Thinking out of the cardboard box

I was talking recently to a supervisor in a factory that makes cardboard boxes. He’d been working there since he left school for over 20 years. He had worked hard and consistently and had moved his way up into his current position, responsible for a team of 86 people.

A couple of years ago, a new manager responsible for the factory had joined the business and realised that his team felt pretty under valued. He decided to embark on a programme of NVQs – National Vocational Qualifications – a pretty brave step given that it would involve some paperwork and the buy-in of his key managers in a sector that didn’t traditionally embrace this type of learning.

NVQs are a 'competence-based' qualification which means employees learn practical, work-related tasks designed to help them develop their skills and knowledge to do a job effectively. They are government funded through the Learning and Skills Council and funds are allocated through regional providers.

Working with CPL Training since March 2010, around 30 of the factory employees began their Level 2 NVQs in Team Leadership and Level 3 NVQ in Management. Regular visits from a CPL Training assessor followed and slowly but surely the group began to realise the value of their experience and knowledge. By the time they had completed their NVQs in the summer they had visibly grown in confidence and pride. The NVQs validated the skills and experience that they already had through doing their jobs but it was a smart move commercially too - once someone is skilled there is anecdotal evidence that they stay longer and perform better for their company. And right now, there couldn’t be a happier, more motivated bunch of people at that factory.

We’re going to take some photos and chat to the team in October, so keep an eye on the web news stories. Meanwhile, have a look at what CPL Training are doing with NVQs at this link: http://www.cpltraining.co.uk/training/nvq/nvq.aspx