Pictured above: Jim Sinnott, Nigel Sowden and Steve Vincent
from West Midlands Fire Service, Acua's Ann Diprose, with Charles
Burt, Matthew Townsend and Paul Crawford from TNT and Acua's Ian
Scholes
Employees from two public and private sector organisations
swapped tackling fires and delivering parcels at express speeds to
take part in a unique workshop event.
Senior staff from TNT Business Solutions and West Midlands Fire
Service got together to share experiences of how each organisation
is responding to the prevalent economic challenges of today and
tomorrow.
The collaborative workshop event was organised by leadership and
management development company Acua at its headquarters in
Coventry.
Acua has designed and led learn-while-you work leadership
programmes at TNT, which has its UK headquarters in Atherstone, and
West Midlands Fire Service and brought them together to discuss
their experiences and successes in challenging economic times.
Larraine Boorman, Acua Managing Director, said: "TNT and West
Midlands Fire Service are organisations from very different
sectors, which had no prior relationship before this event. They
both, however, share a desire to nurture and develop the talents of
their employees and future managers with the overall aim of
providing the best possible service they can to their customers
and, in the Fire Service's case, the public.
"Acua has worked closely within teams at both organisations over
the past 12 months to structure programmes which tackle topics
directly relevant to the roles they face in their day-to-day jobs
and we felt there was a lot they could share and learn from one
another, which proved to be the case."
Phil Loach, Acting Assistant Chief Fire Officer at West Midlands
Fire Service, which has its headquarters on Vauxhall Road in
Birmingham, said the event proved to be invaluable and is set
to be followed by further workshops.
"There is a lot in the news about the pressures faced by each
sector, but it is clear from the workshop that the private and
public sector are not a million miles apart and ourselves and a
massive private sector company like TNT face lots of common
issues," he said.
"It is unlikely the two parties would have met if it was not for
Acua, so the company was very much playing its other role of cupid
and bringing together organisations which may have symmetry between
them.
"It went extremely well and we've already made preliminary
arrangements to continue this new relationship with TNT with a view
to looking at real organisational issues and seeing if a different
mindset can assist in solving other problems the service
faces."
Anne Garvey, from TNT Management Development team, said: "It was
really interesting to learn more about what West Midlands Fire
Service is doing beyond the actual response element of their
roles.
"There was some definite nuggets of learning both parties gained
from the discussions about how we generate greater efficiencies and
there is certainly an appetite for TNT to collaborate with West
Midlands Fire Service again in the future."
Acua's development programmes are tailored to suit each
individual client and are led by its business coaches at clients'
premises as employees work towards gaining higher education skills
and qualifications accredited by Acua's parent organisation
Coventry University.