On the right path

"Why do we need to know exactly where we are, as long as we know where we are going?" This comment — made by a passenger on a recent train journey between Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa in Ukraine — made me stop and think.

Much business thinking is about not only setting clear goals but also measuring precisely the progress towards those targets. Yet if the goals are clear, and the correct path is chosen — as with the train, hopefully — then we can be confident that the goals will be reached.

Of course, checking from time to time that we are on the right path may not be a bad thing, but the obsession with tracking our exact position at every second (now easy thanks to GPS technology) is counterproductive.

Business leaders and their staff need confidence that they are on the right path so that they can concentrate on their daily work rather than obsess about the latest weekly sales results or quarterly financial figures.

Ukraine is still working out exactly where it wants to go. The country is heavily dependent on Russia, but is moving slowly towards EU and, possibly, NATO membership. Its politics are chaotic, with further elections due in October. The economy, after years of strong growth, is expected to contract by 8 to 10 per cent this year.

The purpose of my visit was to attend the third international conference on "Teaching General and Business English in Eastern Europe: Why and How?" Some 140 English teachers were at the conference, which was supported by the business English teachers' association Besig and the Ukranian edition of Business Spotlight.

Participants at the teachers' conference in Dnipropetrovsk

The conference was held at the highly impressive Dnipropetrovesk University of Economics and Law. Dnipropetrovsk is the country's third largest city and a major location for weapons production. But last week, the city (along with Odessa) was turned down by UEFA as a venue for the 2012 European Championships, partly because there are no plans for an adequate airport.

Among the keynote speakers at the conference was Pat Pledger, a business English trainer and human resources expert based in Hamburg and founder of the Professional Women's Forum Hamburg. Pat talked about the change in emphasis in HR at the moment away from recruitment and towards staff development and retention.

Another keynote speaker was the university's vice rector and conference organizer, Professor Oleg Tarnopolsky, a prolific writer of modern business English materials for the Ukrainian market. Tarnopolsky talked about an upcoming English coursebook for Ukranian psychology students that will be based specifically on internet research.

Oleg Tarnopolsky addresses the conference in Dnipropetrovsk

As at the previous conferences, there was a thirst for new ideas and contacts, although, at the moment, a gap remains between some teachers' theoretical knowledge of modern communicative teaching methods and their use of such methods in practice.

Despite this gap, my lasting impression was that many of the Ukrainian teachers have the goal of using more communicative methods. And, like the train from Dnipropetrovsk to Odessa, they will reach their destination.