What are companies doing with regards to 'Personal Growth'

Arrows Group's values rely on total company commitment to being United, Open, and Bespoke. All Arrows Group managers, including Directors, work on the floor of the refurbished open plan offices, making themselves available at any time for their teams. This physically displays their intentions to ensure Arrow Group is completely open internally. Their employees benefit from such accessibility to managers by tapping into their knowledge when they need it, so they can deal with any challenges they face, personally or professionally. Management also lead from the front, in terms of commitment and timekeeping, ensuring they set the tone at the top that their teams can incorporate into their daily habits. Managers are also managed by behaviour and productivity to ensure they are leading by example. They achieve this through daily ‘stand ups' each morning with their teams. The stand ups are short meetings, typically 15 minutes, for teams to update each other on their key priorities, any issues they might face, and sharing any expertise that helps others overcome challenges.

Arrows Group held its inaugural Arrows Group Sales Conference in October, bringing together the current and future leaders from all offices. The overall aim of this conference was to revisit the group strategy, explore best practices across the business and gain some in depth feedback from each division around how they are doing and how Arrow Group can improve. The event focussed on representing everyone within the company and the majority of the work done on the day was designed to take away practice improvements that were shared with everyone, so all colleagues can participate in building a world-class company. One of many reasons for appointing Greg Searle as Board Advisor for Coaching and Development, was to ensure Arrow Group could use his expertise in eliciting maximum engagement from employees to achieve the company's vision. One method involved offsite sessions for two days with team leaders, spending time with them to share the company's vision and performance goals, and encouraging participants to commit to actions and processes that contribute to these goals. These were then fed back for review against ongoing initiatives. The company's Personal Development Plans provide the primary route for a tailored approach to developing Arrow Group's employees' careers. Feedback is a critical component to the PDPs, ensuring the employee has a voice in their career path, and how their career contributes to the company's success. Feedback is gathered by each manager, and implementation is assessed in terms of practicality, relevance, and scope.

As a direct result of feedback from staff that they wanted an area where they could go and sit and eat away from their desks and also to take breaks, AKA have invested in additional floor space and turned one of the floors into a 'Diner' where staff can go to prepare lunch, eat and socialise. As a result of staff feedback they have undertaken a significant redecoration operation of the entire office and in some departments have involved a staff committee to lead and make suggestions for the design and feel of their department.

AKA have a full company meeting on a monthly basis where Adam the Group Chief Executive addresses all the staff with updates on new and existing business and also progress on key business objectives and information sharing. At their Annual Management presentation to the full company there is a Q&A session with Adam. Questions are submitted anonymously and asked of him sight unseen, as well as taking questions from the floor. They have an open plan office and Adam frequently walks around the full company, as well as operating an open door policy. Every 3 moths they have a drinks reception for all new staff which is hosted by Adam, where he and the board meet new starters

AgilityWorks have annual training budgets of £2500 for every employee and encourage training and development at all levels. They encourage employees to book training courses to ensure they use their allocated budget.

AgilityWorks have annual training budgets of £2500 for every employee and encourage training and development at all levels. They encourage employees to book training courses to ensure they use their allocated budget.

Adobe has a unique 'KickBox Innovation Workshop' programme that gives employees free reign to bring an idea to life. KickBox is a new approach for empowering employees to innovate inside an enterprise. KickBox is a way of innovating. The KickBox Workshop teaches it in fast-paced, hands-on fashion. Employees are given a red box. Inside is everything they need to become an Adobe Innovator including $1,000 on a pre-paid credit card with a step-by-step process to originate an innovative new concept and then use that money to validate the concept. No proposal, no committees, no approval. You just do it. KickBox is not limited to one idea. Employees learn techniques and gain skills that will be useful throughout their career.

Adobe's reward philosophy is to provide market-competitive rewards allowing them to attract and retain great talent and to differentiate based on exceptional company and individual performance. They provide competitive compensation and benefits programmes as appropriate in each country in which they do business. A critical part of the integrated benefits offering, is their relationship with their UK health insurance provider, PruHealth. In addition to providing market leading medical insurance in the unfortunate event that their employees fall ill, a key part of PruHealth's partnership with Adobe is their focus on how they can make it cheaper and easier for their members to lead a healthy lifestyle, and earn some great rewards by doing so. Their integrated wellness programme, Vitality, provides members with significant discounts with leading gyms, health screening centres, bike retailers and entertainment groups, as well as paying non-smokers cash back directly into their bank accounts. Adobe and PruHealth recognise that many employees never use their Private Medical Insurance, meaning it can often be seen as a cost to you as an employee, rather than a benefit. PruHealth's approach to integrated wellness ensures first class medical insurance provision to those who need to claim, but also provide tangible benefits to those who don't, meaning that everyone can now take advantage of their cover.

Adjust Your Set held a company away day which involved all staff spending the day away from the office. People were seated at tables which mixed up different teams and departments and each table worked together on a number of tasks and challenges throughout the day. The company also took part in a Tough Mudder event. It was open to all employees and a team of 14 participated and a similar number coming along to spectate and support the team.

Adjust Your Set held a company away day which involved all staff spending the day away from the office. People were seated at tables which mixed up different teams and departments and each table worked together on a number of tasks and challenges throughout the day. The company also took part in a Tough Mudder event. It was open to all employees and a team of 14 participated and a similar number coming along to spectate and support the team.

David and all senior managers at AAT ensures they are always accessible and visible by working and spending time at all of their work locations. David and all senior managers also attend local team meetings and keeps in touch with employees via the Intranet. David also keeps everyone informed via Twitter and our Ability Facebook page.

David and all senior managers at AAT ensures they are always accessible and visible by working and spending time at all of their work locations. David and all senior managers also attend local team meetings and keeps in touch with employees via the Intranet. David also keeps everyone informed via Twitter and our Ability Facebook page.

Walker Prestons Solicitors offers total flexibility to employee development, allowing employees to take sufficient time off for their training. Significant paid training allows them to further their development.

Walker Prestons Solicitors regularly rent out function halls and put on a party for all members of the organisation to help build morale and as an introduction for new staff to enjoy.

The way W L Gore & Associates do business within their unique culture means the individual makes their own choices and is able to take control of themselves and the work they do. On a practical level and for real peace of mind, for every single associate they provide private medical insurance, dental insurance, and on site occupation health nursing as well as on site massages. They also have a PHI scheme, and an EAP for every person and EAP covers family members too. Another key aspect of wellbeing is via their sponsor, who gives focussed help for their development. Sponsors are chosen by the individual and in 95% of cases a strong personal trusting relationship develops where you can go and talk about anything such as work or personal matters in a safe and confidential environment.

The people at Gore have a deeply held fundamental belief in the potential of individuals to be creative, solve problems, and exercise judgment and initiative. Their freedom principle succinctly captures the essence of their philosophy of development. They want to encourage associates to grow and to maximise their true potential. Embedded in that wording is the assumption that the ultimate responsibility for an associate's development lies with the associate. The role of other associates, including sponsors and leaders, is to encourage and support the associate in their efforts. Within Gore, they do not have pre-defined career paths or roles that ensure associates' success. Associates must find their own path that enables them to maximise their contributions to the enterprise. Ultimately, the contribution process is the primary determinant for measuring an associate's overall contribution. Associates can grow in a variety of ways. Once established, they can increase their "depth" - become experts in a certain specialised field or they can increase their "breadth", assuming broader responsibilities within the enterprise. The journey for each associate is dynamic and may change over time, but key is the idea that they should all encourage each other in a path of development that helps each individual associate to succeed, increase their ability to contribute, and thereby help the enterprise succeed.

Managers at Unruly will arrange for international secondments for employees who wish to develop their skills and see how the company works in other territories. This generates job enrichment, engagement and is a form of reward. Their managers have a management style that is a product of their company culture and as such, talking to people as individuals and demonstrating care for their needs comes naturally, rather than this being a process or requiring a formal intervention.

Unruly offer spot ‘superhero' bonuses to team members who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. These £1000 bonuses are given each quarter to nominated employees. Managers globally are given the opportunity to nominate Unrulies for a superhero bonus, and these nominations are reviewed by the executive team to ensure senior Unrulies are aware of special contributions team members have made. In addition to monetary rewards, Unruly provide a mentoring programme which partners team members based on skills, this is not about hierarchy, it's about subject matter experts providing support to team members seeking development in this area. If someone has delivered wow in a spectacular fashion they are given a pair of tickets to an exclusive film preview, hosted by the NSPCC in Mayfair. This helps the company to reward Unrulies who have delivered wow and to share the love with the NSPCC. They always try to make sure their most dedicated Unrulies are given lots of high profile networking and speaking opportunities, which have included lunches at #10 Downing Street, appearing on stage at the Barbican theatre, industry leadership dinners and invitations to the opening of the market at the London Stock Exchange.

Flexible working and flexi-hours – they have a progressive approach to staff working flexible to ensure that their work/life balance and to reduce the likelihood of stress – whether it be due to arranging childcare or rush hour commutes. Fruit Tuesdays – they encourage healthy eating by providing free fruit every Tuesday morning.

Human Resources has been given full responsibility to take appropriate action following the results from the survey. Firstly they plan to communicate the overall results to all. Where appropriate, they will run focus groups to dig deeper and gain insight on the areas that they will work together to translate the results in more concrete action plans. A senior member of the team will be assigned to take ownership of each area. Employees will be given updates on a regular basis on how these things are progressing. They will also take notes on the areas they scored well in and ensure these are maintained and enhanced further.