Alan Howard continues to invest in training with Total Excellence Centre through ILM Accredited Programmes that employees really value
Alan Howard is a leading trade supplier of top brand hairdressing and beauty products. Established in Stockport in 1973, this family-run business now operates 24 wholesale stores, and 17 training academies and employs over 350 staff.
The Challenge
A large proportion of Alan Howard’s employees are made up of managers. This includes senior managers, regional managers, and store and assistant store managers. Alan Howard wanted to develop formal ‘best practice’ training programmes to offer its employees. They didn’t want to make this a mandatory requirement but did encourage their employees to see the benefits the programmes would deliver.
The Solution:
Alan Howard has previously worked with Total Excellence Centre on a variety of learning and development projects and was made aware of some new ILM programmes and qualifications. Initially, the ILM Level 2 Certificate in Team Leading was the programme employees were most interested in, as it gave them core skills and tools to successfully lead a team. This programme was delivered in-house and Total Excellence Centre tailored the course to suit their specific requirements.
The feedback from the initial ILM programme was extremely encouraging and gave employees the confidence to undertake higher-level ILM qualifications.
Senior Managers have since undertaken the ILM Level 4 programme, Managing and Leading People Performance, which consists of four carefully selected modules. This was delivered off-site, as part of a wider cohort, with the objective of helping to build and improve the leadership styles of the senior managers, up-skilling them to increase their capability, competency, and knowledge in other areas of their role.
The Results:
The main difference Alan Howard has seen since employees have completed their ILM programmes, is their willingness to challenge themselves to go the extra mile and progress within the business. The changes in employees’ capabilities have been especially noticeable, particularly once they have returned to their branch stores. Their co-workers have also noticed the benefits of this change and are proactively expressing interest in attending these ILM programmes, to better their prospects in a leadership role.
The programmes have also led to higher staff retention and a more productive and proactive working environment across the business.
“It’s always a pleasure to work with Alan Howard, as they are totally committed to providing learning opportunities for their people. Our delivery team thoroughly enjoy working with the business and we consistently receive great feedback from both the delegates and senior leaders within the business. We look forward to further developing our strong partnership with them”. Michelle Mercer, Director, Total Excellence Centre.
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