Turner: Capturing the prize

From a cliff top overlooking Cape Town to the mediaeval splendour of Dubrovnik, our team development activity has been conducted in front of some pretty amazing backdrops. But as often as not it’s come down to a small meeting room, a flipchart and some truly inspiring people. Because when it comes to your human capital, the real prize is helping them to develop their skills and make them better at their jobs – it’s a win-win situation.

Turner Broadcasting System is most famous for its groundbreaking CNN network, and part of a sector where a high level of technological skill is essential for success. But it’s also vital that staff in management positions is fluent in the interpersonal skills that enable them to develop their teams. One of the key elements of any development activity is the appraisal – an opportunity for management and staff to work together to identify opportunities for growth.

Many of our team have a background in the performing arts – particularly theatre and film – which has given all of our work an experiential feel: “learning by doing”. Although based in a tried and tested methodological approach, it is only by putting the theory into practice that participants “own” the process. By using our own “inspiring people” we have helped to shape the appraisal process at Turner. The right communication tools for conducting appraisals do not come naturally to everyone, and a little help is always welcome to ensure that both sides feel involved in the process. Our facilitative approach helps managers at all levels to become more skilled at taking ownership, and our bespoke take on the “train the trainer” module takes the client’s objectives and brings them to life in an energising and engaging manner.

So what does it take to be inspiring in an ordinary room with an ordinary flipchart and an ordinary marker pen? Well, it takes some fairly extraordinary people; people like Michelle White, whose career has taken her from singing for James Bond to being on a different kind of Her Majesty’s Service working as a lead consultant on a massive multi-agency project within the public sector.

Leading on the Government’s landmark ‘Every Child Matters’ agenda by delivering complex national change programmes, encouraging cross-team collaboration and multi-agency working in local authorities, Michelle has facilitated public sector professionals towards commitment and alignment with new organisational goals. This work has been conducted in collaboration with the Department of Children, Schools & Families, the Government Office for London, the Training & Development Agency and the Learning & Skills Council.

Our development work has also paid dividends for the sales forces of some of the biggest B2B names. For Oracle we were able to engineer a programme that resulted in a 500% increase in sales over the same period the previous year. Dubbed the “Croatia Challenge”, participants in this F1-themed campaign qualified for a fantastic trip to Dubrovnik.

So whether you’re looking to dazzle your sales force with a trip abroad or work through some issues with your internal team, we can make it happen for you.