Book review: Growing people

Title of Book - Growing People: learning and developing from day to day experience

Author - Bob Thomson ISBN - 978-1843342137

Publisher -Chandos Publishing

Reviewer Name - Amanda Wright

Email - amanda.wright@northglasgow.scot.nhs.uk

Review

Being able to develop a team of individuals is an essential and challenging requirement of any good manager. Too often, however, it's simply taken as read that people in management positions are born with a fully developed set of the intricate skills necessary to accomplish this challenging task. It's hard to imagine the same assumptions being made about more 'concrete' skills such as web development or financial management, for example. But somehow, it all too often gets lumped under the generic and curious moniker of 'people skills'; something laudable but unquantifiable. How refreshing, then, to discover Bob Thomson's book. The author is currently Management Development Advisor at the University of Warwick and has drawn on a wealth of experience gained in a varied 19 year career in the management development field. He writes in a very readable style, thankfully resisting any temptation to slide into jargon. His work sets out with clarity the theories underpinning successful human resource development and uses plenty of good practical examples to back up those theories. He manages to condense this complex and often emotive subject into as much of a logical procedural process as cataloguing or acquisition would be, whilst losing none of the inherent human interest of his subject. Regardless of whether you are the manager or the managed, new to mentoring and staff development, or already practicing it, Bob Thomson offers a thought provoking read.