Impact's vision is to be a great place to work, to be the best experiential learning provider on the planet and to be a model of sustainable enterprise. Being benchmarked in the marketplace as a Best Company to Work For is positive proof that they are working effectively together to make their vision reality and they are all incredibly proud of this achievement. At Impact they love to celebrate success. They have been lucky enough to be placed in the Times Top 100 List since 2005 and have attended every awards dinner. They know that their people are key to making Impact the best company to work for (even if we aren't placed number one!) To say thank you to their people they offer a number of places at the dinner to the entire organisation. They have awarded places to people who are nominated by colleagues for outstanding work, or simply by putting names in the hat. This approach is very popular with their employees as it recognises that their people have all paid a part in our success.

Due to the nature of their business many of their people work away from home, so to balance this, Impact extend social event invitations to partners/families wherever possible. Employees organise all social events, with time for organising and attending daytime events, given during work hours. In so many words they can't tell you all about their Christmas Party, the Impact Kids Christmas Party, complete with a visit from their Santa/CEO!, weekly Friday lunches, Silver Screw award or the End of Financial Year lunch but they can tell you about their Family Fun Day and Quadrathlon, reflecting the fun and inclusiveness of their social events. Their summer event is scheduled in the school holidays and they close the office for the afternoon to maximise attendance. Activities include bouncy castle, traditional games, crafts, a homemade piñata, canoeing and speedboat rides. Their CEO cooks a BBQ lunch and Impact Aid, their internal fundraising team, hosted a Great Impact Bake Off to raise money for their chosen charities. Their Quadrathlon is a four-part triathlon, including a lake-swim, cross-country run, mountain bike and canoe course. The course was designed and marshalled by their staff within their own hotel grounds. The competition was not just about fastest times, but also about the best fancy-dress outfits. Whilst there are small cash prizes the ultimate goal is personal glory!

IGD provides a freshly prepared two course lunch which is fully subsidised. This is a great benefit to all staff and is a great opportunity to encourage healthy eating. During the year different campaigns have been run highlighting the value of low salt diets, 5 a day and diets low in saturated fats. These activities are run in conjunction with careful menu planning demonstrating different food choices. During saturated fat awareness week all colleagues were offered the opportunity to have their blood pressure checked.

Hospice Isle of Man views learning and development as a vital part of its service provision. A life – limiting illness affects the body, the mind, the spirit, the social wellbeing, the family, and the care team. They strive to improve the skills, knowledge and attitudes of staff in all of these areas through the commitment to the theory of lifelong learning for all and work to continuously improve the quality of the services they provide. As well as providing courses internally for their staff and volunteers, they aspire to fulfil palliative care learning needs of those working in other health care settings. All staff have appraisals and this is an opportunity for them to identify training needs. Nursing staff have been supported to undertake degree qualification so that they have same qualification as new graduate nurses. This gives them the opportunity to apply for more senior positions when they arise. Everyone is actively encouraged to attend training in-house and elsewhere, they run communication skills courses, workshops related to palliative care and feedback sessions from international conferences as well as bespoke management training and mindfulness courses. This year staff have completed certificate in education, leadership and management courses, masters, counselling courses, advanced symptom management courses, palliative care conferences as well as fundraising and volunteering conferences in the UK.

Hospice Isle of Man views learning and development as a vital part of its service provision. A life – limiting illness affects the body, the mind, the spirit, the social wellbeing, the family, and the care team. They strive to improve the skills, knowledge and attitudes of staff in all of these areas through the commitment to the theory of lifelong learning for all and work to continuously improve the quality of the services they provide. As well as providing courses internally for their staff and volunteers, they aspire to fulfil palliative care learning needs of those working in other health care settings. All staff have appraisals and this is an opportunity for them to identify training needs. Nursing staff have been supported to undertake degree qualification so that they have same qualification as new graduate nurses. This gives them the opportunity to apply for more senior positions when they arise. Everyone is actively encouraged to attend training in-house and elsewhere, they run communication skills courses, workshops related to palliative care and feedback sessions from international conferences as well as bespoke management training and mindfulness courses. This year staff have completed certificate in education, leadership and management courses, masters, counselling courses, advanced symptom management courses, palliative care conferences as well as fundraising and volunteering conferences in the UK.

Managers are given simple to use performance setting template and guidelines to take their teams through. Each of the leadership team go through the business objectives at the start of the year to enable them to intergrate them into their planning for the year. Managers attend regular leadership away days to understand where the business is going and what is needed to get there. Each business area and region have their own deciaded HR teams that work with them through out the year to plan. Some departments have quartlerly people surveys to sense check where they are in terms of plans. With the help of the HR team managers are given guidelines and help to conduct team plans, including succession planning. The exec have set out their stall in terms of what they expect from their management team and have worked together to bring it to life.

Managers are given simple to use performance setting template and guidelines to take their teams through. Each of the leadership team go through the business objectives at the start of the year to enable them to intergrate them into their planning for the year. Managers attend regular leadership away days to understand where the business is going and what is needed to get there. Each business area and region have their own deciaded HR teams that work with them through out the year to plan. Some departments have quartlerly people surveys to sense check where they are in terms of plans. With the help of the HR team managers are given guidelines and help to conduct team plans, including succession planning. The exec have set out their stall in terms of what they expect from their management team and have worked together to bring it to life.

Harrier LLC have over the past 2 years delivered a 95% reduction in landfill waste and whilst this has increased employment through the management of the project it has also saved the business over 100k and has been recognised in a recent national award by DS Smith .

Harrier created a voucher system for outstanding achievements; this includes the "Employee of the month awards" and is delivered with all staff in attendance on a monthly basis; this not only includes the EOM but any other voucher awards made for special one off acheivements. This is then presented on the notice boards, intranet and newsletter.

The Green Room's most recent team building event took place at their last Vision Day. It involved splitting the teams in cross-functional groups and setting them a task which incorporated elements of each of their roles whilst encapsulating creativity (the focus of our business) at it's core. The aim of the session was: *Embed some of the key themes shared in the morning sessions * Encourage team members to 'think freely' and come up with initiatives that could positively impact the business * bring the teams closer together * enhance individuals' understanding of one another's roles in the business and how to work with one another's strengths to maximise results across the board * develop some competitive spirit in a fun way * Encourage teams to look at issues and opportunties for the business and come up with new solutions & initiatives The event was a complete success in terms of bringing the teams closer together and enhancing understanding and overall working relationships.

Line managers are charged with continuing to reinforce including making the link between each employees personal objectives with those of the business in order that all can see their role in delivering the business ambition. Creating a culture of openess where all are encouraged to express their views - in 121's, small groups/teams, functional and all employee sessions. Mechanisms to name the "elephant in the room" so that all conversations are transparent no matter how uncomfortable they might be. Constant ongoing training/workshops; recognition through peers twice yearly Special Achievement Awards, leaders, Breakfast Club, emails, thank you, functional sessions, line manager thank you, performance rating, feedback etc . Coaches/trains line managers re role/expectations; Encourage work/life balance policies/communications.

They give their colleagues extra holidays over the Christmas period in addition to their allocation with plenty of prior notice so they have more time to spend with their families, this is a thank you for their hard work over what is a particularly busy time for their business from September - October. They have done this for the last 4 years. Feedback has shown them that this is very much appreciated.

They give their colleagues extra holidays over the Christmas period in addition to their allocation with plenty of prior notice so they have more time to spend with their families, this is a thank you for their hard work over what is a particularly busy time for their business from September - October. They have done this for the last 4 years. Feedback has shown them that this is very much appreciated.

A key element of Foot Anstey's strategy is to support the development of their lawyers as business advisors. This requires lawyers to develop broader skill sets alongside their pure technical capability to help them build effective business relationships and show insight with their clients. Foot Anstey have been working with their Partners and Associates on a varied and interactive programme of development activities to support this. The spirit has been to give their people an ‘exceptional' and different learning experience. Highlights have included: - Engaging with a major Business school to run facilitated group discussion sessions based on three ‘transformational change' case studies. This provoked discussion and debate as well as awareness of the impact of change. - Business Games scenario – the Associates worked in teams on a business board game scenario. Each group acted as ‘business owners' running a business with suppliers, customers, stock etc. and different scenarios based on the complete financial life cycle of running a business. There was healthy competition between the teams to see who could be most daring and entrepreneurial as well as successful in business and lots of practical learning too. Feedback from these activities has been very positive with high levels of engagement and participation. Foot Ansty are building on this further in 2014 by offering a one day MBA programme for Partners. All these activities have been using a different and interesting approach to developing key skills for the future and aligning these with the Firm's own strategy.

Fesitval Housing run Modern Apprenticeship programmes taking young people from the age of 16+. They progress learners through to Level 3 qualifications. On completion they can continue to develop through undertaking Btec, NVQ, HNC, HND and Professional qualifications. Support is available for all staff to undertake a recognised Vocational, Professional or academic qualifications, 90 % of roles have a specific qualification linked to them e.g. Housing Officers relevant qualification is Chartered Institute of Housing Level 4. Such courses are supported 100% financially. Festival Housing currently offer professional traineeship in HR and Finance with a view to expand to other areas of the organisation. Qualifications are offered via day, block release at college and distance learning. They work closely with local University, other housing associations providing bespoke level 5 Leadership and Management qualifications. They offer development through the delivery of learning activities including e-learning, course attendance external, bespoke in house courses, reading, forums, workshops and conferences. In house courses run with a mix of external and internal trainers. Year 2012 to 2013 Festival carried 3196 training days. This equates to an average of 6.9 training days per member of staff. Vacancies which are identified as key roles can be offered as secondment opportunities of up to 1 year's duration. This allows staff to experience different roles within the organisation. Work experience is available to people looking to change careers or re-join the world place. They work closely with schools and colleges to offer students work experience opportunities.

To lead well, it is necessary to understand what you are leading. Fetival's Chief Executive, Guy Weston knows their business thoroughly, has the widest possible overview and understanding of the industry and the external factors influencing it, but he also knows his staff members by name and speaks to them all in the same way and understands what areas of the business they are most concerned with. The door of his office is always open and they often see him on the office floor or out and about at the depots and other offices. He presents the BreakFest Briefs, tells everyone about his holidays and asks about everyone else. Everyone knows about his football team and he joshes about everyone else's. However, when he's doing business he's completely focused, fair and a good listener. He knows his stuff and when he doesn't have enough information he asks for it before making a judgement. When there are awards to be given, thanks to be made and acknowledgement of excellent work and dedication to Festival and their clients, Guy is there to thank staff personally and he does not quickly forget those achievements. Figures of authority will always find themselves in the firing line for making decisions about contentious issues, but if every member of staff feels that they can express their opinion about that decision directly to that person then they have done the job fairly. That situation exists here at Festival.