You will find may white papers within Your Career Academy and act as a guide helping readers to understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. 

Many white papers argue that one particular technology, product or method for solving a specific business problem. The research findings list a set of questions or tips about a certain business issue. YCA are constantly updating and reviewing new white papers to keep up to date with trends.

White paper areas we are looking to cover are shown below.

• Business benefits: to show how buyers will benefit from a certain offering, aimed at a non-technical audience.
• Competitive review: to show the relative strengths and weaknesses of competing offerings, generally to position one vendor as the best choice for a prospect.
• Executive briefing: to provide a short, high-level summary of a certain offering, market or problem in terms that a top executive can appreciate.
• Hybrid technical/business paper: to combine both technical details and business benefits for a mixed audience.
• Market overview: to provide an overview of a certain market, or to redefine a market niche in terms favorable to a certain vendor.
• Position paper: to argue for a certain approach to solving a particular problem, rather like an opinion piece.
• Product briefing: to explain the high-level features and functions of an offering, often for journalists and analysts at the launch.
• Special report: this can be almost any type of hybrid white paper aimed at any B2B audience. These can be especially effective when it's explicitly aimed at people in a certain role, such as "A Special Report for Supply Chain Managers".

YCA have created an easy reporting process so you are able to pull data on user activity, site performance and other pertinent information. Reports can be emailed or exported in Excel or PDF format, so that communicating vital facts to your executives, teams and direct reports is easy and intuitive.

Powerful reporting options are standard within YCA and additional reporting tools are provided through A3 reporting. This tool has been used by Toyota for many years to solve problems, however YCA have developed this great lean tool to report on all areas of the platform.

Additional functions can allow reporting by department and position within your organisation.

Intuitive Data Management

YCA reporting has been built with the reporting features necessary to easily view, manipulate and export data. Best of all, the deep dive tools will help you save time and effort, while being a hero.

All of the reporting tools are designed help you easily get at the critical data you need:

Your Career Academy Library provides access to resources across a wide spectrum of topic and subject areas. Such as: templates, research, business subjects and much more. We try to keep as much information as possible loaded onto the system.

If you have a piece of work, paper or template you would like adding to the library please contact YCA admin on: [email protected]

Our library provides access to published information sources. Examples: magazines, newspapers, journals and other resources.

• It's free.
• Hundreds of downloadable resources to choose from.
• Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Compatible with iPod, MP3 Players, Tablets (Eg. iPad, Android) and PCs.
• No waiting lists - all titles have unlimited availability.
• Simple 'One Click' download process.
• All you need is a PC with broadband internet access.

YCA have created an upload area for every user. This are can be used to upload important information to do with your job like CV's job specifications and contracts. However it can also be use to store information, and data for your personal development. All types of files can be uploaded.

• Upload CV option support Word, Excel, Pdf files.
• Upload Media options support Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Pdf,jpeg,jpg,png, mpeg, mp3, mp4, wav, avi, wmv, swf, flv files.

The upload area is a great way to store all your digital needs. All your work photos can be stored here too with no maximum limit.

You can use the upload to personalise your own area having all your data in one place and can be accessed 24 hours a day 7 days a week so there is no need to wait until your normal work hours. Files can be uploaded anywhere in the world from any PC, tablet or MAC all you need is a internet connection.

YCA Awards process helps employees strive for achievement. Research shows that employees are most motivated when rewarded and recognised for their achievements. YCA encompasses this theory with a combination of Awards and Recognition.

Our research shows that 55% of employees do not fell appreciated at work. See what your employees think of the Awards process.

Employee Recognition is a great way to reward and recognise your teams. 63% of people feel that recognition would improve their relationship with their manager.  Recognition shows employees that they are appreciated and that their contributions count. Recognition increases employee self-esteem which improves morale and leads to a more positive workplace overall, increasing productivity and building commitment to the organisation. When an employee goes out of their way and does something outstanding, management should signal “Well Done , Good Job." This builds a culture of excellence and encourages giving that extra effort.

1. In the moment: YCA catches people doing exemplary work and acknowledge their efforts.
2. In context: YCA recognition process is most effective when it's given in the context of a larger goal or business-results-focused activity. Random affirmations are much less meaningful than those tied to a business goal. An employee who lands a big contract by putting in the extra effort needs to know you noticed, and understand the employee's effort to ensure business success.
3. Appropriate in volume/scale: Recognition should match effort and results, or it loses meaning. This is where YCA helps.
4. Authentic: You have to mean it when you give employees recognition. YCA does this in 3 ways:
   • General Recognition
   • Thanks You
   • Congratulations
5. Tied to the employee's perception of value: People know when they're valued, and they should have a good idea of their value to the organization. YCA treats employees as valued team members, not as numbers. YCA is the best way to really recognize a valued player.

YCA has developed a simple and easy way to map out internal and external stakeholders 

Goal setting is used by successful business-people and achievers in all fields. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you'll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. You will also raise your self- confidence, as you recognise your own ability and competence in achieving the goal you have set.

The start of your stakeholder mapping process is to identify the target groups and individuals for you as an individual or a company. Stakeholders be definition are people who have a stake in your situation, career and development. This process allows you to identify not only the degree of interest someone has in you but also the power and influence they have. Stakeholders can be described in organisations in terms of internal or external (e.g. internal, employees managers and external customers, suppliers, competitors and partners)

YCA has developed a test and assessment process that allows the organisation to generate true Return on Investment (ROI). This process allows new tests to be created and scored automatically by the platform. The assessment process gives the marker the opportunity to mark and score each individual question.

Specific content can be allocated to automatically invite the employee to view new e-learning or material based on a FAIL of the assessment. This generates consistency when employees require further support and training to progress them forward.

Our library of reading material, shared best practice and e-learning content is a ever evolving library of resource material.

YCA have worked with the ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management) to help understand the best way of learning.

The YCA Reflective Diary process is vital to modern personal learning and development, without reflection practice becomes a routine rather than a challenge and the quality of service provision to service users may be diminished.

Reflective practice is associated with the concept of an employee as a life long learner. Reflection is also part of the process of learning and without it learning is carried out at a superficial level. Engaging in reflective practice allows you gain a greater insight into your development and the integration of these thus enhancing the development of your professional competence.

The term reflection is often considered in relation to looking back but it can be used in preparing for a task, carrying it out and then evaluating how successfully it was completed .

What are the benefits of YCA reflective diary?

A reflective diary will help you to:

• prepare fully in advance for tasks allocated to you.
• increase your knowledge and skills.
• give you the opportunity to consider your actions and attitudes.
• integrate theory and practice.
• consider the factors which influence practice.
• reflect on your own performance and learning.
• develop a repertoire of appropriate responses/actions.
• prepare for supervision sessions.
• become a confident and competent employee.
• form the foundations for your continuing professional development and role as a life long learner.

Your Career Academy have created a great and fun way to getting honest feedback from work colleagues and other acquaintances and can be very important and constructive.

There are two types of feedback

1. Anonymous Feedback (No names or identities are given when feedback is requested by the requester).
2. Named Feedback (The feedback requester asks for the names of "who said what" however the person giving the feedback will know their name will be shown as this is indicated with a RED STAR.

Benefits of Feedback

• A quick and simple way to get great quality feedback.
• Selected feedback through YCA can be anonymous, the feedback you get is an honest reflection of how people feel.
• A long term archive of all your feedback. We encourage you to collect feedback regularly throughout the year, because that's the best way to reflect on your learning. YCA keep all your feedback on your behalf. When your annual review comes around, it'll be there waiting for you, in one place.

Focusing on YOU

• Be better at whatever you do: Getting good quality feedback helps you learn faster and to gain more confidence in your job, thus gaining better opportunities, higher visibility from your managers, and improved job satisfaction.
• Be self-aware: By understanding what others think of you, you are able to see yourself through their shoes. You'll understand how people view you, and be able to see how your decisions and behaviour affects your credibility more clearly.
• Be recognised for your strengths: Because YCA automatically collects all your feedback in one place, come annual performance review time, all the evidence is available to share with your manager if you wish to do so.

YCA have designed E-learning modules to transfer the knowledge you need on a given subject in an innovative and interesting way saving the time and cost of a training course.

e-learning modules are a great way to learn about new subjects at your own pace and can be used as part of an accredited programme or just to refresh your memory on a particular subject. Our e-learning authoring process allows you to have your new or existing training developed into an exciting e-learning module. Our team of developers are experienced in delivering high quality e-learning that is simple and cost effective. E-Learning modules cost as little as £2000 for bespoke modules. 

Your Career Academy has a library of e-learning material for its users to view at any time of the day or night.

Goal setting is used by top-level athletes, successful business-people and achievers in all fields. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you'll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. You will also raise your self- confidence, as you recognise your own ability and competence in achieving the goal you have set.

Achieving Personal Goals

Goal-setting ideally involves establishing specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-targeted (S.M.A.R.T.) objectives.

Working on the goal setting is an effective tool for ensuring that participants have a clear awareness of what they must do to achieve or help achieve an objective. Goal setting is a key component of personal development either short term or long term goals

Achieving complex and difficult goals requires focus, long-term diligence and effort. Success in any field requires forgoing excuses and justifications for poor performance or lack of adequate planning; in short, success requires emotional maturity. The measure of belief that people have in their ability to achieve a personal goal also affects that achievement.

Your Career Academy have a comprehensive library to help all Managers to define important workplace behaviours. The library offers a common vocabulary, all staff members can use this to discuss about behavioral skills. This is an important tool used to define behaviours that are essential for your organisation to achieve its strategic goals.

Each competency in the library has a definition and a set of skills called behavioural indicators. Behavioural indicators can be seen or heard when particular competencies are demonstrated. For example, when a staff member demonstrates initiative, one might observe that individual seeking information from many different sources before deciding on an individual approach. 

It is recommended that Managers and their staff members choose three to five job-related competencies that will help achieve goals and/or development opportunities. All competencies are important, but some are more relevant than others for particular jobs. Once job-related competencies are selected, Managers should agree on relevant behavioural indicators for each competency; these will define performance expectations for staff members.

Succession Planning helps the identification and development of potential successors in your company. The key in succession management is to create a match between the company's future needs and the aspirations of individual employees, linked to the desired behaviours.

Our well-developed succession planning process increases the retention of superior employees because they recognise that time, attention and skill development is being invested in them for the purpose of career development. When you continue to challenge and reward talented employees, you eliminate their need to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Companies typically use a 360° feedback system in one of two ways

1. 360° Feedback is a Development Tool to help employees recognise strengths and weaknesses and become more effective:  When done properly, 360° is a highly effective development tool. The feedback process gives people an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback to a co-worker that they might otherwise be uncomfortable giving. Feedback recipients gain insight into how others perceive them and have an opportunity to adjust behaviours and develop skills that will enable them to excel at their jobs.
2. 360° Feedback is a Performance Appraisal Tool to measure employee performance:  Using a 360° feedback system for Performance Appraisal is a common practice, but not always a good idea. It is difficult to properly structure a 360° feedback process that creates an atmosphere of trust when you use 360° evaluations to measure performance. Moreover, 360° feedback focuses on behaviours and competencies more than on basic skills, job requirements, and performance objectives. These things are most appropriately addressed by an employee and his/her manager as part of an annual review and performance appraisal process. It is beneficial to incorporate 360° feedback into a larger performance management process, but only with clear communication on how the 360° feedback will be used.

What a 360° Feedback Survey Measures:

• 360° feedback measures behaviours and competencies
• 360° assessments provide feedback on how others perceive an employee
• 360° feedback addresses skills such as listening, planning, and goal-setting
• A 360° evaluation focuses on subjective areas such as teamwork, character, and leadership effectiveness

What 360° Feedback Surveys do not assess:

• 360° feedback is not a way to measure employee performance objectives
• 360° feedback is not a way to determine whether an employee is meeting basic job requirements
• 360° feedback is not focused on basic technical or job-specific skills
• 360° feedback should not be used to measure strictly objective things such as attendance, sales quotas, etc.