BUSINESSMEN and women from across Wiltshire and Dorset have been getting together recently to take part in a series of free workshops run by Business Link and Train to Gain.

There were more than 20 representatives from businesses, ranging from one-man bands to large public sector organisations signed up for the Know Your Business! Grow Your Business! workshop at the Royal Chase Hotel in Shaftesbury.

The workshop was one of 15 held in Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall in February and March.

The Shaftesbury work shop attracted delegates from Salisbury, East Knoyle, Shaftesbury, Semley, Blandford, Gillingham, Chippenham, Westbury, Sherborne, Dorchester and Weymouth.

These delegates run businesses in fields as varied as childcare, IT, accountancy, tool and equipment hire management and training.

Event facilitator Sadie Harries, who led the work shops in Wiltshire, Dorset and Gloucestershire, said the aim was for delegates to focus on where their business was now and where it was likely to be in the future. She said: "Workshops used to be all about information delivery.

"But the same information is not relevant to everybody, so now it's about trying to help people find their own answers and approach their problems differently.

"In these workshops we are trying to identify their challenges - it could be staff management, for example.

"Small businesses are good at what they do.

"Then they need to employ people and dealing with people may not be their strength."

Ian Sheekey, a partner of chartered accountants Hugh Davies & Co in Salisbury, said he had wanted to attend the work shop, as "a chance to step back from our own business and think about things that might affect it".

"It also provides great networking opportunities and the chance to pick up new clients," he said.

"We are business advisers for our clients and our job is not just about saving tax, but thinking about other issues that affect their business.

"Maybe they are just spending too much time working in the business, rather than working on the business and they need to think about how to be more profitable and more successful."

Among other delegates at the workshop were Sue Pike from a management and training company in Poole, Rob Cole of Wey Valley School in Weymouth and Pat Kenyon of a tool hire company in Semley.

They sat together for the first part of the workshop and then joined other delegates for the group exercises examining six areas that have an external impact on a business.

Also attending were Mick Woodall, skills broker with Train to Gain, and Rita Daly from Business Link.