Training's a whole new ball game now

FORGET the mouth guards and shoulder pads. "Lessons from Rugby" may be taking place at Murrayfield but most of the action on September 27 is set to be played out away from the hallowed turf.

At the event, businessmen and women will tackle the finer points of rugby coaching and refereeing techniques - with the objective of breaking over the gain line to be in a better position to coach and manage their staff.

The course is being run by high-profile businessman Hamish Taylor, through his company Skills Exchange Network, with the help of a number of rugby big names including former Scotland captain Andy Nicol, the SRU's acting director of rugby Richie Dixon and former Lions and Scotland player and coach Ian McGeechan.

Mr Taylor set up Skills Exchange Network to help people develop their leadership skills by using the less traditional method of looking outside their current environment and casting an eye over the expertise other industries use in running their businesses.

As a fledgling outfit, Mr Taylor wants to develop the numbers and types of courses that the company can offer. "We will learn from the pilot schemes that we run and, in time, will build up a programme of events," he says.

Mr Taylor saw a link between rugby and management through his love for the sport, which, these days, is largely focused on coaching mini rugby.

"I have been on foundation courses where I learnt how to coach," he explains. "There was so much that was relevant to the working environment.

"I discovered there was much to learn in a non-pressure environment which could then be gradually built up."

Mr Taylor, a former British Airways director, approached Mr McGeechan with the idea of developing a workshop that could be mixed with rugby coaching and translated into the work environment. It was decided to include a bit of refereeing as well.

Mr McGeechan is no stranger to education. He was a teacher for 23 years, before spending a number of years in the early 1990s at Edinburgh-based insurer Scottish Life, within its training department.

"We ended up developing a day around the practical 'go-out-and-do-it' approach," says Mr Taylor. "It is all about learning skills in a different environment. The idea is to teach skills as if we are going to teach rugby. At the end of the session, we will see what has been learnt and how it can be utilised in the business environment."

The business guru hopes next month's management-focused event, and a one-day session aimed at secretaries, PAs and administration staff, using primary school teachers, members of the Territorial Army and dance teachers, will lead to a series of similar training seminars.

"The secret is to choose jobs and activities completely unrelated to our normal day-to-day work, but from which we can extract some insights to improve our job performance," elaborates Mr Taylor.

He wants people attending the Lessons from Rugby course to get a new perspective on the management of teams and other people at work, and expects the delegates will be mainly people who are in a leadership position.

"The interest so far has been huge. We do not know exactly how many will turn up, but between ten and 20 would be good news."

Mr Taylor has seen first-hand the benefits of moving away from standard industry practices in order to boost performance.

When he was head of brand management at BA, he found ways of putting beds into aircraft with the help of a yacht designer and airport queuing was improved with the assistance of Disney.

As chief executive of Sainsbury's Bank, Mr Taylor oversaw a tenfold increase in profits by using retail concepts rather than traditional bank approaches.

"These approaches give a different view on what is happening. They can throw up some radical ideas. For instance, Disney knew more about queuing than BA."

Mr Taylor already undertakes a lot of training work and running of workshops - some of the work being handled in-house. He is renowned for his belief in the power of transferring skills from one environment to another and has worked with clients including Microsoft, Avis, BAA, Royal Bank of Scotland, Inland Revenue, Camelot, Ernst & Young and Lloyds TSB.

His way of training has led to some unlikely methods, such as teaching IT people about advertising, in order to learn the skills of leadership and management in a different environment.

"One of the things I specialise in is transferring skill sets," he says.

Participants in Lessons from Rugby will learn, from coaches, techniques that involve recognising players' skills and how to allocate time in training. On the referees' side, course members will be taught how to handle volatile situations and communication.

They will then consider how these skills can be translated into their own environments.

But it will not be all a scrum down in the classroom. Some practical experience is promised, including a session on the stadium's pitch.

Described as having a CV that takes some beating, Mr Taylor possesses what many would say is an outstanding track record.

He was trained at consumer products giant Procter & Gamble and then accountancy firm Price Waterhouse, before becoming head of brand management at BA, where he had worldwide responsibility for its portfolio of passenger brands and the BA Masterbrand.

Under his leadership, BA successfully relaunched the airline's premium brands - Club Europe, Club World and First.

His next role - managing director of Eurostar UK - was one of his most challenging as the company was making substantial losses at the time and his remit was to reduce the amount of red ink.

At the end of 1999, Mr Taylor was appointed as chief executive to oversee the Eurostar business in the three participating countries - UK, France and Belgium.

"As a Scot with an English accent, that was not a bad place to be," he exclaims.

Mr Taylor's next position was as chief executive of Sainsbury's Bank, a joint venture between the supermarket giant and Bank of Scotland.

The objective was to bring about a rapid growth in profit from the break-even position that he inherited. The ability to innovate and move away from traditional banking approaches to behave more like a retailer proved the key to the significant growth that resulted.

Finally, Mr Taylor was appointed chief executive of Vision UK, a technology and business design company with major clients around the world including Time Warner, General Motors and Citibank. In his time at the company, he brought the "commitment based management" techniques of the Irish American group to the UK with the building of internet bank Intelligent Finance.

Skills Exchange Network is Mr Taylor's latest project, although - on the side - he is attempting to set up a company to fly luxury planes between London and New York.

You would not bet against him succeeding.

The sky's the limit with airline plan

WHEN he is not running his training company Skills Exchange Network, Hamish Taylor is trying to join the Sir Richard Bransons of this world by establishing his own airline.

He wants to establish a business class-only service flying between London and New York, with a dedicated terminal at Luton airport to allow busy chief executives and rock stars to clear customs in just half an hour.

But the journey of Fly First from a dream to reality has been hit because of difficulties in raising the finance necessary to get the project into the air. "It is going to be a long haul," he confesses.

Originally Mr Taylor attempted to find £23.5 million through the private equity route, but, with a deadline of the end of June, failed to raise the necessary cash.

This put an end to his plan to have aircraft in the sky this year.

But he is not giving up. "I am now trying through the institutional route," he confirms. "Only time will tell whether this will be successful."

With the money already pledged from private equity, he says he is only looking to raise an additional £10m to £12m.

"With no deadline, I will keep pursuing this avenue."

In July, David Spurlock, another former British Airways executive, successfully raised £100m in equity and debt funding in the United States for a near identical scheme to run luxury aircraft between New York and London.