Challenge Consulting News

challenge,consultancy,train,training,trainers,derby,nottingham,uk,england,ireland,scotland,wales,accredited,regulations,

News

	CHALLENGE CONSULTING WIN NATIONAL TRAINING AWARD
	CHALLENGE CONSULTING ARE FINALISTS IN NATIONAL TRAINING AWARD
	NEW PROGRAMMES - HALF DAY SESSIONS
	PARTNERSHIPS
	CONGRATULATIONS
	NEW SERVICES
	WE DON'T WAVE A MAGIC WAND TO SOLVE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS
	HOW DAD INSPIRED DAUGHTER TO SUCCEED
	IT'S VERY BUSY BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING, I'M LOVING IT!

CHALLENGE CONSULTING WIN NATIONAL TRAINING AWARD January 2007

Challenge Consulting, based in Nottingham, are proud to announce their success in achieving a National Training award for work carried out with Nottingham City Transport (NCT)

Challenge Consulting developed a variety of interventions including Team Development Work, workshops to gather ideas on working practices and procedures, Customer Care and, Managing Difficult Situations and People Training. Coaching and Training activities have also been undertaken by Challenge Consulting with the Travel Centre Manager and the two supervisors including the ILM Award in Team Leading.

Challenge Consulting identified the Travel Centre activities as being worthy of entry to for prestigious National Training Awards as they felt it demonstrated a truly flexible and organic approach to training. It also demonstrates clearly that results can be achieved most successfully when companies and training providers work closely together to produce a unique and tailored package.

The formula for success in this case was to involve all of the staff and Managers from day one in the process and to create a true learning environment which will contribute on an ongoing basis to the excellent service levels offered to the people of Nottingham through the Travel Centre.

Quote from Dawn Edwards, Managing Director, Challenge Consulting

“It is fabulous to have achieved such a prestigious accolade. The staff both here at Challenge, and at NCT’s Travel Centre have worked incredibly hard to bring about the excellent results we have seen, and it is wonderful that they have been recognised for it.”

Click here to read an extract from the Nottingham City Transport company magazine about the National Training award win

Return to top

CHALLENGE CONSULTING AND NOTTINGHAM CITY TRANSPORT - FINALISTS IN THE NATIONAL TRAINING AWARDS August 2006

NCT and Challenge Consulting were delighted to learn today that they had qualified as finalists in the 2006 National Training Awards scheme.

The National Training Awards are the UK's number one accolade for business organisations and individuals who have achieved lasting excellence and success through training and learning. Their aim is to recognise and celebrate the people and the organisations that create success through training and personal development.
The National Training Awards are universally recognised as being the number one in their field. Winners demonstrate achievements across a vast spectrum of activities, whether that activity is, based in the workplace or in the community.
An entry was drafted for training carried out by Challenge Consulting with the NCT Travel Centre staff which has taken place over the last 2 years.

NCT is a major public transport operator for the greater Nottingham area, operating over 300 buses across 100 different routes, enabling almost 50 million passenger journeys a year. The NCT Travel Centre doubles as a call centre responding to over 10,000 calls a month, plus a retail outlet providing journey planning advice and selling pre purchased tickets and smartcards, it issues around 40,000 travel cards and handles in excess of 300,000 renewals a year.

Challenge Consulting, based in Woodthorpe, Nottingham, specialise in designing bespoke training and development activities to a range of clients in both the public and private sector and has worked with Nottingham City Transport extensively for the last 2.5 years on various projects. The company formed almost 10 years ago and prides itself on the quality of delivery and the long standing relationships it develops with its clients.

The team at the Travel Centre was newly formed when the activities started, and several development areas were identified following interviews with staff at the Travel Centre and the Travel Centre Manager. A proposal was suggested by Challenge Consulting which included a true partnership approach, developing the programmes alongside coaching for the Manager and supervisors to help support the activities from within the business and to develop ideas.

The overall aim of the activities was to formulate working practices and procedures within the Travel Centre to enable staff and Managers to work productively and harmoniously together to provide an excellent level of service to the people of Nottingham.

A variety of activities had taken place including Team Development Work, workshops to gather ideas on working practices and procedures, Customer Care, Managing Difficult Situations and People. Coaching and Training activities have also been undertaken by Challenge Consulting with the Travel Centre Manager and the two supervisors.

The results have included an increase in motivation which has been measured through surveys at the Travel Centre, a reduction in sickness absence, a reduction in staff turnover, and a more flexible workforce. The Travel Centre recently were congratulated by Nottinghamshire City Council for re-issuing 36,000 passes in a very short period of time, which was achieved through dedication, team working and the willingness of staff to support each other to achieve their targets.

Quote from Dawn Edwards, Managing Director, Challenge Consulting

“I am delighted with the news that we have reached the finals of the National Training Awards. The staff here at Challenge, and the staff at the Travel Centre have worked incredibly hard to bring about the excellent results we have seen, and it is wonderful that they have been recognised for it.”

Return to top

NEW PROGRAMMES

We have introduced several new programmes within our portfolio due to requests from clients. These include half day sessions which provide an excellent opportunity to practice skills and obtain extra knowledge, whilst committing less time out of work. These are designed to be interactive and provide a refresher or introduction to a wide variety of topics. Much of the knowledge and skills covered in these sessions can be extended further if required through more substantial programmes within our portfolio.

Return to top

PARTNERSHIPS

We are pleased to announce that we will now be working in Partnership with the Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce to make available to their Members and SME's a full range of accredited training programmes from Team leader through to Senior management Level..

Return to top

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to all of those delegates who obtained well deserved passes in:

ILM Introductory Certificate in Team Building
ILM Level 5 Award in Leadership
ILM Introductory Award in First Line Management
Balfour Beatty Supervisors Development Award
ILM Diploma in Management

WELL DONE TO YOU ALL - YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE !

NEW SERVICES

We have added model answers and hints and tips to our website. Whilst it is impossible to cover every topic, if you feel you would like us to add a particular question or theme, please contact us.

Return to top

WE DON'T WAVE A MAGIC WAND TO SOLVE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS

BY TARA DE COZAR, NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST

18:06 - 15 July 2003

Looking back on the creation and development of her management consultancy, Dawn Edwards struggles to remember the hard times. She knows that she's had them - redundancy, a workload that didn't allow for sleep, looking after two young children and worries about making the mortgage repayments have all featured at points in her career.

But sitting in her Woodthorpe offices with a team of six people handling around 20 active clients, she knows that they were an essential part of building both her business and the person she is today. And her determination and drive against the odds have been a key part in her progress.

Dawn started Challenge Consulting in 1997 after being made redundant from her investment management role at Home Breweries. She left Home Breweries in October 1996 and by April the next year was looking for clients, offering people management training and advice.

Dawn is very clear on the difference her company can make to a firm, billing the business as people improvement rather than business improvement.

"There's no way I can find out what's wrong with your business," she said, ""I can work with your people and help you find that out for yourself. But what we don't do is wave a magic wand and solve all your business problems, that isn't what the consultancy is about."

But what Challenge Consulting provides is a tailor-made approach to improving employee productivity, by looking at a business's individual processes and basing the training on them, rather than offering clients a generic package. This obviously appeals to her customers - which include utilities, local authorities, government agencies and a blue-chip construction company - who commission her services time and time again.

It is this approach that Dawn believes has led to the company's success - and to her being crowned Woman Achiever of the Year in the 2003 Evening Post Business Awards. The award is now proudly displayed in the reception area of the company's offices.

"I was thrilled to get the award," Dawn said. "And I couldn't have done it without the support of the people who work with me."

It is the support of family, friends and colleagues that has played such a huge part in Dawn building up her business. She has two teenage children - Luke, 16, and 15-year-old Laurie - and although divorced from their father Bill their continued good relationship has been instrumental in juggling childcare with business pressures.

And with the arrival of a new daughter, Amy, last October Dawn and her partner Nick were reliant on the help of Karen Knight - who Dawn describes as "my right hand woman." Karen kept the business running smoothly while Dawn was off work.

"I'm indebted to her," she said. "She's the person who I've worked with the longest and we have a great relationship." But what does the future hold now that Dawn has returned to work?

She worked hard to gain her MBA while working at Home Breweries, and values her qualification so much that she is working towards being able to offer the course through Challenge Consultancy. The company offers the level four Diploma in Management and is looking to offer the level five Executive Diploma, the final step before studying for an MBA in business.

Dawn also plans to expand the client base geographically in the future, as the majority of her active accounts are Midlands based.

The growth of Challenge Consultancy is a success story by anyone's standards, but is even more remarkable when the obstacles Dawn has come up against are taken into account.

"When I first started up the business a male friend of mine who I had gone to for advice told me two things," said Dawn. "First he told me to have patience, because I expected clients to appear in the first few months. The second was to dye my hair grey and wear horn-rimmed spectacles, because I wouldn't get taken seriously as a young woman in business.

"But attitudes have changed, particularly over the past ten years, and I've never let that type of belief hold me back."

HOW DAD INSPIRED DAUGHTER TO SUCCEED

BY RICHARD BAKER, NOTTINGHAM EVENING POST

14:12 - 01 July 2003

Dawn Edwards is someone who hasn't done well for a chimneysweep's daughter - she's done well because she was a chimneysweep's daughter. The winner of the Woman Achiever of the Year in the 2003 Evening Post Business Awards is the first to pay tribute to the help and encouragement given by her father, Vic Leaper.

"He is self-employed and I've always wanted to be self-employed," she said. But father and daughter are self-employed in very different fields. While Vic has made a living in Nottingham in one of the most traditional trades, Dawn, the youngest of three daughters, is an MBA who has built up a management consultancy from scratch.

In recent times, she's moved her business because of its growth, and had a baby. And the name of the business rather sums it all up - Challenge Consulting.

Previously an investment manager with Home Brewery, Dawn branched out on her own a few years ago. Since then, she's built up a business which specialises in general management development, employs six people, and has enjoyed 83 organic growth year-on-year for the last three years.

These days her company counts among its clients organisations like utilities, local authorities, government agencies and a blue chip construction company.

Her next step? Expansion in terms of premises because she's running out of room.

Genuinely thrilled to win her BT-sponsored award, Dawn was up against Jenna Frudd, of Frudd Construction and fellow runner-up Karen Woolgar, of Shapers Hair and Beauty Salon.

Dawn said: "This is a fantastic result for us. When you look at the calibre of the other finalists, this really is first among equals. I am really proud of it."

Her sentiments were shared by all the winners in our ceremony, hosted in the University of Nottingham's Senate Chamber. Fronted by television presenter Bob Warman, the awards saw the prestigious Company of the Year Awared carried off by brewers and pub group Hardys & Hansons.

It marked a double celebration for managing director Tim Bonham, who had announced a pre-tax profits leap of 16 to £12.5m only two weeks previously.

Presented with his trophy by Colin Morrell, senior partner with KPMG (who co-sponsored the Company of the Year award with Nottinghamshire County Council), he said: "This award is fantastic. It was a team effort and is the culmination of many years' work - and is recognition that Hardys & Hansons is the leading brewer in the Midlands."

Hardys & Hansons victory in the awards was made all the more impressive by the size and calibre of the opposition: Capital One, Hillarys Blinds, and the £170m computer accessories business XMA.

Businesses large and small were recognised in our awards, with the Powergen-sponsored Nottinghamshire Small Business of the Year Award carried off by the Nottingham-based creative agency De facto design.

Managing director James Daly, who has seen his business grow turnover from £170,000 to £750,000, said the decision to base the company in Nottingham has played no small part in its success.

"We saw a big gap in the market for a full service creative agency able to offer everything from corporate branding through to television advertising, and we have very strong creative skills with a high level of technical ability.

"We deliberately set up in Nottingham, that was no accident. Having rejected London, because we didn't want to work there for lifestyle reasons, we looked at three separate locations - Bristol, Nottingham and Newcastle. But we chose Nottingham because it had the best quality of life and the ability to attract the right calibre of staff." He added: "This is the first time we have entered for any award and we did it really as a benchmarking exercise. To then win is something we're very, very proud of."

Media training business Broadcast Media Services and Fidler and Pepper Solicitors were the runners-up in the small Firm of the Year category. Fidler and Pepper were also in the running for the Business Innovation Award, sponsored by fellow law firm Browne Jacobson.

Once again competition was tough, judges having to separate three strong entries.

Caunton Engineering's partnership with Union Software was bringing tremendous results for both businesses, Fidler and Pepper's investment in technology and the internet was market-leading, but it was Rototek's development of a revolutionary way of controlling the mass production of plastics which finally won the award. Founded in 1993, Newark-based Rototek has become a world leader after carrying out years of research in conjunction with two universities. Assisted by a £200,000 EC grant, it has developed a method of highly accurate monitoring of the cooking temperatures of plastic, allowing the manufacture of complex products such as its hugely successful 3.6 metre polyethylene sailing boat.

The Nottingham Environmental Business Award, sponsored by the Nottingham Green Partnership, again saw technology play a strong part in victory. Winner T Baden Hardstaff uses duel-fuel technology - start-up on diesel and then switch to liquid North Sea gas - for a lorry that has gained both orders and recognition.

Managing director Trevor Fletcher was quick to recognise the contribution of the whole 270-strong team at the company as he celebrated success. He commented: "The reward goes not just to me but to all the team."

The runners-up were Bray Securities Ltd., the first company in its industry to win ISO 14001 accreditation, and Experian, which has reduced its waste to landfill by 30 per cent a year.