𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐃𝐨𝐠 & 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬!
A time for reflection … but … also a time for looking to the future!
During one of our training courses covering the topic of strategy we use a quote (that I love) from an ex. CEO of one of the Oil & Gas Industry Super-Majors …
“𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡. 𝑁𝑜 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑁𝑜 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠: 𝐴𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡?”
So … guess what … 2023 did not pass with perfection for MDT International … but … I honestly believe that we stuck to the plot, which in our case, is to deliver inspiring training courses which in turn offer future value to our participants and their employers.
Here’s some of our 2023 highlights:
Delivered 72 courses in 13 Countries (plus our live online courses which were hosted in Scotland, Ireland, Finland and Italy)
We welcomed participants from 36 Countries, covering 6 Continents.
Added a new Country … Paramaribo, 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 became country number 82 in the long list of places where MDT have delivered training since starting out way back in 1992.
(𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑔 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑠! 𝐷𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑙 2020, 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑀𝐷𝑇 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑙, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑊𝑒’𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒-𝑡𝑜-𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦 … 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒. 𝐼𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛: 𝑎) 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑀𝑈𝑆𝑇 𝑎𝑑𝑎𝑝𝑡 … 𝑎𝑛𝑑 … 𝑏) 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 ‘𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒’ 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠)
Old Dog / New Tricks: during 2023, our live online format accounted for 25% of all MDT training days. You can read more about the old dog and new tricks in an extended version of this post at our website – see link in the comments.
To the 576 course participants during 2023 we offer you (& your employers) a massive thank you.
Now, as we begin to look to the future, we’ll borrow another quote by the same ex. CEO:
“𝐺𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑑𝑜 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑... 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑦”
The nature of our training business involves late course cancellations … one 2023 assignment was cancelled by the client 1 day before the start date! Visa related problems are another occupational hazard that leads to ‘late in the day’ call offs. At MDT, we don’t dwell on the cancellations – we focus on the next opportunity to deliver.
During 2024 we look forward to having the capacity to respond to the needs of our clients / course participants. Who knows, perhaps we’ll rack up Country Number 83 (& 84) during 2024.
We’re off to enjoy festive break here. From our small team here in Aberdeen we send our best wishes to you for a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous (but not perfect) New Year!
Helen, Drew, Marie & Leigh