Ofsted

Ofsted gets Results

Paul Caffery founded Results Consortium Limited in 2002. His experience as a technical trainer for a major manufacturer gave him good insights into how people learn. “Delegates in the factory enjoyed our training courses very much. They had a sense of achievement and the company awarded certificates and ‘medals’ for every module they completed. So why was it that when I made a follow up visit to someone who had all the medals, he couldn’t remember a really basic procedure? I knew we could do something better”. Part of the answer lies in Business-Improvement Techniques (B-IT), a qualification that uses workers’ own experience in focused projects to overcome difficulties and streamline their work. Companies save significant amounts of money as a result, but the real benefit is empowerment for workers who take part. The programme was extremely successful, but its impact varied. “Companies all benefited during the six months of the programme, but while some continued to improve, the impetus was lost in others when we left. Perhaps we could help?”. Then a potential client asked to talk to someone who had been on the programme, resulting in a factory visit that proved productive to both the visitors and the host company. “It was a eureka moment! I realised that companies might need an independent eye to help them to implement the techniques we taught,” muses Paul, “but would they be prepared to share ideas and help each other?”. The idea of a peer network evolved gradually, but the result speaks for itself in a thriving group with delegates from a wide range of industries who value each others’ ideas.

“Cooperation is the key”, Paul says. “As engineers, we’re very process driven, but people make things work”.

Empowering staff to develop solutions to problems

When inspectors visited Results as part of their inspection of Ixion Holdings, in January 2011, they noted learners’ achievements:

Learners make substantial improvements to their employers’ businesses through improving work-flow processes, eliminating problems and faults, developing attitude and mindset to inspect their own work at every stage, cost reduction and improvements to delivery by problem solving.

“Results is one of our best providers”, says Karen Martin, of Ixion Holdings, who hold the contract with the Skills Funding Agency. “They never let us down, and deliver very good outcomes for clients. Some providers take a tick-box approach to NVQ delivery, but Results are always looking for ways to add value to the service they give to their clients, building very strong relationships with them. They measure the impact, too, so they can demonstrate the benefits of their excellent training. Employers recognise this and choose Results even where the competition offers cheaper programmes. We are very keen to continue to work with Results, and have recently negotiated a new contract with them.”

At Inspectorate International, this is clearly demonstrated.

Bob Randall began his role, as Change Champion in Inspectorate International in Witham, with a background in Engineering. The company works with metals and minerals, assaying, testing, and analysing samples for a range of international clients. He says the Business-Improvement Techniques qualification raises people’s awareness and gives them the tools to use the knowledge they have. His role is to encourage experts to improve the way they work by sharing that knowledge. The company has seen real benefits from their projects. For instance, laboratory processes use a lot of glassware, which has to be cleaned meticulously. Moving individual items from place to place wasted time and sometimes led to needless and costly breakages. Because the staff in project teams came from across the company, they were able to take a wider view and devise effective action to improve both these aspects, saving time, money, and improving safety. The real benefit, he says, is that people buy into something they have devised themselves. “You can tell people to do things differently, and they will, while you’re watching, but unless they understand why, they won’t want to change their work.” To encourage employees further, the company has introduced awards for individuals who come up with the best improvements.

Bob says the networking group has been very productive for him and the company, bringing useful insights into how others overcome problems. The relationship with Muntons, who also have laboratories, has been particularly valuable, but other members of the network have helped the company to review their strategic planning processes and the way they monitor their work. Even when ideas are not directly applicable, the fresh view of an independent peer group is really valuable.

Claire Morris is a chemist who analyses samples using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. She enjoyed her course. “I was already using some of the techniques without being able to articulate what they were, so this confirmed my hunches were right,” she says. “A strong management presence in our group also helped to get things done. This makes sure that everyone has to buy into the culture of improvement, because they are part of the team and there’s nowhere to hide!”. Their most successful project streamlined the processes for precious metals so that the initial phase to determine a target date to report results, which had been taking over a week, was cut to 2 days. Advice to others? “Keep the scope of your project small and well focused: a smaller project is better suited to demonstrate the learning outcomes required, and once complete can be a great stepping stone onto larger projects which may be of greater benefit to the business.”

Networks that help employers to develop

The inspection report said:

Partnerships with various employers and subcontractors, based on mutual trust and respect, are sound. .. Subcontractors work diligently to share good practice to improve the quality of training.

Results wished to see Class A levels of sustainable improvement for its clients. However, when it analysed the effect of the B-IT programme, it found the impact varied widely. Whilst everyone benefited initially, some companies continued to use the techniques to great effect, while others’ performance declined once assessors left. Yet all had learned the techniques to change. Perhaps more training was not the answer?

“What creates the initiative to make improvement?” asks Paul Caffery. “How do you realise it? We had given them the tools, so why weren’t they using them? Perhaps they needed a little help from a critical friend.”

One day, Paul was explaining Results’ programmes to a potential client who asked if he could talk to an existing customer. “One of our clients agreed, opened up their business, gave a presentation and a tour of their facilities”. After the visit, Paul noticed a phenomenon. “At the meeting, the rapport between the two client companies was strong from the outset. Immediately, they communicated openly about their issues. The best result happened later, when the original client got a boost from reflecting on their achievements and celebrating them with their visitors, and the visitors saw how their hosts had solved a problem and immediately implemented an improvement on their return. It was a eureka moment for me.”

He described this experience to his local enterprise agency and suggested setting up a network for small businesses to share problems and ideas, invite guest speakers and create an atmosphere of fellowship with a guiding principle of “Pay It Forward”, i.e. if a member benefitted from the network they should take the next opportunity to help someone else rather than wait for an opportunity to pay it back.

“Why not extend this idea to our clients?” he asked. “Perhaps they will benefit from an independent review of the application of the techniques we teach in the programme. Perhaps we (Results) will learn how to improve our programmes?” He was certain that they would be prepared to share ideas and help each other. When he raised this idea with Muntons, they welcomed it wholeheartedly and offered to host the first meeting.

Alastair Wesson is the Lean Manufacturing Process Manager at Muntons plc, a manufacturer of malt and brewing products in Stowmarket, Suffolk. Each year their Stowmarket headquarters produces in excess of 80,000 tonnes of malt and 40,000 tonnes of malt based extracts. Paul Caffery approached Muntons in 2008 offering training in Business-Improvement Techniques. His approach impressed managers, so they agreed to run a course.

Learners thoroughly enjoyed their training and their projects benefited the business too, from small changes to major process redesign. “It’s most successful when shop-floor workers and team managers in the same department work together to solve a problem,” says Alastair. “It shows the guys their contributions are valuable, but that they have to consider all the implications as they must live with the result. They are proud to take ownership.”

Alastair is very keen to continue improvements in his business, and was enthusiastic about Paul’s suggestion that companies could meet to share ideas. He hosted a very successful meeting at Muntons. “It’s good to discuss problems with like minded people”, he says. “It allows me to stand back and take an objective view. Although the other businesses are quite diverse, we have a common interest in making improvements. Sharing what we know has brought us good rewards in learning from others’ experience of what works and what doesn’t. It’s well worth the investment in time to get independent feedback on what we do.” This initiative is not just about managers, either. Laboratory staff have had a particularly successful exchange of ideas with Inspectorate International in Witham, visiting each other’s workplaces and sharing ideas about how to reorganise their work to increase efficiency.

About the provider

Results is a training company founded in 2002 and based in Great Dunmow, Essex, providing a range of training to clients. Its motto is “People Developing People” through Cooperative Learning.

As well as its Business Improvement Techniques programme, it provides specialist training for the automotive industry and in laboratory techniques, and mentoring and coaching for a wide range of other businesses. It holds subcontracts with Ixion Holdings and Havering College. It was included in the inspection of Ixion in January 2011.

Report written by Elizabeth Warriner, H M Inspector in June 2011