Skills Support for the Workforce
Founded in 1841, Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club (NCCC) is a First-Class county club where Nottinghamshire have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890.
Working within the event industry presents challenges in relation to recruitment and the seasonal nature of the event schedule. There is the added element of a continual focus on safety and improving the experience. The club is competing with other sporting venues for membership, season tickets and event attendance, and for attention alongside a wide spectrum of other forms of leisure. The club is also tasked with increasing participation in the sport of cricket throughout Nottinghamshire.
NCCC met with the Tess Group, one of the training providers chosen to carry out the Skills Support for the Workforce programme (SSW). SSW helps businesses to upskill their employees with training courses & qualifications to grow their business and the it is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).
COVID-19 has presented a new and unique set of challenges for the venue in recent months. Following the closure of stadiums for spectator attended events, the Tess Group have worked closely with their clients, learners and awarding bodies to ensure they could continue to support learners to progress and complete their programmes.
The Tess Group worked with NCCC to conduct a training needs analysis. It was identified that there was a group of emerging talent at the club who hadn’t had formal leadership training and for whom support in key areas such as communication would be beneficial.
Level 2 and Level 3 Leadership units were selected for 12 learners with the training needs analysis focusing on the need for developing management skills. The funded units were:
The training programme met the management development needs identified in the training needs analysis and the workshops took part at times and locations to suit NCCC.
The training conducted of two workshops, with the learning objectives being tailored to NCCC’s requirements. The learners were provided a number of methodologies and frameworks which they were able to put into practice immediately after the first session.
Part of the training focused on emotional intelligence, which included a cognitive fallacy quiz which was particularly popular as it enabled the learners to understand why people behave as they do. The learners also took part in Right v Right exercises, giving them the opportunity to look at doing the right thing as well as using management techniques in order to answer the questions in the workbook.
Trainer Andy says:
“I really enjoyed working with this group. There hadn’t been large amounts of activity prior to this as they were initially wary, but soon demonstrated they have the right attitude with being open to learning and engaged in all the activities really well.”
As a result of the training communication between the management team has improved and morale is high.
Helen from NCCC says:
“We want to continue the work in developing not only our leaders, but the whole business for 2020 and beyond.”
The Tess Group is continuing to support learners working remotely by providing telephone support for workbook completion and professional discussions for knowledge, and also running remote webinar sessions for training workshops. During periods where stadiums have continued to stage matches the Tess Group have worked closely with their clients to co-ordinate the attendance of selected stewards enrolled on training to be assessed under COVID-secure conditions.
