Headteacher Darryl Wideman, of independent school Radnor House in Twickenham, was keen to introduce a coaching culture into his school, from the senior and middle leadership through to all staff and older pupils.
ALPS (Auto Legal Protection Services) commissioned Clare Barnett from Synergia to run a tailored course on leadership and management to help the company navigate the “new normal” working environment.
Over the course of 12 Zoom sessions, Clare led two separate teams of 12 through a programme of learning.
In April 2021, two mixed groups of the senior leadership team, management team and the company’s rising stars finished the course, which started in November 2020.
Synergia offers many training packages but gladly worked with ALPS on a bespoke plan because, in the words of learning and development manager Cat Ransom “we’re a unique company”.
Cat said: “There are two arms to our business – we provide insurance products to insurance brokers and we also have a claims management function. We’re completely centred around customer service and our strong core values, something that Clare deeply understood. This enabled her to create a tailored package for our current needs.”
The company, like many others, found there were a lot of changes to adapt to thanks to the pandemic. Now the office, which is open and operating with skeleton staff, allows remote working and it’s been successful. This meant the managers needed to learn new and different ways to support the team.
Cat added: “Clare really understood our management style and what the company is about.
“We found that working from home, leadership and management needed putting in place more than ever because you’re no longer sat with your team. Not having that face-to-face contact is new to us so we wanted to make sure there was structure and the team felt supported.”
The office at ALPS is still operating at limited numbers but as the team reintegrate, there will be an option to continue to work remotely, as the company has recognised the benefits. Giving people the choice has assisted ALPS to maintain a happy workforce, something the course has helped the managers to be more aware of.
Cat commented: “The course made us all think about the impact on other people. Just because you might love working from home, it doesn’t mean someone else does. It shows that there’s no right or wrong way to feel about it and it helps you to manage and appreciate the difference in needs.
“The leadership and management course has given us some great tools. We’ve always had a coaching culture and had a focus on staff development but it’s given us more structure to it. We already had the content and depth, the course has helped us pull all of it together.
ALPS is familiar with Clare and her business having already met through various networking groups and Cat has had some mentoring pre-Covid.
Every year, the team is given training in leadership and management whether it’s internal or external but Cat said the experience with Clare was brilliant.
Cat added: “I would definitely recommend Synergia. Everyone really enjoyed the experience and the team got a lot out of it. Clare really listened to us and who we are as a company and developed a package that suited us perfectly.”
ALPS is committed to providing excellent customer service and added value. The approach centres around their two key messages:
Our thing: To grow our great company with great people, by doing the right thing.
Our way: Partnering with brokers to provide them with additional revenue through added value insurance products, outstanding customer service and enhancing their policyholder retention.
To find a course for you or to speak to the team about the best approach for your business visit our courses page or call the team on 01785 711593.