The East of England Co-op learning and development team has designed and delivered training for over 4,200 colleagues in businesses from food retail to funeralcare. Now its work has been recognised by the 2017 TJ (Training Journal) Awards, which has shortlisted the society in the ‘Best Organisational Development Programme’ and ‘L&D Team of the Year’ categories.
The TJ Awards “recognise the creativity, passion and hard work of learning and development professionals” from around the world, and counts House of Fraser, O2, British Airways and Transport for London among previous winners.
“The [East of England L&D] team has built excellent relationships with the business over the last three years through their openness, collaboration and the delivery of some world class training solutions,” said Stephen Flurrie, head of learning and development at East of England.
“Everything that they deliver is built in collaboration with the relevant departments and practically everything is designed and developed by the team. They’ve used creativity and innovation, in place of a big budget, to deliver learning that is moving our people forwards and helping to shape the culture of our business.”
Related… The Small Things making a Big Difference at East of England
One of the society’s most successful training initiatives is its Know How: Leadership programme, launched in 2015 to transform managers’ people management skills. Over 250 managers at varying levels have completed the training, with evaluations showing an increase in skills and effectiveness, combined with a change in culture to a business that embraces development.
The team is also responsible for East of England’s Apprenticeship Scheme which launched earlier this year following a successful pilot.
Last year the society received the Princess Royal Training Award for its Dementia Friendly Retail training programme, which has now been completed by over 90% of East of England Co-op employees and is being shared with other businesses across the country.
- The TJ Award winners will be announced at a gala dinner on Tuesday 5 December. The full list of finalists is available here.
