Send me your prospectus and I'll have a look

1 October 2026

 

"Send me your prospectus and I’ll have a look.”

I hear that quite often when I'm talking to someone about developing people. And it got me to thinking, “what happens if we turn that conversation around?”

Instead of starting with a training course, start with the person - What does this business need this person to be able to do that they cannot do or do properly, today?

It sounds like a simple question, but it changes everything. Because now we're not looking for a course. We're looking for a capability - What does the business need Mary to become capable of doing? Why does it matter, and, what will it be worth to the business when she can do it?

And what will it do for Mary?

Because I think there should be two returns on every investment we make in developing somebody.

The first is obvious: The business should be more capable in making Money, saving money and in managing risk.

But there should be a second return as well: The person being trained should become more capable and more valuable.

Not just to us.

To the employment market.

And that sometimes makes employers uncomfortable. What if Mary becomes so good that somebody else wants her? Well, perhaps that's part of the deal of employing and developing someone.

If we genuinely develop people, we should naturally expect them to become more valuable. And the answer to that risk is not to keep people less capable so that they're less attractive to somebody else.

The answer is to create a business where capable people have a reason to stay.

And that brings us to something I think we've got badly wrong.

A Workplace Skills Plan tells us what training we intend to provide, a training budget tells us how much we're prepared to spend, and a certificate tells us that somebody attended something.

None of those things tells us whether we made a wise investment.

For that, we need a much simpler question: Can this person now do something that matters to the business, that they couldn't do before?

If the answer is yes, we've created something. If the answer is no, what exactly did we buy?

So, yes, I’ll send you my prospectus.

But only after you have answered the important question: What do the people in this business need to become capable of doing what they cannot do today — and how will that help the business make money, save money and manage risk?

Answer that, before asking for a prospectus!

 

If you would like to talk to me, please call me on +27 82 465 5481 or email me on mark@meritbusiness.com

 

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