The Icing on the Cake

I had the pleasure last week of attending the Institute of Recruitment Professionals annual award dinner, courtesy of my client, Derek Goff of Advanced Resource Managers who had been nominated for the Best People Development Business Award 2009. And I am delighted to say that it turned out to be a winning nomination!

But being recognised in this way is really just the icing on the cake for what has been a hugely successful investment in both leadership development and talent management. Like most recruitment companies ARM were facing challenging economic conditions at the start of the year but while others were cutting costs, this Havant based recruiter was investing in its people. Here's a summary of what worked so well:

1. The company made a proactive investment in people development during a recession.


2. The program was driven from the top, embraced and supported by the whole senior leadership team.


3. The program was divided into two halves - a leadership development program for existing people managers and a talent development program for prospective managers.


4. The program was designed and delivered on a modular basis so that delegates could apply their learning between modules and I could review their experiences at the beginning of the next module.


5. Derek Goff, the Learning and Development Manager, attended each module so that he could provide ongoing coaching support.


6. The leadership program was aligned with the Chartered Management Institute's professional qualifications so that staff could receive formal recognition of their achievement.

But the aspect that impressed me most was the overall attitude and application of the staff attending each module. These were busy people who have faced a challenging business environment all year and yet they produced a 100% attendance record and worked together between modules to ensure key concepts and principles were being applied in their day-to-day activities.

Not surprisingly, the company, the managers and their staff are reaping the rewards of all this as they set themselves to come out of a tough economic climate stronger than they went in. From my perspective, it was a pleasure to have worked with ARM, designing and delivering both the leadership and talent development programs and providing additional coaching support when required.

In an industry where less than 1% of annual turnover is invested in staff training, it is refreshing to see a company reverse the trend. The real prize is the positive impact on the business and people's careers and while it is nice, last week's award is really just the icing on the cake.















From Left to Right:
Derek Goff, Learning & Development Manager ARM
Samantha Templer, Human Resources Manager ARM
Simon Cooper, Program Facilitator
Joel Hard, a member of the talent development group who has since been promoted to Team Leader