Helping you to realise the full potential of your new talent today.

It is important that your new talent make a positive contribution to your business as quickly and effectively as possible.  Elan Valley Lodge can provide a bespoke course tailored to the development needs of your new graduates to help them fulfil their new role.

Prior to creating your unique programme, we will discuss with you;

• The environment that your apprentices and graduates will be working in and the demands that will be placed upon them.

• Your behavioural framework, vision and values.

• The wider context of your training programme.

• Your desired outcomes.

With this clear insight we will work with you to identify the key skills that you would like to be covered during the programme. This could include a range of core skills that will be delivered to your entire apprentice/graduate population and some additional specialist skills that will be required for specific areas of your business. We understand that the needs of graduates are different from apprentices but approach of creating a customised course to suit your business model we can ensure that the content is appropriate for your needs.

Some examples from our recent work:-

Being an effective “team player”.

We explore the actions and behaviours that allow a person to transfer easily from one team to another, build effective working relationships and learn from others whilst sharing their own knowledge openly.

Developing a high performing team

Generally this is based on the Elan Valley Lodge Authentic Teams model.  We introduce the idea that high performing teams have 3 P’s.

People – Purpose - Performance

An authentic team has the right people who have a positive attitude, learn from experience and support each other. They have a clear and appropriate purpose which is shared by all members and performance criteria that set the parameters for quality, resource management and timescales. Together these create the climate in which high performing teams reach, and often exceed, their goals.

Planning, time management and prioritisation

Using a selected series of short, team problem solving tasks the delegates consider the processes involved in project planning, with an emphasis on using resources effectively to produce a quality product which is delivered on time and represents excellent value for money. They will create a project management template and discuss the prioritisation of tasks and tools for time management.

Leadership

Whose responsibility is it? We will explore the role and responsibilities of the leader and manager in an authentic team and use appropriate leadership models to help delegates to fully understand how and when to take the lead and how to respond to and support others in the leadership role.

Communication skills

Communication involves much more than words, non verbal signals and the manner in which a message is given have a significant impact on the effectiveness of communications. It is a two part process; the result of communication is measured on what is received and understood and not just by what is said. How do we listen actively, check that both parties have a common understanding and communicate effectively?

Personal presentation

What can we do to help project an image of a confident, competent person ready for the work place? How do we make a positive first impression? We look at body language, role models, and how to use our communication and planning skills to help us to create the right impression?

For the core part of these programmes we recommend a residential at Elan Valley Lodge:-

The first few days are typically spent on a series of interlinked workshops which explore the key skills that you have selected. These will then be brought together to create a clear picture of the skills required of your employees to fit within your behavioural framework. Our approach is practical and informal; the content will be continually reviewed and linked to the world of work with real life examples and case studies.

These sessions are often followed by our unique experiential exercise, “Peregrinations” (purposeful journey). It will challenge your employees on many different levels and give them an opportunity to put their learning into practice. It is a high impact exercise that will highlight the importance of effective teamwork, excellent communications, successful leadership, managing change and finding creative solutions to problems. It’s great fun and never fails to make the learning from the programme real and memorable. A meticulous review of this experience will consolidate the learning and prepare your graduates for the next stage.

The final day is spent on personal reflection and forward planning. Each delegate will be supported through a tried and tested process of identifying their key areas for development. They create a personal plan that will identify their personal goals, performance targets, support required, gremlins or blocks to be overcome and key actions. Ideally they will have an opportunity for a 1:1 with their mentor shortly after the course to enlist his/her support in implementing their plan.

	Charlotte Atherton, a Microsoft graduate delegate wrote: “The course was extremely well thought out. Everything was integrated so that my train of thought was developed in a comprehensive manner. What you put in, you get out. But I never thought I could get this much out. I am amazed.”
	John Michael, a Direct Line Insurance graduate delegate wrote: " I can honestly say that the training course was the best one I'd ever attended. The program was not only educational but so much fun! I would recommend it to anyone who needs to understand not just the theory of team working and leadership but its application too. A beautiful location with first class facilities and a friendly, professional team. "
	At the end of his residential Daniel Mumford from Pembrokeshire said:- “The course allows you to make mistakes so that you can prevent them back at work. It gave me the theory and the tools but also showed me how to put them in place. The practical exercises made this possible.” At the post course review Daniel wrote:- “I have improved my time management and feel that I am more proactive and getting better results. I got more from this course than any other course I have been a part of!”