Team Cohesion = Performance

TMW's founding partner and Group CEO, Richard Marshall, has an unusually honest and open style which makes people feel empowered and truly part of the business. There's a TV series called Back to the Shop Floor but in truth, Richard spends as much time on the shop floor as he does in Executive Board meetings! If, for example, a pitch opportunity comes in and it's all hands to the deck, Richard throws himself at it without any questions. This inspires respect from those around him and a desire to go the extra mile for him. He genuinely cares about people in the business and has a knack of knowing most of the detail of what's going on. He's also very intuitive, quickly spotting when things aren't quite right, either at the level of an individual or more broadly, in business matters. He's been described in an article in the trade press as 'one of the nicest people in the business' and most of TMW would agree with this.

TMW have an on-going programme of leadership development for the Management Board, comprising of up to 5 full off-site away day sessions over a period of 12 months, devised specifically to help create a more cohesive, empowered leadership team. Content typically covers everything from interactive sessions in the work environment, through to external team-building activities from treasure hunts to fact-finding exercises. Their Summer party last year was also heavily weighted on team building, as they had different groups working together creatively to produce the best photos during their ‘Instagram hunt'. The company also hosted a Pumpkin carving competition on Halloween, where each department had to work on carving a pumpkin together – and the quality of what was presented was outstanding!

The fortnightly Head Office Huddle run by the company's CEO and exec team allows the company to share news from product launches to sales figures in an open forum and casual setting. Similarly, quarterly cross-functional Listening Groups occur where colleagues share thoughts on topics and voice concerns. The CEO meets with each head office team/department every 6 weeks to discuss key topics and listen to any concerns. The company use a variety of methods to communicate with their 242 stores including, ChocSource , postal packs and the Retail Managing Director uses a voicemail system to all stores for key messages. Head of Operations runs quarterly factory briefs to all employees across the 24/7 operation and also sends out a fortnightly newsletter containing news,blogs and competitions. Educational displays are set up in the canteen and reception to enhance learning and encourage employee discussion. For example, “From cracking the cocoa pods to chomping the choc” run by 7 cocoa experts from Cargill to educate employees on the cocoa trail from bean to boxed chocolates. The mock shop displays new products and promotions so colleagues in head office are aware of what the shoppers are experiencing in store. The Factory Tours programme has been running for 4 years where employees who are trained as Tour Guides take great pride in voluntarily sharing the factory experience with fellow colleagues. They also benefit from the cross functional teamwork that is an integral part of the factory tours programme.

The company recently hosted a stress awareness training course for the Store Managers. Hilary Horton delivered the presentation and activities based on her extensive experience in coaching stress awareness through the NHS, H.M Prison Service and while serving as a Squadron leader with the RAF. Other innovative examples of classes and services they company have organised for their employees to enhance their welling include laughter yoga, massage, mock-tail sampling, healthy picnic lunch at the launch of our new financial year and a wellbeing fair.

2014 recycling awareness campaigns on and off campus with Worcester City Council major building projects have been subject to the university's commitment to sustainable and environmental building practices and many have won awards. They have improved the landscape of Worcester with the regeneration of inner city sites and retro-fit refurbishment of commercial buildings.

2014 recycling awareness campaigns on and off campus with Worcester City Council major building projects have been subject to the university's commitment to sustainable and environmental building practices and many have won awards. They have improved the landscape of Worcester with the regeneration of inner city sites and retro-fit refurbishment of commercial buildings.

The Red Consultancy has REDucation which is their internal training programme, run by Board Directors internally as well as external training sessions for all staff. There are 26 sessions catered to different levels and the sessions run throughout the year. The company provide every staff member with a booklet detailing courses and explaining which courses are relevant to their levels of experience. They also run some external training sessions and last year have provided different external training for all staff from their Graduates to their Senior Directors. The Red Consultancy also run a graduate training scheme for our graduate intake - this is run by the Board Directors and comprises of 14 different sessions. All staff are given a "coach" who is a senior staff member, responsible for helping with that persons development. They run the employees appraisal and reviews and generally help to give them advice on their career progression.

The Red Consultancy has REDucation which is their internal training programme, run by Board Directors internally as well as external training sessions for all staff. There are 26 sessions catered to different levels and the sessions run throughout the year. The company provide every staff member with a booklet detailing courses and explaining which courses are relevant to their levels of experience. They also run some external training sessions and last year have provided different external training for all staff from their Graduates to their Senior Directors. The Red Consultancy also run a graduate training scheme for our graduate intake - this is run by the Board Directors and comprises of 14 different sessions. All staff are given a "coach" who is a senior staff member, responsible for helping with that persons development. They run the employees appraisal and reviews and generally help to give them advice on their career progression.

Monarch is geared towards saving money on utilities for their customers. Therefore every quarter, the company calculates the monetary amount of refunds all of their teams have identified for their customers and the team which obtains the biggest refund value for that quarter, receives a 5% bonus in their salary for that month for every team member. Their customers are rewarded and their people are awarded.

Monarch is geared towards saving money on utilities for their customers. Therefore every quarter, the company calculates the monetary amount of refunds all of their teams have identified for their customers and the team which obtains the biggest refund value for that quarter, receives a 5% bonus in their salary for that month for every team member. Their customers are rewarded and their people are awarded.

This year many colleagues have taken part in a coaching course which has been of significant benefit not only to those staff who have been on the course, but to the many colleagues they have since coached as a result of this development. Those coached worked through confidential issues both work and non-work related. Their programme is accredited by the University of Edinburgh.

This year many colleagues have taken part in a coaching course which has been of significant benefit not only to those staff who have been on the course, but to the many colleagues they have since coached as a result of this development. Those coached worked through confidential issues both work and non-work related. Their programme is accredited by the University of Edinburgh.

There are many team building events which run across the year at TGI Fridays. The company's team challenge begins in February, where each of their stores goes through a review process to ensure everyone in their organisation meets the behavioural and ability criteria. Each staff member is then asked to re-certify to ensure they have the knowledge to be efficient in their role, and then they are observed to ensure they display TGI Fridays brand promise to their guests. This is a store activity so that no one is left behind. The store will be visited by a Director of Operations to sign off, the opportunity is used to reward and recognise key individuals who may have stood out in the journey. A series of additional targets and competitions all count towards the aim of finding the very best store. The final event will be a Senior Leadership visit at peak, again taking the opportunity to reward, recognise & energise the teams. The scoring will then determine a regional winner and that store will receive £1K towards a team event. The overall 2nd place store, will receive £100 for every member of the team, and finally the winning store will not only be crowned store of the year, but every member of the team will receive an extra weeks' pay, which they receive the week before Christmas. This is not only a much coveted accolade, but a very welcome sum of money which is cited as giving them a Christmas to remember.

There are many team building events which run across the year at TGI Fridays. The company's team challenge begins in February, where each of their stores goes through a review process to ensure everyone in their organisation meets the behavioural and ability criteria. Each staff member is then asked to re-certify to ensure they have the knowledge to be efficient in their role, and then they are observed to ensure they display TGI Fridays brand promise to their guests. This is a store activity so that no one is left behind. The store will be visited by a Director of Operations to sign off, the opportunity is used to reward and recognise key individuals who may have stood out in the journey. A series of additional targets and competitions all count towards the aim of finding the very best store. The final event will be a Senior Leadership visit at peak, again taking the opportunity to reward, recognise & energise the teams. The scoring will then determine a regional winner and that store will receive £1K towards a team event. The overall 2nd place store, will receive £100 for every member of the team, and finally the winning store will not only be crowned store of the year, but every member of the team will receive an extra weeks' pay, which they receive the week before Christmas. This is not only a much coveted accolade, but a very welcome sum of money which is cited as giving them a Christmas to remember.

This is at the core of the Intelligent Health message. TAQA have worked hard to promote the benefits of regular exercise through various channels including, sponsorship and participation in sporting events, Walk for Diabetes and the Corporate Decathlon. 2013 has seen development of a new Intelligent Health intranet to help promote networks to encourage activities and exercise of all types within the business. A recent highlight has been the establishment of a TAQA sponsored Mountaineering and Walking club.

The TAQA car share programme allows personnel based onshore to share journeys with colleagues who have similar routes to work. TAQA also shares commuter transport with neighbouring companies in the industrial estate at Westhill in order to limit the number of buses needed for the same route. Waste segregation bins and VegWare products are in place to further minimise their impact on the environment and be more sustainable. TAQA recycles waste wherever possible and has waste segregation bins throughout the offices for plastic, cans and compostable waste. VegWare is also used in TAQA's café's to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill. VegWare is disposable food packaging and all TAQA café catering products are made from this recyclable, starch-based material which takes 4 to 6 weeks to become compost.

Sue Ryder's flexible approach to development and their varied interventions makes it easy for everyone to access the opportunities that suit them, their role and their development needs. These include training workshops, development programmes, coaching and mentoring, action learning sets, 360 feedback, secondments and a variety of other interventions.

Sue Ryder hold focus groups and create top level action plans at directorate level, then these are cascaded down to a team or care centre level, where people get to share ideas and feedback and create a plan for how any issues raised will be addressed. Engagement champions are now leading on this and supporting the leadership team to drive the action plans forward. Sue Ryder also have a 'dragons' den scheme for people to submit new ideas and receive funding to implement them.

The biggest company event of the year is the two day company away day which this year took place at Centre Parks, Suffolk, when they closed the office and all 479 employees attend. The Away Day provides a fantastic opportunity to bring everyone together to update them on the latest news in the agency. This year they also had a specific focus on inspiring creativity and creating the environment for creativity to thrive as they prepare to move into a new building in 2015.

They are constantly looking at ways to develop their industry leading learning and development programme. This year they introduced Myers Briggs Type Indicator team sessions into the business. These sessions are about supporting individual growth and ensuring that teams gain a greater understanding of working styles and to ensure further cohesion and harmony in their work. They have taken over a 100 people through the sessions. These are facilitated by the Regional HR Director and Head of Learning and Development, both of whom are qualified MBTI practitioners and bring their own experience and creativity to the sessions. They developed the programme from an initial half a day workshop exploring preference type to a full day session that explores the impact of the different preferences on one another at work. These sessions have been invaluable as they have taken senior teams, client teams and board members through these practical, fun and experiential workshops. This is some of the feedback received “I found it very interesting not just learning about my own typology but also about my peers. I will definitely have some new added perspectives now when managing my team and pitching ideas.”