Case studies

Assessment centre for improved recruitment and retention

In response to high staff turnover and ever increasing costs of recruitment, leading energy company Calor Energy, asked Mentor Group to work with them to design and deliver a programme of Recruitment and Retention workshops across the UK. Using real CVs to ensure reality, Mentor developed a two-day workshop that refreshed and enhanced the interviewing skills of their managers, enabling them to make better decisions that are less open to challenge. The managers feel more confident and are less reliant on the company’s Human Resources team to support their recruitment activities. 

From embattled to empowered – negotiating success

A marine insurance company needed to strengthen the power and robustness of its Claims Executives who often found themselves in a three-cornered impasse with the Ship Owner and the lawyers. Executives were under pressure to perform at short notice and were often ambushed during meetings by powerful people. Mentor Group put together a negotiation skills programme which drew on real incidents and progressed in three phases. The first covered telephone discussions and negotiation. The second used an actor to add realism by ambushing the delegates in what they thought would be a straightforward meeting. Finally, the third brought the negotiations to a close. As a result Claims Executives now take more trouble to prepare, are on their guard when entering a meeting and feel that they are the professional equal of others around the table.

New managers gain confidence with real-life learning

Responding to requests to help newly appointed managers Mentor Group has developed a participative workshop to address the issues and concerns that they often face. Mentor designed interactive exercises and real-life case studies to enable best practice to be considered and lessons learned. Following a successful pilot the workshop has been run at a wide range of clients, with participants reporting that they feel more confident and better able to meet the challenges of their new roles. 

Sales development and coaching without disruption

A busy IT sales department needed to develop their skills with minimal disruption to the day-to-day operation. Mentor Group initially worked with the Team Managers to help them choose the most appropriate activities from an extensive list of possibilities before branding the programme and delivering half day workshops. Mentor developed detailed coaching sheets to enable them to transfer the learning to the sales floor, and helped them identify specific ways to create time to carry out the coaching. The sales skills of the department have improved, with quantifiable results directly linked to the training. 

Power sessions for leveraging the value of appraisals

A major professional practice had a clear need to link its Performance Appraisal system with its strategic objectives. Managers needed to understand the importance of recognising achievement and engaging their people with the company’s ambitious objectives. Mentor Group designed and ran a series of two-hour ‘Power Sessions’ that took managers at all levels through the agreed appraisal process and raised their confidence in holding review meetings. The company now has a far higher deployment of its Appraisal process, with people’s activities aligned to the published goals.  

 

Strategic talent management at KCom

KCom Group provide a range of integrated IT convergence services.The company recognised the need to develop agroup-wide approach to building their people capability, to meet the skills demands of their ambitious growth plans. In stage one of this strategic people planning project, Mentor Group worked with KCom to identify and understand the talent demands in their industry over the next 3 years. Our research identified3 clear developments to be addressed:
a) a consultative approach to selling integrated technological solutions
b) a partner-based implementation approach for service delivery and
c) more empowering leadership to enable speedy decision making.
Mentor will now undertake stage two - a people audit to identify gaps, development and recruitment needs in this highly competitive environment.

Presence – more than making an entrance

This leading business was concerned that those entering the company required presence to make an early, favourable impact. Mentor Group created a programme which involved senior and middle management input, to establish the behaviours required to fit the culture of the company. We then constructed a tailored programme to dissect how people send messages and receive messages. The initiative was designed to ensure that managers understood how they are perceived by others and relied on the creation of an honest and trusting environment. A real-play exercise involved the firm's senior managers acting in role and giving observations followed by real life pointers on how to succeed in the firm and market sector. Participants now have heightened awareness of their behaviour and how it is seen by others in the firm. They gain in confidence because they now understand the rules. 

Rapid growth at Bluetooth specialist requires new management rigour

Leading global provider of personal Bluetooth technology, CSR needed to create new management rigour, to keep pace with its rapid growth. Against a backdrop of a stressful marketplace, technical experts were being promoted to managers and the organisation faced various people management issues. Mentor Group designed a global management and technical leadership programme across several days, spanning a variety of locations. The programme was created for all managers including the senior management team and utilised the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) for psychometric profiling. The result has been a positive response to the programme with 88% of participants motivated to try out new approaches. HR has experienced a reduction in referred issues. There is evidence of the application of learning on many fronts and more in-depth Level 3 & 4 evaluation work is in progress.