted and loose focus, both as
individuals and companies. If we look at the successful icons of our time there is one definite characteristic
that is common, almost without fail. It is so obvious we seem not to see it at all.
What I am talking about here is the ability to eliminate distractions. Again I go back to Lance
Armstrong's book. To achieve the desired level of success you have to spend hours and hours and
kilometre after kilometre in the saddle, uphill and downhill and avoid the distractions on the way.
It is almost selfish, but it is the only way to get to there. The same can be said for business,
politics, family, you name it. We are very easily distracted by our competitors, new products, new
markets, and our suppliers, even our customers. Those companies that constantly achieve top results,
and here I am not only talking about big multi nationals alone, are the ones that remain focused.
They become incredibly brilliant at everything they do in their chosen field. This is achieved by
having incredibly brilliant people in their team and constantly motivating and training that team,
to keep them focused and hence ahead of the game. This is where we can all learn a lesson, we are
so often distracted by "other issues" that we forget to keep focus on our plans and goals.
Procrastination is the cancer of success! I know it has been one of the biggest challenges in my
life to effectively manage procrastination. I can see many of you nodding at that statement.
Well it is like Lance Armstrong on his bike, or Ernie Els at the practise range and our great
Nelson Mandela who never got distracted despite every effort by his captors to do so, you have
to keep focused and you will achieve that success. It might take a long time, but success never
comes quickly.
Staff training is exactly the same. I have seen companies train staff in a certain new skill and then
6 months later wonder why the improvements are not what were anticipated. It is clearly because there
was not a continual focus on the goals and applying those new skills every single day, just like Lance
getting back onto that bike the next day and doing another 150km training ride.
Talking of focus our NQF (National Qualifications Framework) is continually being monitored, measured
and assessed to ensure it achieves the results we as a nation so desperately need. In case you are not
aware the NQF objectives are (1) To create an integrated national framework for learning achievements; (
2) To facilitate access to and mobility and progression within education, training and career paths; (3)
To enhance the quality of education and training; (4) To accelerate the redress of past unfair
discrimination in education, training and employment opportunities; (5) To contribute to the full
personal development of each learner and the social and economic development of the nation at large.
In line with these objectives SAQA recently launched an impact study to assess how we are doing against
these stated objectives, which were set some seven years ago. The key objectives of the study are (1)
Develop success indicators for the NQF (2) Periodically measure the impact of the NQF, and (3) Report
back on the impact. For more information on this study a full report can be read on the SAQA
website (www.saqa.org.za)
That is all this week, next newsletter I should have some great news for you on new products that I am realy excited about. Till then keep focused.
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New Years Resolutions - LCT News #1 2004
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Happy New Year and all the very best for 2004. This year I am going to ....... Is this not what we say every
year somewhere between 0:00:00 on the 1st January and whenever, and yet when we get to 31 December at 23:59:59
do we take a moment to reflect on what we achieved from that endless list 12 months ago? My guess is that like
most of us you gave up on that list somewhere round about 30th Jan and probably can not or do not want to remember
what your resolutions were. Let me tell you it is very easy to stick to your New Years Resolutions and achieve
that success or benefit you desire. I can already hear you saying that is easy for you to say. In its simplest
form like giving up smoking or loosing a few extra kilo's or even getting fit again all you have to do is create
the opposite habit to your current habit. So if you want to loose weight (like I do after excess all round over
the festive season) change your habit. If you have a habit of eating sweets, drinking Cola's or too much bread,
simply change the habit and , eat fruit, drink water or fruit juice and change to rice crackers or health bread
with no butter. If you can maintain this habit for over 7 days it will become your new habit and guess what you
will not only loose the kilo's but you will feel better and here I am not only talking physically but mentaly,
because you have achieved something and this makes you feel good about yourself. I am not going to ramble on
about how to loose weight, but if you want a sure way to achieve this drop me an e-mail and I will gladly assist.
More importantly how do we achieve the success we so desperately want in 2004.
As mentioned at the end of last your I have been putting together new programs and this year
I am pleased to introduce ME4S (My Environment for success). If you are interested in finding
out more about this program e-mail me at ME4S and I will forward the info onto you.
2004 is 10 years since our first democratic elections. Yes it is hard to believe in 1994 we stood in our
voting lines for hours and hours and many thought this was the beginning of the end. Even I had a few extra
tins of baked beans and more candles than I normaly have in my cupboard, (not that I would admit this at the time).
So here we are 10 years later and I am pleased to say I am PROUD TO BE A SOUTH AFRICAN. We are the envy of many
countries and nationalities and yes we still have a long way to go and life does not always seem that great,
particularly if you look at crime and HIV Aids among other things. But all in all as a nation we have alot to
be proud of. Think back with your hand on your hart and I am sure you will agree your life as a whole is better
today than it was in 1994. For one we never had interest rates as low today as they were then, I believe it was
over 15 years ago when interest rates were this low. So if we can increase the rate of positive change in the
next 10 years, we will be an even greater Nation. The way to do this is for us each individualy to make a
positive change in our own small way and all these positive changes add up to a nation of postiveness.
Talking of positive changes, as managers, owners, bosses how fantastic would it be if we had the full
support of all our staff. What a difference it would make if they realy understood the importance of
the job they perform and how vital their tasks are to the success of our business. Even better still
if the workforce came along with positive suggestions on how to improve our business and not just moan
and complain about this being wrong or the boss this or that. Well my program on Business Awareness will
give you that benefit and will create that positive changes you are after.
E-mail me at acesapples@lctsolutions.co.za and I will come and show you how this can be done - a free consultation.
You don't get much for free so grab the opportunity!!
That is all and I hope you have a great year!
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