Can Empowered Employees Help Solve The Skills Shortage Problem Themselves?

A new innovative website has been set-up with the ambitious aim of helping to solve the world’s skills shortage problem.

(PRWEB) August 17, 2003

Can Empowered Employees Help Solve The Skills Shortage Problem Themselves?

(PRWEB) August, 2003 -- A new innovative website has been set-up with the ambitious aim of helping to solve the world’s skills shortage problem. A Fresh Pair of Eyes Ltd (http://www.afpoe.com) is one of a new breed of website, which aims at putting people in touch with each other - only in this case AFPoE (pronounced “afpo”) have turned the spotlight solely on the plight of employees.

In its simplest form, the website is best thought of as a large online business directory, which instead of listing businesses by type, lists employees by their skills knowledge and know-how (SKK). This now means that for the first time, employees are simply able to type in work-related questions or search for particular skills they need and locate other employees online, who are willing to share their SKK with others. This concept was borne out of the premise that if you want to learn how to do something, the best (and usually the most preferred way) to do it is to go an ask those who have already done it.

At AFPoE, the SKK which is divulged may not always be in the form of an offer “to show how” but may be in the form of “staging post information”. For example, rather than going on a course, there may well be a book or a video which offers the same information more efficiently and at a much lower cost.

Sharing SKK can take the form of an AFPoE Message, a phone call, a fax, an instant messaging session or even a personal visit. One of the problems with using the Internet to develop relationships is that it is not always possible to be sure who you are communicating with. To solve this problem, AFPoE have come up with an innovative, patented solution: Relationship Management Tools (RMTs). Intriguingly, once a contact has been made via AFPoE, no contact details are immediately divulged. It is only once both parties decide to release say, their business phone number, that the website announces the fact - to both parties. Personal contact information can be stored on AFPoE but it is up to the AFPoE Member to decide when and if such information is given out. The rate at which such contact information is divulged is usually a function of how well the relationship develops.

What is also interesting is that contact can be made for less than a couple of dollars - which is a one-off fee. This instantly brings AFPoE within reach of all employees. Once the fee has been paid both parties can then message/chat, phone, meet up with each other as often as they wish.

The results of such a “meeting-of-minds” can vary from the exchange of a few emails, through to the development of a useful business contact or even a lifelong business acquaintance. However, as with all relationships, the AFPoE relationship will have to be “worked at”. The more that both parties can bring to the relationship, the more chance it will have of thriving. It is not, however, just work-related SKK which is exchanged - swapping a few golf lessons for the inside track on the latest accounts package, is not unheard of.

So, as well as providing a new forum for the exchange of skills, knowledge and know-how, AFPoE is also a medium which allows employees to develop important and empowering business contacts with other employees, in other organisations. The establishment of business relationships across organisational boundaries is a practise which has long been established but until now was often perceived as something of a “black art” and somewhat viewed as largely the preserve of “breakfast-meeting businessmen” and “pink-tied salesmen”.

What AFPoE has done is to simplify this “black art” by establishing a simple, safe breeding ground for the development of business contacts - and bring it to the masses. Life-changing business contacts can now be easily developed from the comfort of an employee’s own PC, either at work or at home.

The effect of AFPoE on employees and employers (both large and small) is expected to be profound. For a relatively trivial fee, employees are able to make contact with other employees, develop their SKK and establish their own personal contact network (PCN). Employees who do become so empowered will be able to turn in a far superior performance for their employers and take advantage of all the benefits which arise from doing so.

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Notes to editors

AFPoE is the brainchild of Roy Crossfield who is credited by many, as being the man who developed the art of “process mapping”, a technique which has revolutionised businesses across the world and a method which has been taken up by the International Standards Organisation in the latest incarnation of their Quality Management Systems Standard - ISO 9000:2000.

For further media information, please contact Roy Crossfield on +44 (0)870 744 8744 or see the website for more details http://www.afpoe.com.

Roy Crossfield

Managing Director

A Fresh Pair of Eyes Limited (http://www.afpoe.com)

PO Box 103

Gainsborough

Lincolnshire

England DN21 5WA

Tel: +44 (0)870 744 8744