Award Shortlisting

Toojays are delighted to have been shortlisted in the Training Journal Awards 2009 for the " Best Externally Developed and Delivered Programme " category.

The TJ Awards is an opportunity for organisations and individuals to receive recognition for outstanding learning and development interventions.

The 4th annual Conference and Awards hosted by TJ, the UK’s leading magazine for training and learning professionals, will take place at The Commonwealth Club in Northumberland
Avenue, London on Tuesday 23rd June, 2009.

Toojays recognition is for the Foundation Management Training Programme delivered for Ideal Shopping Direct PLC. The 12 month modular programme delivered a structured, interactive management development workshop programme to over 100 middle and senior managers at the company.

A Training Journal spokesperson explained that there were over 50 applications for this particular category from a variety of national training providers and that Toojays had been shortlisted to the final 6.

We await to hear on the 23rd June whether Toojays wins the category!

More Team Development with John Lewis

Following on from the DM Group Team Event last September, it was the turn of John Lewis' Sales Managers to attend a Team Development workshop. The two day event was held at Orton Hall Hotel and continued focusing on a High Performing Team culture.

The group covered teamwork, communication, ownership, self development and self awareness, all the time linking these back to working practices within the branch.

The senior managers were put through their paces in a series of outdoor experiential challenges, further embedding behaviours needed to achieve their goal. A series of group discussions rounded off the event with agreed actions put in place to apply learning and inspire partners.

Video challenge for IT Team

Team Building was the theme of a recent half day event for Norwich & Peterborough Building Society. The individuals attending were from the Project Management and Quality Assurance team forming part of the IT department.

With new team members coming onboard, the event was organised to give the team members a chance to get to know each other better whilst at the same time recognising their hard work over the past 12 months.

The event combined a number of interactive team activities, including a seasonal Christmas quiz, and culminated in a video challenge set to each group.

The feedback from the group was extremely positive with some delegates remarking that it was one of the most enjoyable team events that had been held.

Trainers get trained

The tables were recently turned when Toojays trainers became the trainees on an Emergency First Response course.

The one day course covered Primary and Secondary Care and how to apply first responder care following the same priorities used by medical professionals.

Each participant was put through their paces with simulated accident scenarios, workbook theory and a final exam to gain their certification.

Both valuable and engaging, the course not only gave the trainers the steps and techniques for handling life-threatening emergencies but the confidence to use these should the need ever arise.

Bringing Team Learning to Wembley with Bluecycle

Further to Bluecycle's Senior Management session in August, it was the turn of the managers' individual teams to attend their own L&D event.

Assisted by Toojays, Grow Associates Ltd delivered a two day team development event to the London based client at Wembly Stadium.

The sessions focused on the behaviours required to drive the business forward, using experiental activities to draw out this learning. The highly interactive tasks identified team competencies and underlined this learning to give real, tangible benefit to those participating.

The feedback from the two days was very positive with the delegates eager to apply this directly back into business. And with that, both the senior managers and their teams at Bluecycle are now set on course to put their new found knowledge into practice.

Project Management workshop with Scottish & Newcastle

Toojays recently met up with Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprise Projects Managers to deliver their Project Management workshop. The two day event, held at the Hilton Edinburgh, focused on developing the group's interpersonal skills. Also in attendance from Scottish & Newcastle were Peter Moore, Manager of Pub Acquisition Team and Verity Gale, UK Training & Development Manager.

Both interactive and challenging, the event fully engaged the Projects Managers who remarked on the value of the discussions. Areas targeted during the sessions included effective communication, influencing skills, conflict management and time management. The group went away with an increased awareness in these areas and commented on the benefits of the learning that would better equip them for the future.

On-site Training with Toojays

Toojays is pleased to announce that it now has its very own fully equipped on-site training venue, available to hire for training courses, meetings, seminars and conferences.

The large, spacious room can accommodate up to 20 delegates and benefits from natural daylight. Use of the venue also includes audio visual equipment, free wifi access, ample on-site parking and easy access from the major railway and motorway links.

Outside catering can be arranged if required and there are in-room tea/coffee facilities for self service.

Quality Award for Toojays

Following an assessment by an independent body, Toojays has been awarded ISO 9001 certification. This certification has only been achieved by about 5% of UK businesses and this prestigious award is supported by the Government and recognised world-wide.

Staurt Clark, who undertook the assessment for QMS Quality Management Systems, paid particular tribute to "the investment in people and training that enables Toojays Training & HR Consultancy Ltd to provide an efficient service to their customers."

Ideal Shopping Direct Final Presentations

With Ideal Shopping Direct's Foundation Programme 2008 nearing its final months, groups 3A and 4A recently delivered their Final Presentations to the Executive Team.

Each group gave a 30 minute presentation summarising the tangible and valuable key learning gained over the past 6 months and how it was being directly applied back into the workplace.

The presentations spoke of the successes in achieving the objectives outlined at the beginning of the programme and, in particular, the participants' enjoyment of the individual courses.

With such positive response, both Toojays and Ideal Shopping Direct are looking forward with great interest towards the 2009 Programme and the benefits that it will bring.

Team Development with John Lewis

Continuing with their Team Development programme, John Lewis' management team met up with Toojays for a one day event at Orton Hall, Peterborough.

This time both the Steering Group and the Departmental Managers attended, further to their own separate events held earlier this year.

The day's objectives were to further underline the learning behaviours needed for a High Performing Team culture, engage new team members and to maintain the momentum of the valuable learning gained so far.

A series of outdoor experiential team challenges served to embed this teaching and a final review at the end of the day allowed the group to reflect on their key learning and to present their agreed onward actions.

3 days in Eastbourne with HMD

Toojays were in Eastbourne last week to deliver a number of courses to HMD Kontro, international manufacturers of sealess pumps. The courses centred on skill development workshops to address Project Management and Introduction to Supervision.

Toojays supported HR Manager Cressida Roberts with the staff development in a series of intense workshops centring on interactive exercises, supported by workbook learning. At the end of the sessions, the positive feedback from the attendees demonstrated their enjoyment of a demanding course that provided valuable learning they could apply directly back into the workplace.

Valuable team building for the Treasury

Toojays was recently in Norwich to facilitate a Team Development course for the Government Procurement Skills team, headed by Director Kavalneer Walia. The team is part of the HM Treasury and has offices located in Norwich and London.

The objective of the session was to help the team review their current dynamic, and identify their development journey in order to continue to be a high performing team. The session combined a mixture of facilitated discussion and theory, and the group was set an interactive competency activity to assess their behaviour as a team.

Positive feedback from the group centred on how much they enjoyed the event, whch enabled them to establish clear objectives and actions to work on in the future.

Summer fun with Ideal Shopping Direct

Once again, it was time for Ideal Shopping Direct's annual Summer Party. With something for everyone, the emphasis was on FUN!

An array of activities included Human Table Football, Sumo Wrestling, Laser Clays and Velcro Olympics, providing much amusement for adults and children alike.

There were also the usual fairground attractions of dodgems, children entertainers and a bouncy castle, although the main attraction of the day centred on the ever popular It's-a-knockout event which involved lots and lots of foam.

All in all, a great day out full of fun and laughter with everyone looking forward to next year's!

Toojays Support Grow Associates Ltd

The month of August saw Toojays providing associate support to Grow Associates Ltd with one of their major clients based in London.

Bluecycle are the UK's leading online salvage marketplace and with the help of Toojays, Grow Associates Ltd delivered a development session to its senior management team over the course of two days.

The session was spent reviewing the behaviours required for high performance and the traits they demonstrated. Both days were challenging, and incorporated a number of interactive exercises that, although intense, were still very much enjoyable.

The course enabled the senior managers to identify these key behaviours and the subsequent actions needed to take their teams forward. With this insight, it set them in the perfect position to roll this out to their own individual teams later on in the year so that the whole company would benefit from this learning.

Dublin bound with Misys

Further to Toojays visit to the Big Apple earlier this year, once again they headed to the airport, this time Dublin bound to continue with their ongoing working relationship with Misys.


Lee Martin, Managing Director of Toojays, met up with Des Hare, Head of Major Accounts, to take the Misys team through the SDI process. The one day course gave the delegates a valuable and informative insight as to their movation under two kinds of conditions: when things are going well and when conflict comes to the forefront.


Through a combination of theory and a practical inventory, the delegates determined their strengths under these conditions with their results plotted on a visual triangle to underline this learning.

There was much positive feedback from the team who not only enjoyed the course content, but also found it to be highly useful in analysing their key stakeholder relationships. With this new awareness, they were able to consider how to improve these relationships by relating to people through the understanding of their motivations.

Solicitors on Time

Toojays is delighted to be able to add Greenwoods Solicitors to its client portfolio.

The Peterborough based firm is reviewing it offering of internal soft skills courses to staff and Toojays were invited to asssit with these.

Rosemary Gearing, Personnel Manager at Greenwoods put together a programme of development courses which Toojays were invited to deliver.

This week saw the start of that process with a half day workshop on Time Management held at the Solicitors city centre offices.

'The feedback has been excellent' and we hope to continue to support Rosemary and Greenwoods as they offer further courses to their staff.

Sales Team Development

The Sales Team at Peterborough based Veterinary Business Development Ltd recently took time out to develop and review their effectiveness.

Working with Toojays at Flag Fen, the High Performing Team Development Workshop focused on their current dynamic by looking at the traits of HPT's, their own motivational drivers, the teams strengths and areas for improvement.

The event was a combination of classroom theory with facilitated discussion and experiencial activities to give opportunity to explore the behaviours needed from the team to achieve and sustain HPT status.

The group commented that whilst an intense day it had been very worthwhile with plenty of learning and actions to take away!

Ancient site for development

Toojays have formed a partnership with Flag Fen Archaeology Park in Peterborough to provide Team Development activities.

Lee Martin, MD of Toojays commented "We're delighted to be able to offer Management and Team Development training to our clients here at Flag Fen. There is no other specific designated site within Peterborough that enables the outdoor learning and experiential development that we can provide here at Flag Fen.

Historically we've had to take our clients over to our other partnered sites in Norwich and Windsor. By establishing a venue here we can service local clients and give all our development events a unique experience at a superb venue that has a great natural and historic background."

Sharon Shortland, Flag Fen General Manager – commented “Toojays has shown itself to be a thoroughly professional organisation delivering high quality training. We are very happy to offer this unique venue and to work in association with Lee and his team.”

Lake side Learning

Scottish & Newcastle UK Ltd, Commercial team spent 3 days in the Lake District team building with the aid of Toojays.

The group staying in a self catering cottage in Pooley Bridge, Ullswater were facilitated by MD Lee Martin and Mike Snelling.

Having explored the group dynamics and behavioural strengths through a combination of theory and feedback the team went on to apply their self awareness to a number of practical challenges which served to highten and draw out their key learning.

Relating their experiences back to the practicalities of the workplace was critical commented Team Leader Mark Ellis.

Probation Evaluation

Toojays HR Consultant Sharn Crane and MD Lee Martin spent a week delivering Job Analysis and Evaluation workshops for the Eastern Regions of the National Probation Service.

The workshops were held in Norwich, Huntingdon and Witham and provided attendees with an indepth and practical insight into the Services Evaluation scheme.

With practical exercises and facilitated discussions the roles of Analysist and Panel Member were fully explained and clarified.

The sessions were well received with one attendee commenting "At first there was fog, then mist and now I'm completely clear on the roles and process!! Thank you"

Further workshops are planned for Humberside Probation later this month.