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PRESS INFORMATION ISSUED ON BEHALF OF:
Echelon Publishing
Darwin House, 236 South Ealing Road, LONDON W5 4RP
tel 020 8568 1500; fax 020 8560 6612; web http://learningmatters.com
15th December 2008
Echelon helps Festival Housing Group do more than win a major award
Festival Housing Group (FHG), the West Midlands-based housing
association, has won a UK Housing Award - in the 'Developing Skills and
Capacity' category - for helping selected Year 10 and 11 pupils at
Droitwich Spa High School to develop skills, and gain nationally
recognised qualifications in, property maintenance. Known as the
'Skills for Life project', it began as a management training
opportunity for FHG staff but has gone on to create an imaginative link
with Droitwich Spa High School which provides employment and training
opportunities in property maintenance for Year 10 and 11 pupils at the
school.
These students learn a range of property maintenance skills as part of
their curriculum and their two year course includes one day a week
working with FHG. Moreover, FHG has agreed to take on at least one of
the current pupils as a full apprentice when he leaves school.
Guided by coach Nicole Wehden from the organisation development
consultancy Echelon, FHG - which prides itself on 'building successful
communities' across Herefordshire and Worcestershire - initially got
the pupils to spend one day a week with FHG's maintenance company. This
not only provided them with the practical skills and experience in such
things as plumbing and electrics but also enabled them to have those
skills recognised via City & Guilds qualifications.
Clare Huyton, FHG's executive director, said: "We are delighted to have
this project recognised on a national stage.
"To win this award is not only a tribute to my colleagues at FHG but
also to the pupils and staff at Droitwich Spa High School who have
worked so hard to help make this project work. We look forward to
continuing this success for many years to come."
Subsequently, through links which Droitwich Spa High School has with a
Kenyan school, workers from FHG's maintenance company visited this
school and not only built a classroom there but also trained pupils and
teachers in maintenance of their school buildings. And now that the
project is into its second year, FHG is building on its success by
adding a partnership with another secondary school on the theme of
community safety and work with several local primary schools.
"The aim of the project was to give four local youngsters, who had very
little in terms of future prospects and motivation, a real start in
life," explained Kay Dovey, HR Director for Festival Housing. "After
working on the project for a year, the project team worked with the
local Droitwich Spa High School as well as Festival Housing management
and staff to create a new experiential programme of work which could
ultimately result in a Modern Apprenticeship for the students
involved."
The aim was also to provide a group of FHG employees with a unique
learning and development experience to develop their management,
leadership and communication skills. Consequently, the project team:
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Developed a clear
business/project vision that meets customer and student needs as well
as organisational objectives.
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Created a detailed
strategy to realise the vision.
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Developed and worked
effectively with Gantt charts that include clearly defined objectives
and actions, milestones, roles and responsibilities, timescales, risk
management, ongoing review and correction.
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Significantly enhanced
time management skills.
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Developed confidence
and capability in public speaking.
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Became adept at
problem solving.
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Developed the
capability to create a winning team that achieved peak performance.
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Developed highly
effective delegation skills.
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Learned to deliver
excellence in customer service.
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Although beginning
with little confidence and limited capability, evolved into a team that
delivered significantly beyond customer and organisational expectations
and developed and belief and confidence that it could do anything.
The project was the
brainchild of Echelon's Jenny Hill and Nicole Wehden. Jenny Hill
explained: "FHG was an early adopter of our Community Project Challenge
(CPC) management training initiative.
"The initiative supports FHG's corporate social responsibility (CSR)
goals and helps its managers achieve a 'Cert.M' qualification.
Participants use action learning methods to manage a 'real time'
project.
"Support is provided via a programme coach and a bespoke project
website, which includes a variety of online project management and
knowledge tools. A personal learning log provides evidence for
qualifications and continuous professional development (CPD)."
Nicole Wehden commented that the team has achieved some impressive
results. She said: "When we first started working with the project team
they were a group of enthusiastic individuals with limited management
experience and hungry to learn.
"With guidance, they developed a vision, strategy and clear,
comprehensive plans to achieve their goals. They implemented plans with
real commitment and inspiration and learnt a host of management skills
along the way, applying them all with panache.
"What they achieved as a result far exceeded anyone's expectations and
I am extremely proud of them - and they achieved all that while
continuing to carry out their day jobs successfully!"
Linda Gittings, Training Officer at FHG, explained that one of the key
benefits of this project for FHG is that: "We are developing an
understanding and methodology for coaching at work and embedding
learning into the organisation in practical and sustainable ways.
"It is helping improve individual and team effectiveness and aligning
our outputs more closely to customer needs which, in turn, is improving
customer satisfaction. Longer-term, CPC provides support succession
planning by identifying relevant programme participants," she said.
FHG's Kay Dovey added: "The project has attracted a great deal of media
interest resulting in a substantial amount of free PR for FHG, both
locally and nationally.
"This has served to enhance the reputation of the organisation within
the local community and across the housing association community. In
addition, it raised the profile of FHG as a preferred local employer.
"One of our strategic objectives is to develop key strategic alliances
across the community - in particular with schools in order to attract
school leavers to the organisation. As a result of the project,
Droitwich Spa High School has become a strong local partner of ours to
pioneer highly innovative career initiatives for young people.
"The relationship has become so strong that FHG management have been
invited to speak at major school events. In addition, management and
project team members have been introduced, by the school, to local
'movers and shakers'.
"In short, FHG's overall local profile has been greatly enhanced as a
result of the project - and, now, numerous local schools are anxious to
get involved."
"One unforeseen benefit of the project has been the impact on the staff
involved in developing the youngsters, outside of the project team,"
said Linda Gittings. "Workmen are learning and developing coaching,
teaching and mentoring skills that have resulted in the youngsters
becoming so motivated and enthusiastic that they have asked to work
during school holidays, when they weren't scheduled to do so.
"Moreover, the project has proved to be a highly effective form of
recruitment, since it introduces FHG to four potential new workers each
year.
"And the growth in confidence and capabilities of the eight project
team members has become obvious for all to see," she continued. "As a
result of the project and the experience they have gained from it, the
organisation now has eight individuals who have developed in many
aspects - in terms of skills, experience and character - and are now
considered to have serious management potential."
ENDS
For further information please contact
Media contact: Bob Little Tel + 44 (0)1727 860405; Email:
bob.little@boblittlepr.com
Sales contact: Jenny
Hill Tel + 44 (0)20 8568 1500; Email:
jenny@echelonlearning.co.uk
About Festival
Hosing Group (FHG)
Festival Housing Group (FHG) is the leading provider of affordable
housing and related services in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. It is
focused on delivering high-quality, value for money homes and services
that meet customer expectations. It was established on 31st March 2002,
following the merger of the two well established, Worcestershire-based
organisations: Partnership Housing Group and Spa Housing Group.
FHG, which has offices in Droitwich, Ledbury and Malvern, owns and
manages 8,000 properties and provides a wide range of other housing,
property and care services. It provides efficient and cost-effective
services to a range of member organisations. The following
organisations are part of Festival Housing Group:
About Echelon Publishing
Echelon technologies help organisations place solutions at people's
fingertips, whether solving everyday business and work-related problems
or helping gain qualifications and continued professional development.
Echelon:
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Has a content management system
enabling informational or learning material to be developed or
converted into XML so that it can be published and distributed in text
and/or via the web.
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Has a learning management system
to provide ready access via the web to highly structured information,
which is easily searched and retrieved, and whose usage can be tracked
and learning logged.
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Publishes and/or reformats
content for professional bodies and commercial organisations to help
students and employees maintain or develop requisite skills throughout
their careers.
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Supports people from the outset
of their careers in working with professional bodies to develop and
deliver the learning content required by students in preparing for
examination.
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Frees up the knowledge and
learning contained within a business so that people have ready access
to these resources in helping them to solve problems or develop their
careers.
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Works with a number of blue chip
organisations and professional bodies, including:
COMMERCIAL
BUPA
Coventry Building Society
Lincoln Financial
Moat House Hotels
Modernisation Agency (NHS)
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
NHS Logistics
Vodafone
INSTITUTIONAL
Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development
Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants
Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply
Construction Industry Training Board
Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators
Institute of Chartered Accountants in E & W
Institute of Civil Engineers
Royal Town Planning Institute
