By Wilma Guest-Mouton
After more than 40 years as a facilitator and 30 years of leading Guest Resource Services, I have witnessed many changes in the training and skills development landscape. New systems, new legislation, new quality assurance bodies, new qualifications, new acronyms; now the transition to the QCTO environment, with all its opportunities and challenges.
Through all these changes, one thing has remained constant: people learn best when learning changes their behaviour and improves their lives.
My journey as a trainer did not begin in a classroom or at a university. It began in 1985, when I helped one of our tea ladies learn to read and write. There was no assessment, no quality assurance body, no certificate, and no formal recognition. Yet it was one of the most meaningful training experiences of my career because it changed a life.
That experience ignited a passion for empowering people that has never left me.
In the early years, I focused mainly on on-the-job training for administrators and support staff. Alongside my academic studies at the University of Pretoria, UNISA, and what is now the University of Johannesburg, I attended many non-credit-bearing training programmes. I learned how to facilitate, communicate more effectively, manage conflict, become more assertive, understand decision-making, and develop leadership skills.
None of these courses resulted in formal qualifications, but every one of them made me a better professional, a better leader, and a better person.
That is where the vision for Guest Resource Services was born in 1996.
For the past three decades, we have facilitated attendance-based programmes covering Project Management, Junior and Senior Management, Strategic Planning, Facilitating Learning, as well as numerous life skills and empowerment programmes. Our training has always been grounded in sound theory, enriched by practical experience, and focused on workplace application.
Our slogan has always been:
“From self-knowledge to self-responsibility.”
Over the years, we embraced accreditation through various SETAs. We qualified ourselves as assessors, moderators, verifiers, and Skills Development Facilitators. Like many providers, we are now navigating the transition into the QCTO system. It has certainly not been without challenges, and only time will tell how successfully the system achieves its intended outcomes.
However, experience has taught me an important lesson.
When systems are changing, and the house is not yet in order, never underestimate the value of “old faithful.”
Attendance-based training continues to play a vital role. It creates space for discussion, reflection, coaching, shared experiences, and immediate application. It allows facilitators to adapt to learners’ needs and to inspire confidence, accountability, and growth. Most importantly, its success is measured not only by certificates, but by changed attitudes, improved performance, and transformed lives.
When I look back over my career, I smile as I think of the many people who have crossed paths with Guest Resource Services. Some became senior leaders; others remained dedicated employees, quietly making a difference every day. Titles are not what matter most. What matters is knowing that, in some way, we contributed to their growth and helped them realise more of their potential.
We will continue to support the formal education and skills development structures because they have an important place in our country. At the same time, we will never stop believing in the value of well-designed attendance-based training that equips people with practical skills, confidence, and the ability to apply what they have learned.
For me, training has never been about collecting certificates.
It has always been about changing lives.
And after four decades, I believe that is still the greatest measure of success.
