A fifth of Anwyl's workforce train to be future leaders
A growing business provided leadership training to 20% of its 250-strong workforce in the past year as part of an innovative partnership with education providers. Family-run Anwyl Homes, based at St David’s Park, in Ewloe, and with its Lancashire headquarters at Buckshaw Village, is investing in its people as the company looks to expand its homebuilding by 50% over the next few years.
With backing from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), Anwyl Group launched its three-year training programme, known as LEAD (Leadership Excellence and Development), in June 2023.
In the first year 50 colleagues have successfully completed a range of development, coaching and leadership courses.
It’s being funded by a £25,000 per year grant from the CITB Skills and Training Fund with the aim of upskilling managers and developing a culture of innovation.
Mathew Anwyl, housing managing director for Anwyl Group, said: “Investing in our people is a key component of our future growth so we want to ensure we offer our employees the best opportunities for learning and development.
“The courses have been hugely popular, with 46% of our management team already undertaking training.
“Our plan for year two is to further develop our training and act on feedback from the year one participants. We’re honing three of our leadership courses and introducing new short courses to the programme in conjunction with Coleg Cambria. Take up for these has already been incredibly high, with colleagues keen to grasp the opportunity to steer their own development.”
Participant Tom Miller, an architectural technician at Anwyl, said: ““The course was really interesting and engaging. I gained a lot of knowledge and leadership techniques that I can now put into practise in my day-to-day role and that will help me in my career development. It is great that Anwyl is investing in its people and the future.”
Coleg Cambria and Anwyl’s LEAD team have worked in partnership to develop a blended learning course to assist colleagues with line-management responsibility to mentor and coach individuals and their team effectively.
It includes live remote learning sessions, one-to-one coaching and mentoring “lunch and learn” sessions plus traditional classroom sessions.
The partners are also developing a portfolio of videos and webinars during the three-year project to be used by Anwyl and made available to the wider construction industry.
Jane Keys, assistant principal – employer engagement at Coleg Cambria, said: “By fostering excellence in leadership development through collaborative innovation, Coleg Cambria and LEAD join forces to empower line managers with effective mentoring and coaching skills, driving success and growth in the construction industry. Together, we pave the way for a brighter future through dynamic learning solutions.”