From Team Building to Apprenticeships: Dove Nest Alumni Stories

Last month, Dove Nest kicked off a new levy-funded trailblazer apprenticeship programme  for Gestamp,  leaders in the design and manufacture of innovative automotive components.  This new programme forms part of their ongoing commitment to developing talent in their organisation. The new programme includes a mix of on and off-the job technical training, coaching, experiential learning, residential events along with collaborative learning.

For some time Dove Nest has provided Gestamp with the induction programme for their existing technical apprentices. This month I spoke with Julian Nicholas, Training Controller from Gestamp’s Cannock facility. Julian is responsible for a cohort of 34 technical apprentices in Gestamp. In talking with Julian, it became clear that this wasn’t his first experience with Dove Nest. In fact, Julian had attended a Team Development event with Dove Nest back in 1996. I spoke with Julian to ask about his experience as a learner in 1996 and now, as a leader in 2017, and how things might have changed.

I asked Julian, what he recalled about the original team development event he was part of and what impact it had.

“Through the various challenges and activities, it was clear that a lack of communication and cooperation had a major impact on achieving or failing the task. As a result, we quickly learned the lessons of good communication.”

It seems that what was true then, remains true now, namely: the important role communication plays in building teams that perform. But that wasn’t Julian’s only reminiscence.

“An abiding memory was the practical joke played on me by a colleague. I won’t tell you the full details but, 21 years on, and despite us now working in different organisations, I’m still in touch with them and we actually shared a coffee together very recently”

It might seem like a minor point, but this second comment from Julian, gives some insight into another key element of building a great team: strong personal relationships.

We wouldn’t claim that practical jokes are the key to building a great team dynamic, or that they form an essential part of our team development programmes. However, Julian’s experience demonstrates an example of the incidental benefits of a residential learning event. Namely, that during the team development event, a lasting bond was built between team members.

It’s been our experience that, when we take learners away from their normal environment, and put them together in an unfamiliar location, it changes the dynamic of their relationships. We’ve found that people often come away from such an event with deeper, stronger and more authentic connections between team members. It’s a theme we’ve covered earlier this year in the article “out of office” written for The HR Director online magazine.

Following on from Julian’s first dealings with Dove Nest 21 years ago,  I asked him, what he thought had changed since then and his answer was reassuring:

“Dove Nest seems to have the same values and passion for learning as it did back then. Today, the quality of programmes, the content, the delivery, are seamless and even more professional.”

For over 35 years Dove Nest has provided clients with learning solutions in Leadership and Management. Since then, we’ve had the privilege to work with tens of thousands of learners and we treat each learner as a unique individual.

For more information about how we help organisations to “get there faster”, call us on 015395 67878, email us at enquiries@dovenest.co.uk or visit our website www.dovenest.co.uk