What are companies doing with regards to 'Leadership'

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.

Argyll Scott is passionate about developing and promoting their own people. They create bespoke development programmes for individuals who are identified as suitable future leaders. They offer them a combination of offsite, classroom and on the desk training together with ongoing mentoring by the senior leaders of our business and job shadowing as appropriate. Mentoring has been highly effective in allowing managers to discuss management issues with an experienced leader from a different part of the business and to benefit from their different perspective, experience and gain valuable insight from them. Argyll Scott measures the performance of its managers through a set of KPIs and objectives that are set, mutually agreed and reviewed on an annual, quarterly and monthly basis. These are a combination of personal and team performance and revenue targets and headcount growth targets and employee retention and development objectives.

The senior management team sits with the recruitment teams in the open plan office. They do not shut themselves away in private offices. They are extremely visible and have an “open door” management policy. The whole of the senior management team, including the CEO, handle recruitment assignments and are client facing so they genuinely lead by example and thereby actively demonstrate their hands on commitment to the values of the organisation. The senior management team jointly present to the business on a quarterly and bi-annually basis to update employees on company performance, initiatives and objectives, linking all activity back to the vision, mission and values of the organisation. By so doing, they are able to demonstrate their commitment to the values of the organisation by showing trust, sharing insight, demonstrating their talent, celebrating the talent and results of the employees and proving their agility. The CEO is extremely approachable and committed to retaining Argyll Scott's talented employees. He participates in the selection process of all UK based employees and senior international employees, taking a personal interest in ensuring they can attract, hire, train, promote and retain the best talent for the business. The CEO participates in the corporate induction programme, personally explaining the mission, vision and values of the company and thereby demonstrating his commitment to them. On a daily basis, the CEO walks the floor, talking to employees, listening to their suggestions, achievements and feedback on initiatives and advising them on how to handle challenges and obstacles. The CEO hosts monthly lunches with a group of employees from across the business which provides an informal opportunity for him to gauge internal sentiment.

World Vision UK have a dedicated development programme for new and experienced managers and leaders, that aims to develop and support them in carrying out their roles within the organisation. The programme includes The Leadership Development Programme, which is designed to provide World Vision UK with a cadre of leaders who are aligned, equipped and enthused to deliver their organisational priorities, by consistently living out the company's values and Christian identity against a set of core behaviours. The Motivational Manager is a modular programme developed to support managers, at all levels, to become highly effective people managers and enable them to manage and lead their teams well. People Management Skills Workshop - a number of workshops are provided throughout the year that up-skill new managers in the use of the company's people management systems, and the way we do things, e.g. recruitment and performance management. Coaching: all senior managers are given the opportunity to receive coaching with a qualified external coach. In addition, internal mentoring and/or coaching is available for people managers at all levels. HR Business Partner Meetings: HR Business Partners provide support to all people managers through monthly one-to-one meetings. These meetings provide managers with the opportunity to seek advice, discuss development within their teams and raise any concerns they may have regarding people management. Acting Up & Secondments: when opportunities arise, managers are encouraged to act up into more senior positions and/or take up secondments into roles, which will enable and encourage their personal and professional development.

World Vision UK have a dedicated development programme for new and experienced managers and leaders, that aims to develop and support them in carrying out their roles within the organisation. The programme includes The Leadership Development Programme, which is designed to provide World Vision UK with a cadre of leaders who are aligned, equipped and enthused to deliver their organisational priorities, by consistently living out the company's values and Christian identity against a set of core behaviours. The Motivational Manager is a modular programme developed to support managers, at all levels, to become highly effective people managers and enable them to manage and lead their teams well. People Management Skills Workshop - a number of workshops are provided throughout the year that up-skill new managers in the use of the company's people management systems, and the way we do things, e.g. recruitment and performance management. Coaching: all senior managers are given the opportunity to receive coaching with a qualified external coach. In addition, internal mentoring and/or coaching is available for people managers at all levels. HR Business Partner Meetings: HR Business Partners provide support to all people managers through monthly one-to-one meetings. These meetings provide managers with the opportunity to seek advice, discuss development within their teams and raise any concerns they may have regarding people management. Acting Up & Secondments: when opportunities arise, managers are encouraged to act up into more senior positions and/or take up secondments into roles, which will enable and encourage their personal and professional development.

Workplace Systems Ltd believe the key to communicating the vision is firstly to involve the entire company in the development of the vision in the first instance and secondly to regularly re-enforce the vision with both new starters and existing employees. Consistent with the company culture, Workplace Systems Ltd engaged the entire company in the development of their vision statement and values. They revisit the vision annually to evaluate whether they need to pivot in certain areas; again, feedback from the entire Company is considered when making changes. Workplace Systems Ltd believe the key to communicating the vision is to discuss it regularly and to make it available in multiple media formats. The company communicate it in a number of ways: Face-to-face: the vision statement and values are communicated at offsite company events, at CEO ‘All Hands Briefings' and as a core part of the induction process, on the company intranet: the vision, business plan and values are all available on the intranet (called ‘The Bridge'). Workplace Systems Ltd use other tools, such as TribeHR, to bring the values to life using a recognition/ feedback tool called ‘Kudos', which provides an ongoing opportunity for colleagues to publicly recognise each other's efforts and identify which of the company values those efforts align with by awarding Kudos badges. During the last quarter of 2014 Workplace Systems Ltd held a ‘Values in Action' initiative to promote and recognise the colleagues who had embodied/ delivered the values in the business. These were then promoted via an on-line ‘Values in action' advent calendar.

Workplace Systems Ltd believe the key to communicating the vision is firstly to involve the entire company in the development of the vision in the first instance and secondly to regularly re-enforce the vision with both new starters and existing employees. Consistent with the company culture, Workplace Systems Ltd engaged the entire company in the development of their vision statement and values. They revisit the vision annually to evaluate whether they need to pivot in certain areas; again, feedback from the entire Company is considered when making changes. Workplace Systems Ltd believe the key to communicating the vision is to discuss it regularly and to make it available in multiple media formats. The company communicate it in a number of ways: Face-to-face: the vision statement and values are communicated at offsite company events, at CEO ‘All Hands Briefings' and as a core part of the induction process, on the company intranet: the vision, business plan and values are all available on the intranet (called ‘The Bridge'). Workplace Systems Ltd use other tools, such as TribeHR, to bring the values to life using a recognition/ feedback tool called ‘Kudos', which provides an ongoing opportunity for colleagues to publicly recognise each other's efforts and identify which of the company values those efforts align with by awarding Kudos badges. During the last quarter of 2014 Workplace Systems Ltd held a ‘Values in Action' initiative to promote and recognise the colleagues who had embodied/ delivered the values in the business. These were then promoted via an on-line ‘Values in action' advent calendar.

Since 2014, every existing and new Whitespacer is given a copy of the ‘You Rule Book'. Written and designed by Whitespacers, it covers the company's mission, vision, aims and values and it received a commendation at the Scottish Design Awards. Topics at the bi-monthly agency wide meeting are regularly linked back to the mission, vision and values and all briefs for any internal project or proposal must evidence how they relate to these three things. The values are embedded in the appraisal and 360-degree feedback process. It's not enough for colleagues just to succeed. It's how they succeed that is collated in feedback. Whitespace share their values with potential new clients upfront, and prior to pitches and tenders, they aim to arrange chemistry meetings to assess potential cultural fit. If Whitespace think a client will require them to work against their core values, regardless of potential financial value, they won't proceed, and they have a poster in the bar meaning even on Friday nights, everyone is reminded they need to ‘work hard and be nice to people'!

This Christmas will be Whitespace's third charity fundraising campaign. In their first year, the team of Whitespace Elves sourced an arcade grabber machine, and worked out how their clients could control it from their own desks to program the claw to grab and deliver presents. For everyone who had a go, the company donated £1 to charity, but for skilled operators who grabbed and delivered a present, Whitespace donated £5. This all helped deliver real presents to kids who might not have received anything else. With thousands of site visitors and hundreds of participants, in only two days, Whitespace were able to donate £1,670 to Forth 1's Cash for Kids charity appeal. In 2014, Whitespace started working with global charity Mary's Meals and they realised that by joining forces, they could increase the impact of their Christmas fundraiser. The company gave Whitespace time for free and some Whitespacers also donated their own personal time out of hours. The result was the ‘One More for Christmas campaign'. The cost of a typical Christmas dinner is £16 per person. But for just £12.20, Mary's Meals can provide food for a poverty stricken child in a place of education for an entire year. So Whitespace created a virtual Christmas dinner table and invited people to set a place for £12.20. In a month the company raised over £47,000 - enough to provide 3,300 children with a daily meal for a year. For Christmas 2015 Whitespace are planning to build on this success and reach a higher target.

WaterAid's vision is clear, short and concise, and they frequently communicate it in the concise phrase of “everyone, everywhere by 2030”. This phrase is a constant presence across all internal and external communications, and a particularly effective way of embedding their mission in the consciousness of all WaterAid employees. In their most recent global employee survey, 95% of staff reported having “a good understanding of WaterAid's overall vision and mission”. The company share stories from their work on the ground in their bi-weekly newsletter, at their weekly meetings and via Yammer to ensure that all employees are kept informed of progress and see the impact of their work on achieving the company's mission. WaterAid's mission and vision, and particularly their values are reinforced constantly, for example in their physical office space via posters and other resources, through activities such as their values awards and My WaterAid Week. This is a celebratory week in May, which is themed around their values and including, amongst other things, a cake-baking competition.

WaterAid do a number of different activities as part of Giving Something Back and are currently considering a 'volunteering' day for their staff to get further involved with the local community. The company have a collection annually for the local food bank (this is usually close to Christmas) and many people use their office space to raise funds for their own charities and WaterAid allow the use of their communication channels. They are also part of the Business Improvement District for Vauxhall; this is a group of local businesses who support initiatives to improve the area. The company have recently had a payroll giving day, where they became the first charity to win a platinum award for their management sign up of employees on the scheme. They had 33 of their staff sign up to this on one day. This is a way for staff to contribute to a charity via their salary, under a salary sacrifice scheme, which is tax free. This can be any charity, not just WaterAid.

All company staff has free access outside of office hours to the onsite gymnasium, with cardiac, weights and strength machines. Ok, other companies have a gym - but the real innovation at Checkatrade is that they also employ two full time Personal Trainers and every member of staff can have a free Wellness Session in work time every 2 weeks. The take up on gym and nutrition initiative is significant - anecdotal evidence suggests around 80%. Members of staff can chose their own activity at Wellness sessions which include: Personal Training sessions Individual eating plans and nutritional advice Shopping for the right food, Yes the trainer will take staff shopping! Fitness planning and home workout plans Sports injury and general massage Sea swimming sessions .Bike rides Circuits training and regular running sessions. There are Company cricket and football teams, spin classes and self-defence classes. The company have entered running teams into the Chichester Corporate Challenge and regularly organise staff sport challenges. A recent initiative was to open a Common room for employees, free PC and print access, table football, snooker, play station. People use the ‘Hub' for weekly therapeutic craft project evenings and just to relax. It brings people together, and many friendship groups have formed through the gym and the Hub. Mutual support is very strong in the company and doubtless underpins people's wellbeing.

This year the company completed a £350,000 project for Redwood Park School for mentally challenged young adults. It was a complete rebuild of sports changing facilities and swimming pool refurbishment. The company actively promote their generous charity leave policy whereby staff can volunteer for up to a week. One staff member has recently returned from a week at a holiday camp for adults with disabilities and said it was incredibly humbling, rewarding. Through the Checkatrade Foundation, the company support local, national and international causes; they funded a life-saving defibrillator and training for 12 staff at a primary school near their head office in Selsey. Seal School is where many staff went to school or have children there now and the company were delighted to help. They organised a football match at Crawley Town football ground raising money from staff and the public who wanted to play and spectators and raised £1280. This was divided equally between Chestnut Tree House children's hospice and the Nepal appeal following the earthquake. The cheques were presented to both at a recent game. North East: office took part in the Edinburgh 10k while there is a team running the Great South Run at the end of October. They have sponsored local football teams in Newcastle and Chichester with new kit. Staff play on the teams and it's great to see them come together and play regularly.