Callum shares his experiences – celebrating 20 years

This year, we are celebrating 20 years in business and would like to involve our staff in our celebrations by asking of their experiences in the learning and development / training industry over the years.

This week, we ask Callum Duncan of his experiences.  Callum works as a training consultant at Polaris Learning.

1.  Can you tell us a bit about how you started out and the journey that took you to Polaris Learning?

It would have been in November 2012, my previous employer had asked me to become an assessor for the company, and so I went on to complete SQA L&D9DI.  Down the line I was then asked by the same employer to become an internal verifier.

When the opportunity came up to become a training consultant at Polaris Learning, I applied and here I am.

a) How long have you been at Polaris Learning?

I started in September 2015 so have been here just over a year now.

What is your job role here?

I am a training consultant in the energy team.  I visit various clients that we have and work with them on their competency management systems, carrying out assessor training and qualifications, verifier training, train the trainer and others depending on what the client needs are.

2.  Thinking about your time with Polaris Learning and your past, how do you think things have changed over these years?

a)  How have training / learning and development changed in your view?

When I first came into the industry, there was a lot of on the job training.  So there was not any real development plans as such.  At the beginning of my career, it was very much learning on the job and gaining valuable experience.

And then there was a real turn as large operators were looking more and more at training and development, so it soon became the norm within the industry.  Health and Safety training and competency training became more and more important for clients coming to do business.  The company then had to look at what they could do to comply with client requirements, by identifying assessors and verifiers, setting up training schools, training academies etc, that all came in at the end of my time there.

b) So do you think there has been a switch from being more on the job, to now being more classroom based, more planned learning?

I think it is more evidence based now than ever before.  It’s not enough now to say we can do the job, now we need to prove that we can do the job.  It is more about having the evidence in place so if anyone has any questions or doubts they can prove that they can do the job through the evidence gathered.

c) Would you say training / learning and development has or has not become more important

I would say it has.  I think it is a huge aspect not just in the oil and gas industry, but in certain other industries as well.  Being able to prove competency I think is going to spread even further in time to come.

d) In your opinion, has the focus between soft skills and technical skills changed over the years?

Before, it was mainly on technical skills as they only focused on technical ability.  I think now, especially if you look at managerial and supervisory roles, you have to look at soft skills too because you not only have to do the technical side of the role, you’ve got to be able to deal with people as well.  So having soft skills is also critical.

e) Drawing in your experiences, how much training do you feel is done for compliance reasons, and how much is done for staff development (non compliance)

I think it is a little bit of both.  Some companies will do it for compliance, for clients or tendering for work.  And other companies do it for development. I think some companies look at it as a way to progress with apprentices and having senior people with extra training so that they can then help their apprentices.

3.  What is it like working with Polaris Learning?

It is good working with Polaris Learning.  It is the first time I have worked in a smaller company.  It is a lot more family orientated, feels a lot more homely, you are not just a number as they would say.

4.  How do you think training / learning and development will evolve over the next 20 years?

I think it will evolve quite a bit.  I think there will be more and more online learning and it will become a huge hit.  I can see our learning portal PLUS being quite popular in many ways.  I know it is already quite popular with a lot of companies, but I can see it becoming more and more popular as it goes on and as more and more training courses get added, I think it will become a lot bigger.