Employers come Together to Develop their Leadership Skills
After a successful partnership with Instep in 2023 to provide workforce development opportunities for their members, Alan Johnson, BID Manager at Stakehill Industrial Estate (Middleton) was keen to explore how the new Leadership Support Programme could bring further development opportunities and benefits for its members. The ability for businesses, regardless of their size, to access the programme on a fully-funded basis, with thanks to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority securing UKSPF monies, was an added bonus.
After the success and positive impact businesses had felt following the previous Lean Manufacturing training, Alan was confident that employers would be eager to access onsite Leadership provision to develop their employees. The fact that the training would be delivered onsite was seen as a positive draw for the businesses – many of whom would not ordinarily be able to release large numbers of employees to attend training at the same time.
Driven by the BID objective of ‘create a business community’ Alan highlighted, “if employees feel they are getting developed they are more likely to stay. By developing people, the businesses become better as their staff are better qualified and people stay as they feel valued.” With this clear mindset and vision Alan reached out to a member of the Engagement Team at Instep to plan an exclusive cohort that would enable businesses on the Industrial Estate to once again access the high-quality training and support services offered by the Instep team. Deciding on the components to include within the bespoke Leadership Support Programme was simple as Louise Putland, Employer Engagement Manager (Instep), provided expert advice and guidance that helped Alan to align local development needs with the options available. Alan opted to build a programme including the masterclass themes of Supporting Others Through Change and Delivering Project Excellence, which Louise agreed were great choices having listened to the intelligence Alan had to hand from his local businesses.
When asked why Alan had chosen to work with Instep he quickly noted, “I found you (Instep) really easy to work with. There was no real pressure; we engaged in a conversation, and it was about seeing what the art of the possible was. It has been excellent. It has felt like a true partnership, where Instep want to develop people through offering some good and relevant training.”
It was not just Alan who had wonderful things to say about the Leadership Support Programme, which was delivered in April. The learners themselves shared their thoughts on the sessions and provided lots of positive feedback on their experience. One individual noted, “it was an effective, engaging and interactive course that I think colleagues in most settings would find useful,” whilst another individual stated, “excellently delivered, well thought through course, a real mix of learning and action.”
Following such amazing engagement with the opportunity and the great feedback from the individuals who completed the Leadership Support Programme, Stakehill BID have decided to continue their partnership and are already planning their next exclusive cohort for July; deciding for their next programme to focus on Managing Costs Effectively and Winning Sales Techniques and Processes.
Reflecting on the collaboration Louise noted “it has been amazing to work closely with the Stakehill BID team and to cultivate a real enthusiasm from local businesses to invest in the development of their workforce and more specifically strengthen their leadership capacity. Working with Alan has enabled us to offer an open cohort in the heart of the business community in Middleton, and subsequently bring a range of businesses together for face-to-face skills development masterclasses.”
If you would like to explore running an exclusive cohort for your workforce or members, then please do be encouraged to reach out to our team and start a conversation that could enhance your workforce development strategy.
