Celebrating talent and diversity with the Asian Apprenticeship Awards

Just over a week ago, I had the privilege of being in the room with over 500 talented apprentices, their employers and learning providers at the Asian Apprenticeship Awards. It was a hugely memorable night and there is still a warm glow in our office as we read the many emails and social media messages from winners excited about the opportunities that winning a national award brings.

However, our aim in setting up the Asian Apprenticeship Awards was so much more than creating a feel good factor. This is the third year that our team have run the awards. We set up the event on the back of government research and targets to get more British Asians to consider the apprenticeship opportunities. The cause is important as British Asians are significantly underrepresented partly due to misunderstanding and a certain stigma around this subject.  The aim of the awards is to recognise and celebrate the best and as I have come to appreciate, the best people to promote apprenticeships is apprentices themselves. This is why we need to bring out the best of the best, and a competition in the form of awards is a great way to do just that.

Too many British Asian young people are making an automatic decision to go to university without fully considering the alternatives, and then finding their options limited upon graduation. Just as there is an under representation of British Asians considering apprenticeships, by contrast there is an over-representation going to University. We also need to dispel the myth that apprenticeships are only for the less academic it is more about gaining the right experience while developing the skills to thrive in a modern workplace. Many of our winners this year are of graduate calibre, either taking the apprentice route to their degree, or becoming an apprentice after graduation. We hope the winners will share their journey and story and encourage others.

Now we are in year three we have awarded apprentices from all around the country and from many sectors. Our winners are change makers and role models, their talent is world class. They all have a story of determination and hard work, many have overcome family concerns in their chosen career path, and all are conscious of the influence they have in encouraging other young people to consider the apprenticeship route. It was a pleasure to meet them, and many of their proud parents, and I say again, congratulations to them.

Many of our winners named particularly supportive colleagues and managers in their entries. The commitment of the employers who were in the room is to be commended, it is their support that enables their apprentices to thrive. We often hear that employers are the backbone of our country and there is no doubt about that.  It is these businesses that we need to step up further as these great businesses will make great apprentices, who in turn make great businesses.

So many organisations have been highly supportive of the Awards and the vision we are aiming to achieve. In their centenary year, we were delighted to have the RAF as our headline sponsor. Each category has its own sponsor, many of whom have worked with us tirelessly in tandem with us. My, thanks to APM, ICQ, NOCN, AELP, Pathway Group, Severn Trent, Dudley College, Birmingham Met College, BAME Apprenticeship Alliance and the East and West Midlands Ambassador Network who continue to support the awards through challenging times for many in our sector.

 

Finally, my personal thanks to all involved for another successful event. We plan to be back next year and look forward to your support again but in the meantime, the full list of the 2018 winners is on our website and the full photos from the evening are also available as below:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/socialframes/albums/72157704103474624

https://asianapprenticeshipawards.co.uk/2018/12/01/asian-apprentices-year-celebrate-glittering-ceremony/

Culture over Cash by Safaraz Ali in a #CannyBites format

How can smaller business compete with the larger multi-national companies in its ability to attract, retain and develop a high performing team?

How can you position your company culture at the forefront of the hiring process?

A company culture is often confused with having fun and games.  Its more to do with how the team works with each other, the mindset of the people who you keep and the ones you need to let go. The true test of culture for any business just boils down to its ability to attract, retain and develop a team of people that just knows what needs to be done and understands the picture - both the big and the small.

In this Canny Bites video titled "Culture over Cash" we discuss this a little more. Please feel free to also share your thoughts and views below.

#businessculture #cannybites #pathway2grow #culturedevelopment #culturechange #cultureovercash 

Talking about People and the most important qualities I seek - a new video

Running a business is not a "One man Show" and No one is "self-made" in that respect.

We all need people and we have all had the support of others in our lives to help us in some shape or form. The key is always finding and working with the right people for you.

My view is that the best of your team work themselves - in that they work for their own self respect, values and ambition.

They are self-motivated and want to do the right thing so nobody has to push them, drive their performance or mico-manage them. They themselves are keen to make their mark and make a difference in everything that they do. It is these people that we want in our business - I look for people that are humble and hungry (from my 3H system).

These people are true assets and benefit all around them including the wider community. They are hungry (ambitious) but not ruthless or arrogrant in their beliefs and attitudes. They are loyal, patient and are working towards the long run and lasting success.

The 3 Hs of Hiring - the 3H Management system by Safaraz Ali

This is an original concept created by myself back in March 2015 and used by my team at Pathway Group in its recruitment and company culture:

The H3 Model talks of three key attitudes that when synergised produce high levels of engagement and productivity.
Hunger – motivation and more importantly the drive Habits – positively reinforcing and encouraging good practice Humility /Humbleness – The understanding that even as the mentor you are still a mentee. See video above:

Do you need to come up with new ideas?

In the fourth of my video series that I am referring to as "Almost too good to share", This one is about ideas and asks the question: Do you need to come up with new ideas?


There are many thoughts on generating ideas including some well know quotes:

• Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

• The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.

• Capital isn’t that important in business. Experience isn’t that important. You can get both of these things. What is important is ideas.

• It's not about ideas. it's about making ideas happen. The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.

So in general views on ideas can be grouped as follows:
(1) They are hard to come up with
(2) They are easy to come up with, but hard to implement
So whatever your thoughts are, I have come across a site that can assist in this process – https://answerthepublic.com/
have a look and let me know your thoughts. Take a look at my search results below on “apprenticeship levy” and this tells you what people are searching for on google around this subject matter: https://answerthepublic.com/reports/538a65b1-96d6-4287-a7b1-bd095cad4190

see the video here: https://youtu.be/b6AFTebGAQY