What are companies doing with regards to 'Leadership'

The “Health angels” group is Marketing Sciences Unlimited's health and wellbeing team, who run health assessments several times a year to encourage staff to do a self-assessment and log with the company's EAP online programme. This provides hints and tips about lifestyle, exercise and diet that will impact on people's wellbeing. The team also organises lunchtime walks and tours to get people away from their desk in a social environment. Recently they organised guided tours of Winchester Cathedral and Winchester College. The company have shower facilities that enable staff to cycle to work and exercise at lunch time, with a large number of staff taking advantage of the cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme. They are involved in an annual Creston Cycle Tour and always have volunteers join for all or part of the weekend, supporting or cycling with colleagues from other agencies. They have run mindfulness training, which was well received, and put on weekly yoga or Pilates classes that anyone can join. Marketing Sciences have a large breakout room with kitchen facilities and seating. This leads out to a balcony area and staff are encouraged to have lunch away from their desk and use the communal area to take time out on a daily basis. They have access to training for managing workloads that staff can choose to attend and the company have previously organised an external consultant to talk about mindfulness with staff.

Marketing Sciences have monthly whole service meetings, in addition to regular team and individual meetings, where everyone gets together at the end of the day for drinks and nibbles. Directors and others provide a brief update of what has been happening and what is coming up within the business. As part of this they collect “shout-outs”, where colleagues and clients provide praise for a job well done, which is highlighted at the monthly meetings. They also have quarterly “values awards”, which recognises achievement and anyone who is working in accordance with company values and going the extra mile. The values are communicated and discussed with all staff via one to one meetings, as part of appraisals and on top of this all new joiners are given all information necessary. Meeting rooms are named to reflect the company values. Finally the Managing Director meets all new starters to provide an overview of the company and share the values.

In November 2014 HomeServe launched its ‘2020 leaders' programme. The programme links directly to the 2020 strategy and offers an 18 month development programme to the 200 leaders that manage the front line customer facing teams. The programme is made up of a series of classroom events that develops the knowledge, skills and behaviours to be successful leaders, for example influencing, coaching and performance management. These classroom sessions are coupled with e-learning, action learning sets and work based assignments to embed the learning and measure the success of the programme outputs. Along with this each delegate has received 360 feedback at the start of the programme. In August 2015 HomeServe also began a Succession Planning exercise, which is undertaken every six months to identify key talent and offer appropriate additional development plans. HomeServe measure Managers and Leaders through pre and post skills assessments. Personal Development Reviews have also now shifted to focus on behaviour and development of leadership skills rather than technical. Lastly, the company now have a Leadership competency framework at all management levels.

HomeServe have supported over 150 community groups across the West Midlands. A share of £35k has also been put towards their partnership with Midlands' newspaper, Express & Star, on its ‘Cash For Your Community' initiative for the third year running. Volunteers across the business gave over 1,750 hours of volunteer time for the Sport Relief 2016 campaign, with HomeServe answering a phenomenal 2,369 donation calls and raising over £72,272 on the night. The company's people volunteered 14,000 hours, served 8,300 meals and made 6,900 food supply bags for The Midland Langar Seva Society, a local charity that provides food for the homeless. They have even provided the charity with a van to distribute food donations that HomeServe contribute to weekly from their own site. The company are also working with Career Transition Partnership and Armed forces, for example the company have recently taken on Gas Engineers who have worked with engineers to gain experience, even resulting in a job offer. To provide further opportunities for HomeServe's P&D engineers, a Level 3 Gas Apprenticeship is also available.

Gopher Money try to embrace a 'Relaxed, high pressured' environment. They appreciate this is a contradictory statement but they give their staff the freedom to manage their own day meaning that to an extent they can come and go without having to log in and out expect for health and safety purposes. Anyone feeling stressed can step out and unwind knowing they can work beyond their contracted hours to catch up if they fall behind their target. In essence a lot of the staff class themselves as 'self-employed' meaning the pressure they apply is at their own volition. As a business Gopher Money are always trying to encourage employees to move away from their desk on breaks and lunches and be able to clear their head ready for work. The existing Learning and Development manager works closely with staff in helping them deal with issues both inside and outside of work such as relationships and stress and personal development. This has seen sickness per FTE continue to improve this and the feedback from those who are working with him is very positive.

Before detailing how the organisation supports and develops its managers it is worth noting that 90% of Team Leaders and Managers within Gopher Money have been promoted from the ranks. This in itself is a clear indication of the value and trust that they invest in all their staff. They support the leadership team by ensuring they are involved in all decisions relating to their teams and offering them along with their teams the opportunity to develop themselves. For example, every Team Leader and Manager within the company bar one is currently undertaking at least one qualification. This is indicative of the need to 'Continue to Progress' and is demonstrated from the top of the company to the bottom. Initially this is done via KPI's not just surrounding performance but also quality and how they feel that their managers demonstrate the company values. Initially they discuss this in one to ones where all aspects of their performance is documented and from here they also complete at least 2 employee engagement surveys per annum where staff are given the opportunity to confidentially express how they feel about all aspects of the business including their Manager. Ultimately low attrition rates are one of the best measures as to how Gopher Money managers are performing as statistics show that employees who leave a company have done so principally due to a change in personal circumstances, rather than being dissatisfied with their role or the way they have been managed. This demonstrates that employee's loyalty to Gopher Money begins with how they are supervised, which has been supported in the results of the employee surveys.

Fichtner have a charity committee within the business made up of volunteers that manage all of the company charitable activities each year. The committee meets once a quarter and sets a budget every year, which is then used to support one main charity that is chosen by the employees, plus a number of smaller and more local charities. This year Fichtner are proudly supporting MIND via their local branch, as well as Cancer Research, BHF and a local children's hospice. Several of the engineering staff also actively involve themselves in the STEM projects with local schools and universities and the company have two 'women in engineering' university societies coming to the offices in September for networking and discussions around careers in engineering post qualification.

All Directors are committed to preventing injuries to both employees and also everyone else that Fichtner work with, hence their adopted policy of 'safety in everything we do'. Directors are committed to providing the highest possible quality of service delivery to their client base, commensurate with the expertise and experience that reside within the organisation. The Senior Team acts with integrity in all of their actions and interactions with colleagues, clients, contractors and suppliers. John the MD has an open door policy and will talk to any of the employees at any point during the day without a prior appointment. He drives health and safety behaviour, sits on the health and safety working group, chairs the monthly team leader's meetings and also the Friday weekly staff meetings whenever possible. He makes himself available to everyone and will provide support and guidance with both work and, where appropriate and with HR support, personal issues as well. John also continues to undertake an element of fee paying project work. Overall Fichtner has a flat structure and is not hierarchical in culture.

Employees are encouraged to raise funds for the Company Charity Account. The business sets employees a fundraising target which is then matched pound for pound by the Company. DPD also undertake various community initiatives, including Work Experience Programmes for schools across the country. This consists of students spending a week in various Departments centrally at the Head Office locations and also DPD Depot Network nationwide, where they will learn about aspects of administration to support the Network Depot Operation. The company also undertake an annual “Decorating Challenge” which, via the company Community Policy, allows every employee one paid day per year to work on a local community activity. The company have spent the last seven years decorating a local school. Due to government austerity measures, this school lost its funding for a rebuild, so DPD stepped in and with the support of their employees redecorated the whole of the Business Studies block. Unfortunately in 2016 the school was flooded so the decorating challenge is now focused on the redecoration of A block.

DPD's Senior Management Team supports a number of its strategic initiatives, which demonstrates its commitment to the values of the organisation, with the main two examples being the Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) Programme and the Corporate Induction. The SMT supports CSR through the work that they do with a local school called Phoenix Collegiate. The SMT attend a ‘Dragon's Den' competition where they meet and review students' business plan ideas that they have worked on during the year. The SMT then give marks on different aspects of the business plan and an overall winner is announced. As part of their Induction Programme new starters are invited to meet the SMT at an event called Corporate Induction, where they have the opportunity to discover more about the business. They are introduced to the company's DNA (core values) as well as meeting DPD's CEO, Dwain McDonald. Each member of the SMT delivers a presentation about their function, followed by a Q&A session to give new starters a better understanding of DPD. Dwain also engages with colleagues within the business through the Winter Conference and DPD's annual business communication cascade called DNA. At the Winter Conference, Dwain cascades upcoming strategies for the business. DPD's DNA is an annual cascade of information to all employees within the company. Its objectives are, like the Winter Conference, to communicate business priorities and strategies. Dwain records a number of videos that are played in meetings throughout the business. The message given is always clear, with key points and a focus on the benefits of the message. Dwain also uses the Company Newsletter to engage with staff, as all employees and pensioners receive a copy. As well as all this Dwain's ethos is about getting back to 'grass roots' and he has spent a day in the call centre and he also spent a day with a collection and delivery driver, all so he could experience these roles first hand.

Darwin have developed a fully embedded learning and development culture. Every member of staff is encouraged to learn and develop at every stage of their career, from Trainee Consultant through to Management. The company call this the Darwin Career Academy. They have enlisted the expertise of an external recruitment training and development expert, who delivers the induction training for new consultants, as well as specific modules that help the recruiters to progress and achieve their own career goals. For Darwin's mid-level staff, they have developed a programme called 'Rising Stars'. Each module is delivered in person by Darwin's CEO and co-founder Paul Kirby. Darwin support Central Services functions to obtain bespoke qualifications to their profession and therefore give access to flexible working arrangements to attend ongoing Continuing Professional Development events. Most recently the company have supported Darwin's Systems Analyst to obtain the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate qualification and for a member of the HR Team to obtain the Certificate in Human Resources Practice.

Darwin's CEO Paul sits on the sales floor amongst the consultants, this way he ensures that he is constantly accessible all day every day. Paul's sentiment and commitment is fully reflected in the new Darwin strapline; Collaborate and Evolve. The company collaborate with staff to help them evolve within the business. Every six months Darwin hold “15 minutes with Paul”, which takes place over a number of weeks. During this time, Paul travels around the Darwin offices and meets with every member of the business at every level. Staff are encouraged to speak to Paul about any concerns or questions they have and to offer suggestions for improvements to the working environment and business processes. The ideas and feedback is then shared with the board and Senior Management/operations teams who, in turn, take responsibility for driving through the relevant changes. This proves to staff that Darwin value their feedback.

CNG constantly discuss the business vision. In the POW WOW the directors focus on the vision and how the departments contribute to this. A common focus on this helps to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction and everyone knows how they contribute. On top of these monthly reminders CNG also hold an annual get together in a local hotel where the vision for the year is laid out, this is never a stuffy affair and is always done in the usual fun CNG way! CNG believes in keeping the values and vision at the forefront. To aid this CNG has visual representations of the values around the office, the values are the most important thing at CNG and they underpin everything that they do and every decision that is made, they are the backbone of CNG. The values are a part of the everyday dialogue at CNG. As departments, staff are asked how they feel they have lived and breathed the values and if there were circumstances in which they could have been better embodied through actions. Scores are reviewed by the Senior Leadership, who can then see where they need to start pulling together as a team. A section of each monthly POW WOW is set aside to discuss the company values and a dedicated section on PUP offers a space for people to share their values experiences. Values training in induction and values refreshers are also fundamental parts of everyone's employment journey.

CNG are a new and proud supporter of the Princes Trust. The Senior Leadership have just entered into a three-year partnership with the charity. Currently CNG have recruited and continue to recruit for volunteers to take part in the scheme. Roles are varied from short term roles, centred around a day on specific skills or more long term mentoring roles for which CNG will allow employee volunteers time away from their day role to meet with a young person on a regular basis to provide guidance on achieving goals, searching for jobs and supporting with interview processes. The CNG Charity Committee also come together regularly in conjunction with in-house events team to organise their part in numerous projects. Most recently the team were encouraged to support local charity shops by pairing up and purchasing an outfit for one another to wear in the office. The company have also done charity fund raising for Help the Homeless and Guide Dogs for the Blind. As detailed above the Princes Trust Partnership will provide an opportunity for CNG employees to support people who are struggling in the community to get into employment due to their past. The Works Charity are currently working on a project to build a solar school, this would be a space that would provide young people with a number of practical activities that will form their learning and skills to secure employment in the future. CNG have made an initial investment of £28,000 to the project in order to get the building and creation of the school underway. Volunteers and mentors at the works charity will then be working with young people who have struggled in mainstream education and find difficultly entering employment due to lack of qualifications.

Every single person across Celsian puts the child at the heart of every decision they make and this is within their DNA. As specialists in education recruitment, Celsian have been matching exceptional teachers and support staff with fantastic primary, secondary and SEN schools for more than 20 years. From Southampton to Gateshead, they have branches all over the UK with in-depth local knowledge and specialist insight. For teachers and support staff, they offer unique incentives like their Guaranteed Pay Scheme, Celsian School Heroes and Core Subject Bonus. And for schools, the industry-leading Children and Young People Guarantee offers a quality assurance that the people we place will improve outcomes for your pupils. Celsian are a member of APSCo which means we have been recognised as a recruitment agency you can trust, and have confidence in.

All of Celsian Consultants who are keen to move into management are invited to nominate themselves for the "Leadership Academy" which is a one-year course providing them with the skills and competencies to become leaders in the future. This is an in depth programme which sees people from across the Impellam group brands come together to develop into future leaders and learn about each other's markets to promote cross brand promotions. There are quarterly training sessions to help them achieve their aspirations. Each training day covers the tools that they need as leaders to be job ready for the challenge ahead. Managing Directors from across Impellam attend every session and deliver an informal presentation on themselves, their business and how they achieved their success. The programme culminates in a "Big Idea" project. Delegates are tasked with solving a business issue that will help add value back into their business. They present their ideas to the various Managing Directors across the group and have six months to bring them to life. Previous ideas are still alive in the business and have helped Celsian to save time, money and increase revenue.

An annual wellbeing survey to all Cadline staff seeks to identify any areas of workplace stress amongst other issues. Feedback is collated and individuals selected randomly for focus groups to discuss the survey results. Recommendations are then collated for the Leadership Team to consider and any necessary action will then be taken. Long term sickness can be a worry to staff, particularly those with dependents. Cadline consider their staff to be an extended family. Every member of staff who has suffered long term sickness has been paid in full for the duration of the sickness to ensure a full and stress free recovery. This also includes a phased return to work. The company have had staff suffer a range of illnesses from heart attacks and cancer to personal injury. The longest episode of paid sick leave has been six months. The company identify quickly if any staff are feeling any work related pressures and do everything they can to alleviate this and support them. All Managers and HR are extremely approachable. Staff wellbeing is crucial for the business, so they listen and talk about ways of reducing any stress. Face to face communication is also very important, as some staff are remotely located and can feel isolated. To combat this Cadline ensure that regular visits and contact take place.

The Senior Management Team are extremely visible to all staff and also have a friendly approach. They have an open door policy and lead by example. As part of the company's induction a corporate presentation is delivered to all new staff members, which is always conducted by a member of the Senior Management Team. During these the values of the business are described in more detail. Regular meetings are also conducted with all staff to keep them well informed about the business. Due to the various office locations and offsite training each month a webinar is presented by the Senior Management Team called Teamtalk, which informs the business about progress, profits, HR, sales, events and anything else they should be aware of. The webinar is recorded so if any staff were unable to dial in they are able to view it later. Cadline want everyone to feel engaged, regardless of their remote location, and therefore ensure regular visits occur to all offices by Senior Managers and HR alike.

Because Blue Chip Customer Engineering's mission, vision and values are intrinsically inked to all business activities, they are always on the employees' minds. The mission and vision govern the key business objectives that are set out annually and reviewed quarterly. All new starters are educated on the Company's mission and vision during the induction and all employees receive updates on how the objectives are being met throughout the year. The company values, on the other hand, support the employee performance appraisal and personal development plans tools. These are reviewed quarterly for each employee and therefore every three months each employee revisits how they display the company values in their day to day work and interactions with the customers and colleagues.

Because Blue Chip Customer Engineering's mission, vision and values are intrinsically inked to all business activities, they are always on the employees' minds. The mission and vision govern the key business objectives that are set out annually and reviewed quarterly. All new starters are educated on the Company's mission and vision during the induction and all employees receive updates on how the objectives are being met throughout the year. The company values, on the other hand, support the employee performance appraisal and personal development plans tools. These are reviewed quarterly for each employee and therefore every three months each employee revisits how they display the company values in their day to day work and interactions with the customers and colleagues.