A leadership and management training programme delivered by Northern Skills Group is leading to the development of new working practices proposed by staff at Darlington Building Society.
North East apprenticeship and training provider Northern Skills Group (NSG) has developed a tailored programme for Darlington Building Society, enabling staff to sharpen their professional skills and improve performance when managing people and projects.
Two groups have recently completed Diplomas in Leadership and Management Levels 3 and 4, with another cohort due to start the Level 3 this spring. The training uses the apprenticeship framework model to deliver practical work-based learning that is applicable to the employer’s business.
In addition to launching further qualifications later this year, the Society is also working with NSG to a Level 5 programme after requests from its staff looking to expand on their newly-gained skills.
The final stages of the completed programmes involved learners suggesting new ways to improve operations and presenting their ideas to a Darlington Building Society panel, which included the Chief Executive, Colin Fyfe.
A number of ideas that came out of the training are now being progressed by the Building Society to help improve working practices and customer experience. This includes increasing customer focus on initial mortgage appointments, to improve the implementation of change, and to enhance the Society’s work experience offering.
Andy Kane, Learning and Development Manager at Darlington Building Society, said: “Our Learning and Management programme in partnership with Northern Skills Group provides valuable insights to our staff and enables them to better understand the wider business world.”
“The exceptional quality of the presentations is proof that our team have gained crucial skills, which is allowing the successful implementation of new procedures to benefit the company overall.”
Peter Wilson, Director at Northern Skills Group, said: “Our apprenticeship and training experts help staff gain fundamental business skills while achieving a nationally recognised qualification. The team at Darlington Building Society has demonstrated sheer determination throughout the learning process, their innovative solutions to improve the society’s operations are a great example of how the benefits associated with apprenticeships exceed way beyond the individual learner.”