So a very busy day at the office today with lots of improvements to discuss with the team. Quarterly Training Days are always productive and unifying. The highlights of the day can be found below.
We had two new starters at Head Office. Riaz joined us as a new Contract Manager and Nelson joined the Sales Team at WINNS.
Their first day coincided with our quarterly training day and, whilst we were concerned that this might be a baptism by fire, they reassured us that they had enjoyed the day and learnt a lot about the business and the personalities at Head Office.
The day started with an introduction of everyone and was followed by a sales update from Rob, the MD. After 5 minutes of sales updates, I realised I should have asked him to write it down as the list was so long. Excellent news Rob and a well- deserved round of applause.
Keri was up next and went through suggestions for how to improve our staff email before eliciting suggestions from everyone on how we could make our newsletter look more professional. As always, the ideas flowed from everyone and I think Keri has lots to run with. Good luck with that Keri.
I then introduced the new 360 staff appraisals. Everyone reviewed the paperwork and declared it fit for purpose and thankfully, Ryan, the Finance Director agreed to be the first guinea pig to trial the new system. Thanks, Ryan.
After a break, which included the obligatory cakes from the Home Made Bakery in Thorpe Bay, we had a run-through of our sales presentation at Heatherwick on Thursday.
Knowledge gained from my Open University Master Business Course meant we are trialling a new way of presenting and we wanted to get feedback from staff. After the run-through staff were asked to immediately record:
As always, their feedback was open and honest and very helpful. We just hope that there are 12 people at the presentation because everyone remembered something different 😂 We have taken away their suggestions for improvement and will rework our scripts today before the next run through. Everyone liked the new format and hopefully, so will Heatherwick.
We then introduced the final version of the Company GOSPA. As with the creation of all major documents at WINNS, this has been a work in progress and has involved all departments and staffing sections. Everyone read through this final draft and noted any last-minute suggested changes before we take the word Draft away from the beginning and it becomes a working document.
Lunch was a simple affair of sandwiches, crisps and smoothies this time, but still a welcome break.
After lunch, we all agreed on a quarterly target from the GOSPA.
‘To have a positive social media presence that promotes the Company’.
The ensuing mind mapping process had all departments contributing and making tweaks to their practices to incorporate social media aspects. Thankfully, the Back Office volunteered to coordinate this and the Sales Team have agreed to measure the increase in social media engagement to see if our ideas are successful.
This session was followed by Quarterly, Monthly and Weekly Target settings by members of each department culminating in the obligatory personal quarterly targets, which always create the most merriment. However, we know Lou will be pleased as Reuben has promised to encase 3 kitchen cupboards within the next 3 months, a job he has been promising to do for over a year. You’re welcome, Lou.
And finally, we nearly completed the blueprinting of our pre-core service. I have still to write this up neatly, cross the t’s and dot the I’s, before writing up an action plan for all the ‘backstage’ (behind the scenes) activities needed to support our pre-core service.
I know I’m not the only one whose head was throbbing by the time the day was over, but it was a good buzzing. An air of excitement carried through the day that only good teamwork and faith in the future can produce. Being proactive and absorbing new ideas is uplifting and conducive to a state of well being and hopefully, all the ideas put forward will come to fruition.
Well done everyone. Great teamwork.