NEXT PAGE

Grain & Feed Milling Technology is published six times a year by Perendale Publishers Ltd of the United Kingdom.All data is published in good faith, based on information received, and while every care is taken to prevent inaccuracies, the publishers accept no liability for any errors or omissions or for the consequences of action taken on the basis of information published. ©Copyright 2010 Perendale Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner. Printed by Perendale Publishers Ltd. ISSN: 1466-3872

Digital Re-print - July | August 2011 Taking the first step - How to help yourself and others develop the

love and understanding of flour milling

www.gfmt.co.uk

We regularly advertise nabim’s distance learning programme in flour milling

as ‘seven steps to success’.

Not that clever (there are seven modules, and most people like an alliterative headline) but it is intended to do more than just attract the eye.

We do regard the courses as being stepping stones to an understanding of mill-ing - and for many people, the more they understand it, the more they love it. That is why, in an age when the majority of people in the UK are expected to switch careers several times during their working life, many flour millers still don’t leave until the day they retire - and some have been known to stick around even longer than that!

Though designed, developed and deliv-ered in the UK, British students are by no means the only beneficiaries. These courses continue to be used around the world. By the time you read this, the pass lists for the May 2011 examinations will have been

published; they will feature the names of successful stu-dents from over 20 differ-ent countries, spread across five continents.

We believe that the distance learning programme can, amongst other things: teach the basics of working in a mill environment, including an appreciation of the safety of both product and people; introduce the concepts and machines used in the milling process; address the means by which wheat, mill stocks and flour may be conveyed and stored; develop an understanding of flour

quality and its control; provide an introduc-tion to breadmaking and other uses of flour; and encourage the student to think about the management of the whole operation of a flour mill.

Tutor & mentorFor each module, the student is allocated

one tutor, a miller himself, who provides guidance and advice on the coursework.

However, we believe that an important complement to the tutor’s help is that the student’s sponsor, normally a milling com-pany, appoints someone within the company to act as their mentor.

The mentor should be someone close at hand, who encourages the student to participate fully in the course and maximise the value both of the employer’s financial investment and the student’s investment of time. The mentor should also take respon-sibility for ensuring access for the student to relevant areas of the site, even if they do not feature in the student’s regular responsibili-ties at work.

The role of the mentor is akin to the par-ent helping the child to read; schoolteachers may provide expert tuition, but without the encouragement and support of the parent at home, providing opportunities for the child to practise their reading, success will be limited. Provided with the right learning environment, however, the child will learn to read more quickly and develop an appetite for reading, keen for exposure to more and more stories.

Anyone involved in training has to remember - and it is a difficult skill to master - what it was like when one didn’t know (or

couldn’t do) something. If we switch the analogy from reading to

walking, taking one step is not much of a challenge for an adult; but, for a child, their first step is a significant achievement (which also brings a surprising degree of delight to their parent/mentor!).

So nabim’s distance learning programme is designed to take the student through the whole syllabus, one step at a time. Each of the seven modules is taught in four separate lessons, working their way through the textbook. By allocating one tutor to each student for the whole module, the tutor is better able to gauge the level of understand-ing of the student; by building a relationship, the student is encouraged to produce work for the tutor and to ask for guidance when understanding proves difficult.

Milling in bite-size chuncksReaders of a certain age may recall that

the student of the 1980s was faced with learning from two formidable textbooks (‘The Practice of Flour Milling’) covering a similar amount of knowledge as is found within the seven modules.

I can imagine students sitting down to their first piece of coursework, feeling some-what discouraged as they opened the tome of over 600 pages of small type. Small steps (or bite-size chunks to change the activity again) are better, encouraging the student to love learning.

I have heard it said that ‘life isn’t fair’, because students of today have it easier than past millers. I have heard it said more recently that the online complementary materials we are developing are similarly unfair because

Taking the first stepHow to help yourself and others develop the love and understanding of flour milling

by Nigel Bennett, Secretary, NABIM, United Kingdom

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy34 | July - august 2011

FEATURE

they make topics easier to understand. This is a strange argument!

I recall a training video about mentoring, produced by Video Arts and starring Hugh

Laurie (in pre-House days). A mentor is supposedly training a new employee but is really just standing by, letting them learn by trial and error, and criticising when they get it wrong. “Why don’t you show them the correct way?” the men-tor is asked. “No-one ever showed me” comes the reply, “why should they have life any easier?” “But” replies Mr Laurie, “wouldn’t they learn more quickly if you did? And wouldn’t that make your life easier too?”. The penny drops

Our working lives are generally easier, less frustrating and more rewarding, when those who work with us and for us know what they are doing. (Hopefully, your boss feels the same way, having experi-enced the ‘penny drop’ described above.)

If the people reporting to you are developing a love and understanding of milling, nurtured by yourself and others, supported hopefully by the nabim dis-tance learning programme, then you are going to find a lot more enjoyment from your work than you otherwise would.

Three stepsSo, here are three steps for you to take

over the coming weeks: enrol one or more

people in our courses; volunteer to be their mentor; don’t waste the opportunity you and they have signed up for. As you help to develop someone’s love and understand-ing of milling, it is very likely that you will strengthen, perhaps even rekindle, your own love; who knows, you may even learn (or re-learn) something yourself.

Details of the 2011-12 course programme can be downloaded from the nabim web-site, at: www.nabim.org.uk/content/1/114/correspondence-courses.html. Alternatively, send an email with any questions to: info@nabim.org.uk.

More inforMation:NABIM21 Arlington StreetLondon, SW1A 1RN UK

Tel: +44 20 74932521Email: nigelbennett@nabim.org.ukWeb: www.nabim.org.uk

Grain&feed millinG technoloGy July - august 2011 | 35

Hygiene, Health and Safety

Wheat and the Screenroom

Mill Processes and Performance

Product Handling, Storage and Distribution

Flour

Power and Automation

Flour Milling Management

Course Fees 2011-12

The cost per module is: £310 (+ VAT at 20% where applicable)

includes postage, textbook and exam registration

nabim Members: £210 per module (a discount of £100)

Non-UK Companies: £260 per module (a discount of £50)

An indispensable tool for developing the knowledge and

competence of flour millers and their colleagues.

A clear presentation of the industry and process, in 7 modules.

Dedicated tutor support given to every student, providing

professional guidance throughout the course year.

To enrol or find out more, contact:

nabim 21 Arlington Street London SW1A 1RN UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7493 2521 Fax: +44 (0)20 7493 6785 email: info@nabim.org.uk www.nabim.org.uk

Flour Milling Training Internationally recognised distance learning programme

Developed for millers by industry professionals

Studied every year by hundreds of millers worldwide

Seven Steps to Success

FEATURE

PREVIOUS PAGEwww.gfmt.co.uk

LINKS• Seethefullissue• VisittheGFMTwebsite

• ContacttheGFMTTeam

• SubscribetoGFMT

A subscription magazine for the global flour & feed milling industries - first published in 1891

In this issue:

• Cultura Technologies’ MillMaster

• Greater gains from phytase through improved formulation

• Need to explain complicated software? It’s a piece of cake

August 2011

• Packaging for the future

• Taking the first step: How to help yourself and others develop the love and understanding of flour milling

• Cooking cerealswith extrusion

ThisdigitalRe-printispartoftheJuly|August2011editionofGrain&FeedMillingTechnologymagazine.Contentfromthemagazineisavailabletoviewfree-of-charge,bothasafullonlinemagazineonourwebsite,andasanarchiveofindividualfeaturesonthedocstocwebsite.Pleaseclickheretoviewourotherpublicationsonwww.docstoc.com.

Topurchaseapapercopyofthemagazine,ortosubscribetothepapereditionpleasecontactourCirculationandSubscriptionsManageronthelinkadove.

INFORMATIONFORADVERTISERS-CLICKHERE

Article reprintsAll Grain & Feed Milling Tecchnology feature articles can be re-printed as a 4 or 8 page booklets (these have been used as point of sale materials, promotional materials for shows and exhibitions etc).

If you are interested in getting this article re-printed please contact the GFMT team for more information on - Tel: +44 1242 267707 - Email: jamest@gfmt.co.uk or visit www.gfmt.co.uk/reprints