The business community in Skye and Lochalsh has played a key role in creating new training courses which will help staff development and increase the skills base in the area.

The LINK training courses programme runs from November to May, and includes familiar courses from previous years plus new ones, developed specifically for businesses after consulting them and establishing their needs.

Details of the full programme are available in the seventh edition of the Link directory, which also outlines pricing details to assist businesses chose the appropriate course. They can also be accessed on the web at www.learningcentres.org/link.html

A wide range of courses to suit different business needs are available, covering subjects like finance; IT; management development; tourism and customer service and are provided by Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise (SALE), part of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) network of local enterprise companies.

SALE has accessed additional funding through LEADER + - a European Union programme which seeks to promote economic and community development within rural areas - for some of the new courses. Bookings can be made either by phone through the Skye and Lochalsh Learning Centre Network, by post, or on-line at www.learningcentres.org

One satisfied student was Amanda Win of the Tingle Creek Hotel in Erbusaig who went through the Sage course last year. She said: "The course was well run and the trainer made it so simple for me to understand. She even offers post course back-up! "I have been on many courses and this was by far the best, so much so, that I have booked the payroll one in January. I can highly recommend them, especially as it avoids the high cost of travelling to Glasgow."

Overseeing the booking service is Cheryl MacRae who said: "When businesses made their bookings last year, they were really excited about coming along and they seemed pleased at the end. But we also did a follow up exercise by contacting some of the participants and they confirmed the courses had made a difference and they were using their new skills."

There are several new additions to the programme this winter. One of them - the Management Leadership course - came about after SALE did some research with the help of HIE, consulting 27 business owner/managers to find out what sort of management training they needed for their business.

Skills development manager with SALE, Claire Campbell said: "Their clear message was that there were gaps at supervisory level in their businesses. So we are investing heavily in this new six day programme to help develop junior management and supervisors skills.

"The first two days will be something quite different to anything we have done before in that it will be a theatre style workshop. We felt that the most important and often the most difficult aspects of management training to get right were those that revolve around people skills e.g. motivation, feedback, teambuilding."

The course, which was developed and will be delivered by training company Bruce Brothers, concentrates on these areas. Another new course is the IT Power User course, which offers some of the highest calibre IT training in the Highlands, providing opportunities to discover new ways of doing things. It was developed by Fiona Grant of the Lochalsh Learning Centre.

She said: "More people nowadays are familiar with computers and software and we wanted to ensure that we were delivering what they wanted to learn. So we have asked the participants to decide the content beforehand so we can be more in tune with people's requirements."

Environmental management is another issue included. It will help businesses manage their energy resources to help save money and the environment. Businesses will be able to request an on-site audit to help identify ways of improvement. There are also courses, entitled 'World Class Welcome'; 'Customer Service for Frontline Staff' and 'Knowing Your Customers and What They Want'. All are designed to complement the work of SALE's 'Who Cares Wins' initiative which is intended to improve customer service standards.