“[The instructor had
British Airways – personal effectiveness
an] excellent teaching
style, very
enthusiastic, good at
drawing out
British Airways is the UK’s largest international scheduled airline, flying to over 550 destinations at
discussion.”
convenient times, to the best located airports. QA has worked with British Airways (BA) for over fifteen
“Overall a very
enjoyable three days,
years, and has had a Managed Learning Service (MLS) contract in place since early 2002. QA provides BA
I’ve gone from being
with a full managed service for the supply of technical and business skills training.
demoralised by a
nightmare project to
feeling motivated
again.” The challenge The emphasis would be on developing an enhanced level of self-
“Brilliant enthusiastic
BA required the design and delivery of a series of five skills awareness and effectiveness, encouraging the TDL’s to assess
trainer and simple
development programmes. In response to the trend towards their current competence against future realities.
techniques that will
buying in packages and services, BA needed to change its mix of
QA’s approach to this programme was highly interactive and
hopefully prove very roles and skills to strengthen further its capability in business and
designed to stretch the TDL’s personal thinking, engaging them
useful.” data analysis, project management, technical design, and data
actively in challenging activities involving personal learning and
exploitation.
feedback. For example, role play can be threatening, but gives
Course delegates
One element of this was a programme to develop the personal people the opportunity to practice and gain feedback in a safe
British Airways
effectiveness of staff working in the role of Technical Design Lead environment. Working on real-life scenarios helps learners to try
(TDL). This role had changed, with a greater responsibility to new approaches and build confidence to implement solutions.
present business cases and demonstrate strong project
A three-day programme was designed and prior to the course
management skills, as well as working effectively with colleagues
attendees completed a ‘strength deployment inventory’, working
British Airways
across the business.
www.britishairways.com
with two colleagues including their manager, giving an additional
The solution
perspective on how others viewed their behaviours. This was
QA worked closely with BA to develop a programme that would
used during the course to explore the difference between
deliver the skills and knowledge required for success in this new
motivations and behaviours. They were also asked to consider
36
role. Attendees would complete the programme not only with the
the various factors that might support a virtual team. This helped
new skills but also having gained competency through role plays
to ensure that they were beginning to think about how they could
and case studies allowing them to apply their skills in the
benefit from the training.
workplace. As an overall objective the programme would raise the
The programme was introduced by a senior contact at BA, giving
attendees’ confidence in their abilities.
an important signpost to attendees that the programme had
An introduction to the new environment – virtual team leading, new
strong management buy-in. Over the course of the three days,
relationships, third-party management, leadership the training had a strong mix of traditional instruction with group
Knowledge of leadership styles – big picture communications,
exercises, discussions and interactive sessions. This meant that
assessing team member needs, enabling the environment for change,
the maximum benefit would be obtained from the course by those
communicating during change
who benefit from different styles of learning.
Cultural impact – looking for cultural clues and adapting approach to
To ensure that skills were applied when attendees had returned
get the best from others when working in different cultural
to the workplace, the programme included the creation of a case
environments, including offshore suppliers study with BA that recapped the whole course and gave TDL’s
Strategic thinking and problem solving
confidence in their new skills. This was delivered once the
programme was complete for all teams, to ensure that skills were
Managing meetings including practical tools and tips
consistent across the business.
Practical experience from a case study that challenges them to solve
problems, finding information from unmotivated sources, decide on a
solution and present it at a meeting they must also control
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