Helping WISEs to enter the digital age
One of the most important actions the project partners had to make in the framework of the project was to organise some direct trainings with WISEs managers and workers to help them to improve their digital and managerial skills. From May to November 2019, six face to face trainings took place in project partners countries, namely: Croatia, Italy, Poland and Slovenia. The focus of the trainings varied from place to place in order to collect various lessons and experiences that we can add to the library of the platform we are developing. The target of those events were mature learners: entrepreneurs, high and medium management; the vulnerable groups are targeted indirectly as they will be enabled by their management and colleagues.
In Lombardy, the face-to-face training took place in September and was organised by Gruppo Cooperativo CGM. The training was held by Maurizio Luca Zambelli and its theme was “The new business productivity tools”. The idea of this training stemmed from the fact that the cloud systems, such as Microsoft 365 and GSuite are changing the way businesses are working with productivity tools and the way to manage the internal processes. To face that, the lecture focused on describing the new business productivity tools in the Cloud logics, their basic rules and gave practical examples based on Microsoft 365. The targeted public for this event were executive and functional managers in order to make them aware of those tools and give them the resources to define their own Cloud system in their organisation, so it can be more efficient.
In Trentino, our partner, the Provincia Autonoma di Trento, organised two training sessions in September. The first one was on “New technologies and impact on organisations”, had two focuses “Document management and impact on organisations” and ‘New technologies and new communication standards”. The second session was on “Identity and social impact. How to reposition social enterprises”. This training stemmed from the realisation that the WISEs ecosystem is diverse, as managers and executives, the target of this training, have very different educational and professional background and profiles. The goal of this training was to raise awareness on the tools and systems which can boost growth as well as on the new product/service placement in the open market; to give a reference framework and practical insights, so the participants will be able, afterwards, to easily develop and acquire new competences through the project platform.
In Slovenia, a first round of trainings took place, organised by the School of Advanced Studies in Nova Gorica – SASS, the Slovenian Association of Mental Health - SENT and the Municipality of Nova Gorica - MONG, between May and November 2019, all focused on “The role of branding and marketing communication”. The first one took place on the 17th of May and aimed to present advance techniques for creating strong brands. It was a practically oriented workshop led by Andrej Kovacic, and targeted WISEs, mature learners, entrepreneurs as well as high and medium management. The second training took place on the 9th of October. It aimed to help WISEs to identify their potential competitive distinctions in order to successfully manage their commercialization, market positioning and culture fostering. The training was an opportunity for the participants to learn about structuring a brand and the importance of brands’ key elements. The main goal was to demystify the brand and to encourage the trainees to be aware of its importance when marketing their products or services and start managing the brand in all its aspects. The lecturer was Lučka Peljhan and the target addressed were WISEs managers and professional staff who are responsible and competent to identify their competitive distinctions and to select the proper brand promise. The third training took place on the 14th and 15th November, it was focused on “How to prepare a Business Plan”, it was made by Matjaž Škabar and targeted social entrepreneurs. The goal of this training was to draw attention on the specific skills needed for social entrepreneurs such as: a creative use of minimal resources, the ability to evaluate the feasibility of a business plan and the implementation of it, conflict resolution, the creation of an efficient customer and supply chain. The three Slovenian partners organised a second round of training, which lasted only one day this time, the 9th of September, on “Finance and technical support”.
In Poland, our partner Barka, organised a training in September about “Basics of effective Sales” led by Rafał Rozemberg. The target group of this training were social enterprise employees and social integration centres who have direct contact with customers, who work in sales or have to negotiate on a daily basis. The training was at the same time theoretical and interactive. Participants learned in 5 steps the basis of interpersonal communication, ways to present offers, services, products or ideas. This training was based on the observation that very often WISEs and Social Enterprises lack main knowledge and tools that could help them reach new clients. It was, therefore, an opportunity to develop new sales standards for WISEs employees.
Finally, in Croatia, ACT Grupa organised a training on the 4th November which was focused on “Human Resources Management: the human potential development, teamwork, organisational processes”? It was led by Miljenka Plazonić Bogdan and its goal was to provide both, theoretical knowledge transfers and applied tools for successful human resources management.
In the next few months, almost all the partners will organise new trainings for the WISEs in their areas, with always the same goal in mind, giving them the basic tools they are lacking so they can enter the digital transition and improve their management. We’ll inform you in due time about these events, so keep in touch!
