They've got a lot of know-how in Brazil, concludes David Harbourne, director of the Learning and Skills Council, North Yorkshire

MY favourite business book of the last 12 months was actually first published in the UK in 1993. Called Maverick, it's by a Brazilian entrepreneur called Ricardo Semler who says in the foreword that it is not a business book!

And in a strange way, he is quite right. The book reads almost like a thriller, taking the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the history of manufacturing business Semco and its emancipated workforce.

Back in 1980, the company was so strapped for cash that Semler came close to selling the factory buildings. After this close shave, he started to reappraise the relationship between management and staff and started to give people more say in the running of the business.

Initially, this started with simple things: for example, workers painted the factory themselves, using whatever colours they fancied. But soon it spread to giving staff the opportunity to design the layout of a new factory, and from there to letting them set production schedules and targets without reference to managers.

Directors of the business were renamed "counsellors", their main aim being to come up with ideas and act as catalysts for change. Where once there were tiers of foremen, supervisors and department heads, Semler introduced a much smaller number of "co-ordinators". Other staff were called "associates". Weekly meetings of associates were organised by the co-ordinators, with most problems and plans being discussed and agreed there and then.

Other changes included open plan offices - not even Semler had his own separate office - and the decision to share full management accounts and the company balance sheet with all staff every month.

All of this was pretty revolutionary in the Brazil of the 1980s, but resulted in a dramatic increase in staff morale and a balancing drop in staff turnover. Everyone felt much more involved in the business and committed to it. Productivity and profitability soared.

Brazil being Brazil, of course, it wasn't always plain sailing. Inflation and currency crises regularly put Semco to the test, and in fact one chapter is called Collapse. Two chapters later, we get Rebirth - which says it all for this fascinating story of highs and lows.

The book includes a couple of interesting annexes. One is a series of cartoons illustrating some of the basic principles of people management in Semco, while the other is a lexicon of terms, with Semler's version of what they mean.

Given my day job, I was struck by something he wrote under the heading of "training": "We ask people to think about what they would like to be doing in five years and then prod them to request training that takes them there". This sums up very neatly Semler's belief that people should be given both responsibility and opportunity, and that they will use both wisely.

Of course North Yorkshire isn't Brazil, but Semler's words contain a lesson for us all. Manufacturing, like many sectors is experiencing some of the most dynamic changes affecting business, changes driven by new and changing technologies, and globalisation of many sectors. However, development of people to keep pace with the changes is not widely adopted.

Perhaps, the simple Semler message about turning to the workforce to identify their own training needs and asking the people who work for you how best to encourage participation in learning is the solution.