Caroline Hatley, Training & Skills Development Manager, tells us about the game-changing People Management training programme which is currently being piloted in venues.

Since taking up the new role of Training and Skills Development Manager in January 2022, I’ve been extremely busy working through a multitude of mandatory and progression development training requirements and initiatives with key internal and external partners. During the past couple of months Mark Hollington and I have worked closely with Apex Training (our 4 Pillars Guest Experience training partner) on the design and content of a brand-new People Management training programme – the aim of which is to develop and grow the skills, expertise and confidence of our people managers. 

So far, two training courses have been developed.  Level 1: Management Essentials is designed to support supervisors, team leaders, and those who are new to management, or who would benefit from refreshing their basic skills and knowledge. Level 2: Navigating the Leader-ship is the next progression stage on from Level 1, and has been designed to support and develop the leadership skills of our more experienced managers.

The preparation work finally culminated in the delivery of two Pilot training days at G Live on 22 and 23 February. Sixteen staff members joined me on each day to help “road test” the training content and design with our fantastic new Apex trainer, Caff Allen. We were also pleased to welcome Emma Bennetts on the first training day. As you’ll see from the pictures, each session was highly interactive and extremely engaging – we didn’t do much sitting down! We talked about Buffalos, Helicopters and Storms – and it all made perfect sense if you were there! We enjoyed a great guest experience from the good folk of Guildford, too; they looked after us from the minute we walked through Stage Door until the last taxi was called.

All the training participants are now engaging with me in a Feedback Review, so that – before we roll it out later in 2022 – we’re confident that our People Management training programme is the right fit for our business and is the very best that we can offer our managers on their development journey.