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148 
RETAINING SKILLS
Page 19
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Anyone who has ever watched a reality TV show such as Undercover Boss will be familiar with the concept of the 'journey' as the programme chronicles a change in the individual's view of certain events and situations. So what did Martin learn from the experience?
"I was physically and mentally knackered," he says. "I worked with a guy named Dick Sutton and he turned 64 when I was working with him. He was going to retire next year and walk out the door with all of his skills. You have all these post-war babies retiring in the next few years. You can't have all these people retiring without people coming through the other end."
To deal with this loss, Martin has set up a programme called 'Bridge the Gap'. The company describes it as an easy process to identify who has the ability to coach younger people, potentially involving a psychometric test. It will also see training courses developed that are not classroom-based.
As a result of his experiences on the programme, Martin has become somewhat evangelical about plugging the skills gap left by an ageing workforce, "I knew it was an issue for us, but when I saw it at the coalface, I realised the extent of the problem."