CHANGE must be embraced. Athlete Roger Black MBE had this message to give at a 'bringing skills to your workforce' seminar in Southampton.

The free seminar was hosted by Southampton City College at the Friends Provident St Mary's Stadium.

As the largest further education college in Southampton, it is strengthening relations with local employers and encouraging them to consider afresh their staff training approach and is looking at how it can help to create a skilled and productive workforce for the region.

Lindsey Noble, college principal and chief executive, opened the seminar and in her welcome speech encouraged employers to realise the benefits that education and training can bring including raising the productivity, innovation and profitability needed to compete in today's competitive climate.

Roger's motivational presentation concentrated on his own experience in track racing, but the principles of his address were extremely relevant to today's competitive business environment.

He spoke about five key attributes that every person needs to be successful: a burning desire, a need to achieve, a clear set of goals, hard work and the ability to perform under pressure.

His points were illustrated by the gold medal-winning performance by Britain's 4x400m relay team at the 1991 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and how people who believe that they have found the winning formula are about to get beaten.

Lindsey said: "The seminar was an excellent starting point for us to make contact with local employers and demonstrate ways in which they can engage with us.

"Roger was a extremely thought provoking speaker demonstrating how employers of Southampton can remain motivated, overcome obstacles and achieve excellence."