Training magazine has announced
the names of the teams short-listed for the TD2001 Award sponsored by Raytheon
Professional Services.
The judges
narrowed the field down from 50 entries, looking for evidence of how training
was integrated with the organisation’s goals, how much top-table influence
training managers have and how initiatives are evaluated.
The judges are Industrial Society
learning and development director Andrew Forrest, Leeds Metropolitan
University’s Professor Mike Campbell, andÂ
consultant Colin Midson, former operations director of engineering
company LGH.
The short-listed
teams are:
Abbey National, whose
entry focused on the training team’s overall approach in matching training to
the business requirements and objectives of the company. Key elements of this
approach are evaluation, cost-effective service, performance development and
continuous improvement. Neville Pritchard says, "I entered because I
wanted the whole team to know how far they’d progressed in the past two years
in the way they support the business. The company has a very positive
perception of the training team given the way we’ve responded to business
objectives."
Lyreco UK (formerly
known as Office International). This Telford-based office supplies company has
seen sales increase from £12m in 1991 to an expected £142m this year. In the
past, as with many companies, training has been seen as an add-on, says Ian
Lawson, but in recent years there has been a growing recognition of training’s
importance in growing the business. He notes that for the past three years,
over 30 per cent of the workforce have achieved qualifications. All main job
roles have development paths mapped and training is integrated into all
departments. "We use Investors in People as a healthcheck and winning a National
Training Award last year showed that we could compete with the best," he
says.
Sheffield City Council:
In July 2000, the council achieved Investors in People accreditation,
council-wide, at the first attempt. Last December, the achievement was judged
to be the best of any local authority and the council received an Outstanding
Investor commendation. Among the training consultancy’s achievements, says
Duckworth, are the development of the Sheffield manager programme, which
involves 360-degree feedback and a competency-based development centre. The
team has also introduced an effective performance management programme, training
for all frontline workers on customer service and evaluation of training and
development at different levels, from the outcomes for individuals and services
to the measurement of organisational impact.
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As well as the
three short-listed organisations, the judges highly commended the entries from
Chubb, GNER, One2One and Prism.
The
overall winner will be announced at a special presentation ceremony at the HOT
conference on 27 June 2001.
