Stay ahead by turning qualifications into skills

“In theory there is no difference between theory and practice,” goes the old saying, “but in practice there is.”

Many have noted how short a life span academic knowledge has once you enter the workforce. You are not long in the job before what you learned in theory becomes replaced by practical work skills.

From a safety point of view it would be a dangerous practice to entrust someone who had mere qualifications with a dangerous task. If they don’t have practical skills, the chances are high that the task will be performed poorly, so mishaps are more likely to occur.

Theory is no substitute for experience.

So of what use is a qualification?

Part 1: Legal cover

From a legal point of view, you need to cover your company against such mishaps. Showing that your employees all have the right qualifications will save you from legal trouble should trouble occur. This could be anything from a disappointed customer to an accident involving injury.

Of course that is just the start. We can’t stop at merely covering ourselves legally – we care about our staff, so we need to make sure that they are safely brought up to a job-ready level of practical skills.

Qualifications, accreditation and compliance offer legal protection for your business, affording you time to supervise and train a new employee into the practical skills involved in doing the job safely.

Though there are different ways of working.

Part 2: Culture

There are many ways to skin a cat. That is, even within the same compliance guidelines, each company has a different way of going about their business. 

Even if qualified and experienced from work at another company, new employees will have adopted the culture and practices from their previous workplace. Both their previous workplace and yours may be acceptable in theory, but the cultures may not be compatible.

Qualifications are there to ensure that each different method affords reasonable safety for employees as well as industry deliverables. The higher the stakes, the more important qualifications, compliance and accreditation become.

Keeping qualifications up to date makes it easier for employees to transfer their skills between workplaces, as the two should be similar in culture.

Qualifications are also a way to keep up to date with the latest industry innovations.

Part 3: Innovation

Industry thrives on innovation.

Yet so few companies can afford research and development to improve their practice. It is easy for a company to get left behind.

This could mean picking up bad habits from lazy practices that catch up to the company in the long run. So many construction companies today are falling to their short-cuts of five years ago.

Or it could mean that they miss out on new innovations of efficiency and effectiveness, and get left behind. They may lose touch with modern techniques, eventually requiring a major overhaul of practices to catch up again.

Keeping up with qualifications through accreditation is a short-term investment with long-term benefits in efficiency, effectiveness and safety. To have everyone in a given industry on the same page in this way means that nobody gains short-term advantage by avoiding the recommended improvements, and everyone benefits from innovation.

These qualifications are for the benefit of all in an industry, and the earlier a company learns such theory, the sooner that company can translate that knowledge into practical skills, and lead the industry.

So keep up to date with qualifications, and as soon as you can, turn them into practical skills.

ACASA provides qualifications and compliance management services, specialising in the transport industry. Call us today to find out how your company can benefit from industry qualifications and compliance.