In October 2014 family construction company Robert Woodhead Ltd was awarded £187,000 from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) to deliver its ‘Good to Gold’ training programme to small businesses in its supply chain.
This formed part of UKCES’ £1m investment in seven pilot projects across the country, all aimed at developing innovative ways of boosting leadership and management skills in UK businesses.
Woodhead was the only small to medium sized business awarded the funding, and has been determined to share its expertise and access to training facilities with other local firms.
The construction-industry specific Business Leadership and Management Support programme has been taken up by nearly 100 of Woodhead’s supply chain, including businesses from one-man-bands to subcontractors of a much greater size.
Workshops have focused on effective management and leadership practices, business planning, culture and values, so far with fantastic feedback from a range of companies.
Paul Gedney of mechanical and electrical contractors, RJ Wilson, said: “We really are the perfect fit for the Good to Gold programme. At this point in our business we are continuing to grow, after seeing our staffing numbers practically double in the past five years.
“Workshops have been addressing so many of the challenges we’ve been facing as a growing business, and have inspired me to get back to the office and put things into practice. I can’t speak highly enough of this programme, and I hope it’s having the same positive impact on the other businesses taking part.”
The programme has been delivered over a nine month period, with the company hosting 24 workshops at its head office in Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire.
David Woodhead, Managing Director of Woodhead, said: “We applied for the funding to deliver our Good to Gold programme so we could share training and development opportunities with our supply chain partners. We believe helping them to further develop and grow with us will in turn make building a better experience for all.”
“The feedback we’ve had so far has been very positive.”