Skills Development Partnerships


As staff progress through your organisation, making sure that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to be fully effective can be a challenge. Our Skills Development Partnerships provide a work based learning approach that is tailored to the needs of individual organisations.


Halifax Community Bank Enhancing customer awareness at branch level


Halifax Community Bank identified that improving on their existing reputation for customer service would be critical to their on-going success. As such, they developed a long term customer orientation initiative with the aim of becoming ‘Britain’s most recommended bank’.


Business challenge


Handing custodianship for the initiative to branch and regional managers was identified as the most effective way of ensuring rapid and universal implementation. For this to be successful, Halifax knew they would have to ensure their branch managers had the appropriate skills and confidence to implement the initiative.


Solution


The solution was a Skills Development Partnership with Middlesex University. The University’s initial role was to accredit the Halifax’s existing in-house training programme – Journey in Practice. In partnership with Halifax, Middlesex developed two follow-on programmes aligned to the customer orientation initiative.


The programmes


The work based learning follow-on programmes that were developed, a level 6 advanced diploma and a level 7 postgraduate certificate, were designed to develop the analytical, reflective learning, and management skills of participants.


“Together we can create very real opportunities for our people.”


Colin Kemp, Network Director, Halifax. Legacy


“Our customers will be confident that the advice being offered in our branches is from qualified professionals”.


Adrian Massingham, Northampton Branch Manager.


Participating branch and regional managers are now more confident in their ability to implement the customer orientation initiative, as well as meeting a whole range of other management challenges. On the strength of the programme’s success, measured by a significant shift in customer experience feedback, Halifax is continuing to use it as a major tool in their drive to become ‘Britain’s most recommended bank’.


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