1. Organisational Challenge
Attracting and developing great managers is a challenge faced by all organisations, but one that is made more difficult in the public sector when budgets are not just tighter but under greater scrutiny too. The Warwickshire Councils Consortium had to cut costs, making training more difficult to deliver. However they also faced the problem that a lack of management development was creating dis-satisfaction amongst the key managers and this was having knock on effects in terms of efficiencies, staff morale and the retention of good people.
The Warwickshire consortium is a group of district, borough and county councils employing over 3,000 people between them which make major purchasing decisions together to make efficiencies. Here the member councils were looking for that elusive facility that improved quality and cut costs.
2. Choosing Impellus
We were initially attracted to the Impellus offering because of the flexibility of their training programmes, in particular the availability and reliability of their open (public) leadership and management training courses, many of which run in and around Birmingham and the West Midlands region”, said Elaine McGladdery, the HR Manager who held responsibility for procurement of the service.
“We could see that the training looked comprehensive so our next requirement was to check quality. Impellus provided us with two trial places where we were able to participate in courses, see the set-up and check the quality of the trainers, the environment and training and delivery of learning points. We returned impressed”.
The consortium was able to maximise their advantage by making an upfront commitment to buying the largest possible bundle of training days which were added to their account. This also gave them the ability to ‘charter’ days (ask to put on additional open courses with a small commitment of delegates) which was attractive.
3. Working with Impellus
“I’m very impressed with Impellus,” said McGladdery, “The courses are of high quality and our order terms have meant that the pricing and value for money has been excellent. The office-based staff are great too and have always been very helpful and accommodating if I have had any issues.”
4. Results Achieved
“I’ve had great feedback from my managers who’ve all enjoyed the courses and come back from them with useful course materials and skills that have been used back in their working environment. Our management team feel empowered and valued and that’s having effects throughout the councils which are tangible. I’m very impressed.”
Elaine McGladdery, HR Manager
