Corporate Training Events

John Lewis Cardiff

On September 24th 2009, John Lewis opened its second largest Shop outside Oxford Street London. The anticipation and buzz created by this event was palpable on the day as huge crowds from Cardiff and South Wales finally had the opportunity to get the John Lewis experience.

As an organisation with its roots in South Wales, it was a real privilege for Call of the Wild to be asked to work with The Cardiff MD Liz Mihell and Training Manager Will Read to design and deliver an intervention as part of their leadership development strategy for the new shop.

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If you are considering sending your staff on a training course or are putting it off due to the cost then take a look at this update on the funding available in England and Wales.

Leadership and Management Advisory Service

£1,000 per SME organisation

Response to Redundancy

Train 2 Gain and European Social Fund

Aimed at reskilling the newly unemployed and those under threat of redundancy. Between £270 and £1,200 per learner.

Learning and Skills Council

Used for workplace entry support and business start-up.

Women and Work – Sector Pathways Initiative

£100 to £600 for funding to train women in England within occupations or sectors where women are significantly under-represented.

Wales

ReAct

The Redundancy Action Scheme is a package of support to help individuals who have been recently made redundant or under threat of redundancy.

ProAct

This is a financial support package designed to help well-run businesses cope with the downturn. It provides additional training for employees who are on short-time working.

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Management and staff assessment and development centres offer a robust method of selecting and developing new or potential managers and staff within an organisation.

 The aim of such centres is to present the selected individuals with an environment that reflects the reality of the roles they have applied for and therefore should provide the individuals with a wide range of opportunities to demonstrate the competencies required. Call of the Wild have now developed a programme to assist clients with recruitment and development of new and existing staff. The aim is to reduce costs for the client through the selection of individuals with appropriate skill sets and behaviours best suited to the needs of the job. This avoids costly probabtion periods during which it is discovered that the individuals are not appropriate for the position.

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The last six weeks have been an extremely busy period for Call of the Wild. Having come into 2009 not knowing what to expect given the so called experts  predictions about the economy the year has actually been better than expected. In the last few weeks we have worked with Prudential, Qinetiq, John Lewis, Network Rail, Michelin, NHS, Barnados, Cable & Wireless and Barclays Bank.

See case studies by clicking here

Call of the Wild have added another award to add to the those already in the display cabinet. Our accommodation , known as Merlins, has been awarded a Welsh National Food Hygiene Award. This is pleasing given the amount of time and effort our team put into providing a quality service for all our clients. Well done team Merlins.

Merlins is one of our properties used for certain of our programmes. It contains a meeting room, lounge, bar and dining area. The property also sleeps 38 people.

To coincide with the opening of John Lewis’ prestigious new store in Cardiff, Call of the Wild have been appointed to create and deliver a series of events and development interventions for the new management team. The impressive new store which is due to open in September 2009 is one of the anchor stores in the St. Davids 2 Shoping Centre in the heart of Cardiff City Centre

The intervention will be delivered on an incremental basis with all levels of management working with the Call of the Wild team over a series of four experientially based learning events. Each event will focus on a clearly defined set of outcomes such as familiarisation with the management team and the also the City of Cardiff

The events will take pace in Cardiff, the SWALEC Stadium and the Team Working event will take place in Call of the Wild’s Training Centre. The centre itself sits in 70 acres within the Brecon Beacons National Park. The grounds also provide a truly inspirational “classroom” from which to run the experiential learning element of the programme.

For more leadership development and team building click on the links.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly important to many Companies. Call of the Wild are being asked to get involved in designing programmes to complement the CSR initiatives of  such Companies. There are many definitions of what Corporate Social Responsibility actually is and what it means in reality. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development state it is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large.

In Europe it is very much focused on operating the core business in a socially responsible way, complemented by investment in communities for solid business case reasons. Call of the Wild have designed a number of such programmes with the latest being to Tanzania in July 2009. Dave Thomas our Director, led the group, which included a trek up Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. It also included a big game safari.

These programmes can include charitable projects in Tanzania. The country is one of the poorest countries with more than 12 million people living below the poverty line. Participants can get involved  in projects such as school renovation, irrigation schemes, community building, orphanage support, teaching and soil conservation work. Such project can be integrated into existing personal development programmes which can help to embed and focus learning in practical surroundings.

The pleasing thing about this latest trip is that Dave successfully led the whole group to the top of Kilimanjaro without altitude sickness preventing any of them summiting. This was a once in a lifetime experience which the group will never forget.

EDF Energy approached Call of the Wild to design and deliver a team development programme for their Senior Managers working in their London Office. The intervention was to form part of an EDF conference. The objectives were to get these managers working closer as a team , to build relationships within the team and to familiarise these managers with  EDF  renewable energy services.

Call of the Wild, in liaison with EDF, came up with the idea of using one of the sites owned by the Company to hold the event.  The idea was formulated that we would use a wind farm owned by EDF in Mid Wales. It was considered this would best meet the brief as it would not only provide a unique team building venue but also allow the Managers to familiarise themselves with the site. EDF took up the idea and the event went ahead on 2nd July for the 40 Managers.

The event was a great success.

Dave Thomas, one of Call of the Wild’s Directors, is off to Tanzania from 4th to the 15th July leading another trek up Kilimanjaro. This will be his 4th trip to Kili. This is Africa’s highest mountain at 5,896mThe Rongai Route approaches Kilimanjaro from the north and retains a sense of untouched wilderness lost on the more popular trails. It has a relatively gentle gradient and shorter daily stages, compared to some of the other routes as it winds its way from the starting point just south of the Kenya-Tanzania border. It passes through farmland and forest, past Alpine moorland to the beautiful summit cone. There are magnificent views throughout, with possibilities for wildlife viewing, the exploration of lava tunnels and an extra day to aid acclimatisation as the trail climbs beneath the towering spires of Mawenzi. The final ascent is arduous and made in darkness, but the reward is a spectacular dawn view of the glaciers and ice cliffs of the summit and across the East African plains far below.

Corporate social responsibility is becoming increasingly important for many Companies. Call of the Wild can organise trips to Africa which involve charitable project work which can be linked to Companies CSR programmes and also personal development plans.

Call of the Wild  are delighted to announce that David Thomas has been made a Director of the Company. David has been promoted from his current position of Head Facilitator. In addition to his new management responsibilities he will continue to prepare and deliver our management training, team development and leadership development programmes.

David is a professional management development practitioner. He has many years’ experience, both in the UK and overseas. He has worked with a wide range of clients from SME’s to multi-nationals and companies worked with include Vodafone, Orange and Panasonic. He has a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring. Dave participated in the planning and execution of the first successful winter crossing of Iceland on skis, from the West coast to the East. Attempted six times previously by various nationalities the Island of Iceland was deemed uncrossable. Dragging sledges each weighing 240 pounds the four-man team skied in arctic blizzard conditions for 47 days over 500 miles

“I am absolutely delighted with this promotion and look forward to the new challenges it brings. I hope to continue to consolidate and improve upon the quality of our work in the fields of management training, team building and leadership development which has already been recognised as some of the best in the country. ” stated David Thomas.

“We are always looking to add excellent people to our team. However it is particularly rewarding when we are able to promote from within. Not only is this excellent for staff motivation but reassures our clients that we value business relationships and continuity. This illustrates our ambition and shows our aspiration is still  to grow the business even in these challenging times. David is a valuable asset and his experience will be invaluable when making strategic business decisions.” stated Managing Director, Geraint Lewis.