What do 15 Partners, Associates and Managers, 2 Training Consultants and a corporate hospitality box at Pride Park stadium have in common? Well, it’s the Timms Pathway to Partnership Employee Engagement programme and the HR element facilitated by Sarah Loates and Annie Litchfield of Loates HR Training Consultancy!
10 aspiring Partners and 5 existing ones all keen to learn what their roles as managers should be to engage their teams arrived at the impressive location. Apologies to any Forest and County fans out there, as it was all about the Rams!
After working in collaboration with Karen Tyers, the HR Manager at Timms, Sarah and Annie had designed the course so that it was interactive and engaging from the outset. A professional presentation gave the structure to group and individual exercises, discussions and role plays. The day kicked off with an energiser, three things that teams of three had in common. The Timms team here demonstrated their diversity here with some interesting insights here. Who knew the commercial team had a penchant for humous!
With our stick person up on the wall, the Timms team were asked to write and draw what an engaged employee does and says; what do they do that shows they are committed to their work and the Company? How do they show up? The team then considered the relationship to results pyramid, and did they have relationships big enough to get the job done? There was even the opportunity to make an onion or lemon ‘more beautiful’ as part of the objective setting exercise (don’t ask!). Which also involved Kinder Eggs too.
A whole day of training can sometimes be a daunting prospect however in the afternoon one delegate commented that the day had ‘flown by’ – there had been no time for the usual post lunch slump with the ongoing exercises and group work. The continuous supply of Haribo and chocolate to give that hit of sugar, probably helped too! But it was the overall team spirit that carried the Timms team through to the end, where they demonstrated their courageous conversations with aplomb and dealt with Lazy Luke and his challenging behaviours.
By the end of the day the group had discussed relationships, objective setting and courageous conversations. All highlighting what managers need to do to keep their employees engaged in the workplace. With the use of their reflective logs, the Timms team were encouraged to make real, actionable objectives of what they could do differently back in the workplace.
Fiona Moffat Managing Partner commented “I just wanted to say thank you to Sarah and Annie for a great training session yesterday for Timms solicitors partners, associates and the management team. We thoroughly enjoyed the session and the energy in the room was brilliant. I have learnt a great deal about my team and they have learnt about themselves and how to manage their behaviour in the office and gain respect from the staff. I must say I was very proud of the way they all engaged and the contributions they made. Thankyou so much for bringing out the best in us”
We look forward to hearing all the great progress everyone has made and whether the onions and lemons made a difference to the objective setting!