Highland Challenge at Games

Aberdeen's Highland Games celebrated its 50th year at the 2010 games. The event took place in the Games Field at Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen Scotland on 20th June 2010 and Toojays were there supporting the event.

The Games are an integral part of the Grampian Games circuit and delivered under the auspices of the Scottish Games Association.

Toojays were asked to provide a special Father's Day event in the form of our Segway Challenge.

A specially adapted circuit was created for the two Segway units to race around and after some training and practice time the competitors were allowed on the track!

The free activity was support by fathers young and old and a great time was had by all.

For more details on this and other event activities call our office on 01733 367210.

Team Building with John Lewis

Toojays were on hand to support John Lewis Kingston with their Steering Group and Departmental Development Event held this month.

The focus of the event was to help the team develop their leadership skills to enable them to be a high performing team.

Functions of a successful team were explored with the Lencioni Team Triangle and further embedded with a series of outdoor experiential activities, designed to underline best practices for team working.

Delegates were split into teams and put through their paces by the Toojays team.

Tony Wheeler, Branch Manager, commented on the high value the event added to the team's self awareness and how the learning is already being actively applied back into the working environment.

New Toojays podcast out now!

Consultative Selling - what is it?

In the latest addition to the Toojays podcast titles, we look at consultative selling. You may have come across this term many times before but what exactly is it and how can it help you to fulfil your clients' needs time and time again?

Martyn Moore talks to Lee Martin and Emma Wakeling of Toojays Training & HR Consultancy Ltd to find out more and to understand what makes consultative selling such a successful client relationship tool.

INVITATION TO JOIN OUR FREE WEBINAR TASTER SESSION

Here at Toojays we have a variety of learning and development solutions some of which you may already have experienced.

However, in response to your requests to provide cost effective, flexible L&D we are developing our online learning solutions in order to complete the missing piece to our product range.

We’d like to showcase to you the capabilities of our services and how this could drastically impact upon your training costs – saving you time and money!!!

· Our webinars offer a low cost, bite size and time efficient business management training options with high quality professional training.

· Our distance learning courses and seminars can be accessed from any computer with internet access, eliminating the need to take time out of the office and to incur expensive delegate travel costs.

· Our cyber coaching enables fully interactive coaching and development without the expense of associated travel.

Got 15 minutes to spare?

Then we’d welcome the opportunity to show you the benefits for yourself.

WHAT DO I NEED?

If you can view a webpage we can webinar with you. No need to download additional software – all you need is a web browser.

HOW DO I COMMUNICATE?

For best results if you’ve got a headset with microphone you’ll be able to fully interact. No microphone? Don’t worry if you’ve speakers you’ll still be able to interact via chat box!

DO I NEED TO REGISTAR?

No need. Simply chose the date and time of the taster session you’d like to sign into and then use this link to access the webinar http://my.dimdim.com/toojays/ – it’s that simple.

WHEN ARE THE TASTER SESSIONS?

We’re holding short taster sessions on the following dates and times:

6th April 8.30AM (GMT) and 16th April 12.00 Mid Day (GMT)

Those dates not good for you? Let us know and we can arrange a time and date suitable for you.

We hope to see you online soon and to help make your training budget go even further!

Heineken IGP - January workshop

A rather chilly Amsterdam was the venue for the first of three workshops in Heineken's International Graduate Programme.

12 international graduates from the 2009/2010 intake took part in the three day event last month to develop and further understand key aspects of their roles within the organisation.

Both interactive and challenging, the workshop focused on valuable learning tools such as the SDI theory and model, as well as focusing on project & performance management and effective communication.

Internal guest speakers put in appearences and the graduates also produced a series of individual video presentations.

Feedback from the group was extremely positive and the graduates went away with an increased awareness of personal effectiveness and its links into Heineken's Leadership Competencies.

End of Year Review

MD Lee Martin lets us know how it was for him during a testing year for L&D. Read Lee's featured comments in Training Journal's end of year review article.

http://www.toojays.co.uk/gfx/media/TJ_Dec_2009_p21-24[1].pdf

Toojays - Award Winning Training Providers!

Toojays' 12 month Management Foundation Programme, developed and delivered to Ideal Shopping Direct plc (ISD), has won an award at the prestigious National Training Awards held last month in London.

Companies and individuals gathered on 13th October 2009 at BAFTA, Piccadilly to find out the winner of this year's Broadcast Awards - the only sector-specific accolade within the acclaimed National Training Awards.

The ceremony celebrated the achievements of those organisations which have made an outstanding contribution and commitment to training in the workplace. Now in its third year, the Broadcast Industry Training Award is fast becoming a coveted award for the HR and Learning & Development community across all sectors of the broadcast industry.

Eight nominations were reduced to five finalists. Toojays and ISD beat off competition from ITV, BBC, QVC and Sky to win their award in recognition of the Foundation Management Training Programme delivered by Toojays to ISD. The year long modular programme delivered a series of structured, interactive management development workshops to over 100 middle and senior managers at the organisation.

The ceremony was hosted by radio and TV favourite, Maggie Philbin, with the awards themselves being presented by Baroness Helena Kennedy, one of Britain's leading lawyers.

The awards are organised by the partnership of Skillset, Ofcom and the BTSR in conjunction with UK Skills and the National Training Awards. They have been judged by a panel of independent experts, most of whom have significant experience of the broadcast industry.

See highlights of the National Training Awards 2009 for the Broadcast Industry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pJfwYjJgGk

Management Development with HFHP

Seven members of the Hammersmith & Fulham Homecare Partnership (HFHP) recently attended a two day module session relating to their ongoing management development programme. The two day sessions focused on Introduction to Leglislation and Human Resource Management. The group took part in interactive discussions, case studies and scenarios designed to embed the programme content.

Team Building with Avon

Further to the success of July's Team Event for Avon, Toojays were on hand to deliver a follow up team session. The event focused on what had happened since the initial Team Event, looking at how things had improved, what had gone well and what hadn't gone so well.

The facilitated group discussions recapped specific behaviours and business actions needed in order to address issues as well as sustaining achievements. Individual groups put together action plans to achieve the desired state which were then presented to each other.

New Toojays Podcast Titles Available Now!

Toojays have introduced a further 8 brand new titles to their range of management development podcasts. Titles include Dealing with Conflict, Principles of Coaching and Women in Leadership. Simply click on the Products section of their website and listen to one right now!

Team Leading with Norfolk County Council

80 staff from the Adult Learning Service department of Norfolk County Council recently attended a series of Team Leading workshops to develop their supervisory skills.

The workshops were held over 12 days at various locations in Norfolk. The sessions focused on the Performance Management process and key managerial skills.

The groups participated in facilitated discussions and exercises, looking at primary management tools, Managing People, employee motivation and Change Management.

Avon Team Event

50 Avon staff took part in a one day Team Event held at their headquarters in Northampton. The aim of the event was to underline a High Performing Team culture and its associated benefits.

The morning was spent looking at explanation of best practice and theory of a High Performing Team, and examined the principle behind the Lencioni Triangle. Groups carried out facilitated discussions and explored the Current State vs Future State.

After lunch, the team moved outdoors to participate in a series of interactive, experiential activities, designed to embed this learning and draw out desired team behaviours.

The day was enjoyed by all and positive feedback following the event confirmed that the team now felt that they were all moving forward in the same direction.

Successful Delegation podcast - now available!

Delegation is a vital tool to help your business perform successfully and accomplish goals as a work unit, not as individuals. It gives employees and managers opportunities to develop in their careers.

Simply visit the Products section of our website to download this podcast for free. Listen to our Successful Delegation checklist and see how you can breathe more easily about taking a break.

New! Online ILM Accredited Courses now available at Toojays

Toojays is now offering online ILM accredited courses to develop today's leaders and managers. A wide range of programmes are covered and delivered through the HRD Online System. Have complete control over how your learning fits in with your life and access everything you need from your computer - no more travelling required!

The online system is a cost effective and flexible way of learning. Individuals are free to set their own pace of learning that suits them best and fits in with their working hours. Not only that, all learners have the reassurance of expert coaching and facilitation on hand if required.

With potential funding available, it's a unique and successful method of learning for any busy manager in today's business environment.

For further details, visit the Training & Development section on our website or contact us on 01733 367210.

Free Bite Size Webinar - CV Writing

If you are facing redundancy or just looking for a new job, getting another position as soon as possible is likely to be your top priority. But if you’re finding it difficult to take that first step it may be that you are lacking the confidence to start again. And that’s not surprising. For many of you it will have been a long time since you wrote a CV and this may be a daunting task.

Toojays now offer a range of bite size webinars. The first of which, CV Writing, will give you insight to the key aspects of a great CV. Giving you practical advice on:

· Understand the role of the CV
· What recruiters want
· How to style your CV
· What to include & what not!
· The need to tailor…and how to.

Delivered by Lee Martin, MD of Toojays Training & HR Consultancy. Lee is an experienced HR professional with over 20 years of working on recruiting panels, interviewing and reviewing candidates applications. His practical insight to the processes that HR departments and recruiters apply is invaluable to anyone looking to submit a CV or job application.

For details of how to obtain the FREE 30min webinar contact us requesting the link.

New! Toojays podcasts now available

Toojays now has a range of podcast titles covering topical issues affecting companies today. Visit the Products section of our website to see which titles are available for you to download now. Further titles will be added in the near future so keep your eyes open for these.

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.