Local businesses planning for future growth

SHANNON Chamber held a focus group session in response to the Action Plan for Jobs 2012 and found that the companies surveyed are moving on from the battle for survival, to looking at future growth.

SHANNON Chamber held a focus group session in response to the Action Plan for Jobs 2012 and found that the companies surveyed are moving on from the battle for survival, to looking at future growth.
The focus group session was held in late March and was facilitated by Mike Gaffney, CEO of LEAP Advisors. He told The Clare Champion that the Chamber wanted to know about challenges and difficulties being faced.
“To give you the context Shannon Chamber identified, as is stated in the Action Plan for Jobs, that there is a need for a focus on the management development deficit in the small and medium enterprise sector. They were proactive and asked LEAP to chair a focus group session with members to see what the key management development challenges are.”
He said some of the companies have ‘pared to the bone’ but are starting to see opportunities. “They are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and they are getting orders. There are opportunities for them but they need to be more innovative and more effectively managed.”
He said companies were reluctant to invest their time in anything that does not have a direct impact on improving the performance of the business.
Mr Gaffney also said there was interest in receiving executive coaching, where the coach gets directly involved in ensuring proposed changes are implemented by focusing on both individual and business performance.
The Chamber is also organising a seminar on employment law and human resources, which will be held on May 17 at Zimmer. This will focus on areas such as unfair dismissals and effectively managing redundancies.
It will provide participants with answers to questions such as what constitutes a fair dismissal, the steps that can be taken to minimise exposure to an unfair dismissal claim, the requirements of redundancy payments and how to effectively manage a redundancy process and what pitfalls exist.
Case law examples will be referenced and members of the Shannon HR Forum will be in attendance to answer questions directly for attendees. There will also be case studies on how career transition/outplacement support has benefited organisations and employees facing redundancies.
The seminar will be particularly suitable for HR practitioners, managers and business owners.