It’s been all over the news, the terrible loss of life and injury at Grenfell Tower. It’s certainly a terrible thing to happen to families and my heart goes out to all concerned.

I was really pleased to read the reports about how the fire brigade, other emergency service personnel and local charities and support groups worked together to save lives, put out the fire and support victims.

The reports seem to indicate that one reason the fire was so terrible, was because of a worryingly familiar tale of the construction industry making a “saving”. Multiple stakeholders were involved in making decisions about the way the building was built and refurbished, without taking the necessary steps to protect people from such a disaster.

It made me think about the “savings” we make at work everyday, without thinking about the risks, or possible long term consequences to our staff, or clients.

I believe we should never “save” money by not giving staff training and development.

Have you trained your staff, given them the skills and tools to be resilient, strategic decision makers? Have you spent time developing your team so they work well together, making good decisions in the best interests of the team? Have you trained your staff to deal with difficult conversations and complex challenges?

These are the very skills that could of, and did, save many lives at Grenfell Tower.