Identifying the improvement

Who doesn’t want to improve things? Albeit with the best intentions not much comes to fruition. Too often improvements fail due to their knee jerk implementation; we see a problem and seek to solve it, half way through we realise the problem is bigger than we imagined, we are out of resources and well we […]

Not everyone wants to collaborate

Not everyone wants to collaborate   Workplaces are centred around different departments [teams] in order to deliver.   Arguably, if these teams didn’t exist the organisation would not be able to perform. The underlying assumption in most workplaces is that team work yields results; get a bunch of randoms together and magic will happen.  The practical […]

What does risk management actually look like?

This is a great question, one which should be asked more often.  As managers, we are often asked to also become managers of risk.  Whilst we can quickly define risks as events of uncertainty, the management of these events is going to vary based upon the situation. Story 1: The fundamentalist approach I recall conducting […]

Assessments in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) Environment

Background If studying a program in the Vocational Education and Training sector you may find that things are a little different to school, university or other assessments you may have encountered in your adult life. The major reason for this is that the assessments are based upon a competency model; aiming to determine if candidates […]

What is a Murder Board?

What is a murder board? A murder board is an arranged exercise designed to critically expose risks in a future project or event. The term murder board has its origins in the military in which context it was applied to assist in exam preparation and subsequently to prevent mistakes arising from poor consideration of underlying […]

Ask the expert

Ask the Expert Project Background The “Ask the Expert” Project was conceived How to be involved   Featured Experts

International VET Conference

Nic Thomas was a recent keynote speaker at the Insources 2017 International VET Conference held in Sydney in June 2017. Nic spoke on the topic of quality in the Vocational Education and Training sector and expressed that to make for an effective VET system, we need to collaborate. The keynote speech was delivered in his […]

What is a Training and Assessment Strategy?

A TAS or Training and Assessment Strategy is a high-level view of a program.  The intention is to convey information such as; The qualification (if applicable) The units Any clustering (grouping) of units The target group The method of delivery The method of assessment Timeframes for delivery and assessment Qualified delivery and assessment staff Required […]

Ethical Marketing

2016 VET Conference in Parramatta Ethical Marketing Presented by Nic Thomas This video covers the first part of the presentation, due to tech issues ( which seemed to plague the session) only half the session was recorded. The remaining can be viewed through the slides below.   The full presentation slides

A new thing a month

The new thing a month challenge Background Learning should be a constant ongoing part of our lives, but lets face it we are all busy.  Admittedly some more than others.  In the midst of being busy we often engage in routine activities and play in the confines of where we feel safe and as such […]

The Value of the Qualification

Didn’t get that job you thought you had in the bag? The problem is getting worse; qualified workers are getting the jobs over the experienced ones. I have recruited many staff as a manager and project manager as whilst I personally went down the university pathway prior to gaining my practical experience I have always […]

Innovation in Education

The world around us changes at a rapid rate, the emergence of disruptive technologies seem to be the ever present reality. The replacement of our existing technology with newer, better models, functions, features and effectively leading us to replace what we hold in the perpetual chase for the newest. Arguably and until recently innovation in […]

Innovation, Revenue Streams and Financial Modelling

As part of the 2016 Accolade VET Innovative Business Models Conference in Sydney Nic Thomas spoke about how to innovate in the Education sector, specifically the vocational Education and Training (VET) as well as thinking of ways to diversify revenue streams and closed off with a quick case study on financial modelling. Hope you enjoy […]

The Vision Poster

Make a Vision Poster It’s often said that you can accomplish anything you can imagine.  Well that’s true but it helps a whole lot more when it’s visual. The Vision Poster idea originated in a consultation session which I was facilitating.  I won’t go into the details, but the director of the company had a […]

Making Meetings Effective

At some point we have all been part of a meeting; some have been useful others a colossal waste of time.  For many in the workforce the thought of going to a meeting is associated with dread, with the top ones that come to mind: Why is management holding a meeting? What are they up […]