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Howard Raynor argues that a proper, positive investment in staff development is the only way to ensure the long-term future of the creative industries.

Good intentions are not really the same as actions and, regrettably, it is a truth of human dynamics that people do what is reinforced rather than what is hoped. Take, for instance, the development of our workforce. We proclaim that a visit to our venue would result in the ordinary woman in the street being met by a competent, well-trained member staff who knew what was expected of them and who received regular training as they developed through their career in an industry that is worth 8% of the UK GDP. Alas, we don?t have a training methodology for the service side of our industry; we do not actually have standards of performance for people to measure themselves against; we don?t have training budgets that are comparable to any major hotel chain; and we don?t have accredited trainers in key areas of our service delivery. Then, when our customers behave indifferently towards us, we wonder why, and invest heavily in capital developments.

If we don?t achieve the right financial outcomes we apply the wisdom of cutting staff, telling everyone to work harder and carry on doing mainly the same thing until, of course, the business shuts its doors for good. This tactic is best described by the quote that ?you can tell where the Chief Executive is by the smoke?. Obviously there are shining examples of success; teams that follow the old adage ?early to bed, early to rise, work real hard and strike oil? but I just wonder if we couldn?t try a less random approach.

Reinforce reality

What if we accepted for an agreed period of time, like the rest of our lives, that our actions reinforce what we think, whether we mean it or not. So, rather than pretending that stretch goals, threats of lay-offs, increased workloads and lack of positive reinforcement will lead to control, authority and accountability, we were just honest and accepted that these things do not work in the first place. Instead, we could be realistic and put our own behaviour at the centre of every business decision.

I readily accept that new initiatives dilute previous work, and as a sector we know a thing or two about initiatives, but what if we acted like we were bigger than steel production? What if we supposed that creativity and intellectual property are the future of the economy in the 21st century? What if all these regional strategies that put culture and tourism at the forefront of regeneration and economic development weren?t just having us on? By Jiminy, what would that look like!

We could invest in our people, give them sector-relevant training of the same quality as other industries, provide supporting courses and have accreditation for achievement.

On an individual basis, each of us could experiment with positive reinforcement. For example, where we not only plan to improve things but we actually carry out that plan. If people accomplished their goals, then we could reward them. And not the ?impossible fundraising? or ?capital investment project-management type goals? but moderate, achievable, realistic goals that made people feel they were getting somewhere. We could try to improve the actual service not just the buildings. How would that be!

Positive promotion

Reality tells us that what goes on in the workplace is what we are reinforcing, whether we like it or not. If we want higher standards, better productions, better audience retention and better reputations we have to take responsibility for reinforcing the right behaviours with our people on a daily basis. The current limit of what is known about performance management tells us that if we want to create real change we need to focus on positive reinforcement not negatives (research says 4:1 is about right). Penalties and punishment are poor tools for real development. We need to provide immediate, certain feedback to the people around us when they get it right. Problems in the workplace usually arise out of neglect. Avoid ?It was a great job but?? in appraisal. Do not link positive reinforcement with punishment. Do punishment if and when it is necessary.

Very challenging goals create very few opportunities for positive feedback so they tend to be counter-productive. Think small and persistent and plan the rewards in. Reward can be a whole range of things, not just pay or promotion. So, whilst we are doing the right thing ourselves through planning, supporting and managing the consequences of accomplishment, let?s get to work on the big picture and figure out what we need in terms of sector development for five years? time.

Howard Raynor is Group Chief Executive for The Bridgewater Hall and Urbis.
e: howard.raynor@bridgewater-hall.co.uk