Customer Feedback

from NYK Logistics....

You've heard of speed dating but, unless you work at our Derby site, you may not be familiar with the concept of speed training. However, following a successful pilot, all that's about to change as we begin to roll out an innovative new training programme developed specifically to meet the needs of our people and our business.

Of course, in order to achieve this, we first had to establish exactly what those needs were. Working closely with Marie Hunter of external consultants, SpeedTraining, the HR team set out to accurately identify the skills our business and our people need to succeed - and what better way to find out than to ask them?

And the response to date has been extremely encouraging with most employees giving positive feedback on the training they have received.

Regional Accountant, John Fern has attended two courses so far and said:

For me, the best thing has been that the courses have really challenged me to think about things in a different way. As well as the theory, we're given a chance to reflect and discuss how what we've learnt relates to our jobs which makes it much easier to put into practice.

Building on the work and success at Derby, a similar initiative is now underway on the Land Rover operation, again tailored to meet the specific requirements of the two sites.

Head of HR for the Automotive Division, Joy Thackeray, said:

This is a major initiative which will help to ensure that our people have the skills they need to fulfil their potential, drive performance improvements and support the continued growth of the business.

When it comes to effective training, one size doesn't fit all and, as the speed training initiative demonstrates, we are committed to accurately identifying and meeting the training needs of our people. The work to date has been something of a pilot but the aim is to now roll this out across all of our business.

To this end, Marie facilitated a series of workshops and one-to-one meetings involving team leaders, supervisors and managers to identify an accurate and comprehensive matrix of skills for 22 key management roles. Using this knowledge, Marie was able to produce a series of training modules including performance management, problem solving, customer relations and assertiveness, written around NYK and issues within our business.

Of course, one of the issues within our business is that there simply aren't enough hours in the day and pulling people away from their jobs for long training courses can be counterproductive. The training has therefore been condensed into 'bite-sized' chunks of between two and three hours -hence speed training - with courses being delivered on site at a time to suit shift patterns, thereby minimising disruption to operational working patterns.