The Training Adviser and his Relationships with Industry

In a recent report on the role of the Training Adviser commissioned by the Hotel and Catering Industry Training Board there was some detail and discussion of relationships between training advisers and clients in the industry. The job of developing and maintaining relationships with employers in the industry, motivating clients and changing attitudes was considered by field staff to be one of the most important areas of the job. Relational activitiy, that which focuses on the needs of the adviser and the client in establishing the framework within which they can operate, is clearly a prerequisite to any adviser‐client relationship. It clearly emerged from the interviews that this was an important category of advisory activity. Relation‐ships with clients came up as the most sensitive indicator of satisfaction in the job. For the majority of field staff what happened with clients coloured their whole experience of the job. When a relationship went well and the client was responsive to training then the adviser ‘felt good’, when things went badly with clients then the adviser ‘felt he had had a bad day’. This is clearly an aspect of training advisory work which will continue to be important so long as a service based on individual contact with clients is maintained, and one which merits detailed attention.