Case Study
Nexus

Nexus provides, plans and promotes public transport to improve the economic prosperity of Northeast England and the daily lives of its people.

At the time of their first contacting Eliesha, they were in the early stages of the 'Metro: all change' modernisation programme, worth around £350m over 11 years, providing a step change in comfort and reliability for their passengers. They were also awaiting delivery of a new fleet of rolling stock from Swiss train builder Stadler.

They had the desired outcome of developing mentoring capacity within their operational workforce and formally embedded this development with a despoke training programme, preferably one that included accreditation/qualification for their learners, commensurate with their desire to maintain an inclusive workplace where all staff are recognised, valued and developed.

In response to the context above, a Nexus steering group outlined a requirement to develop specific interactive workshops and a programme of development. The workshops were to be designed to provide all staff with Nexus’s mentoring expectations at work, whilst providing them with the skills and knowledge to develop a better understanding of the role and nature of mentoring, and to also utilise mentoring skills.

Their initial preference was for an ILM Level 2 Award in Effective Mentoring aimed at the driver/supervisor pool who mentor as part of their role. Intention was to ensure participants gained the understanding of the mentoring efforts and behaviours expected of them, as well as increasing the overall confidence and effectiveness of the mentors to ensure they could:

• Describe the role of an effective mentor
• Describe how mentoring can benefit those being mentored in a range of situations
• Identify potential barriers to effective mentoring
• Explain how to overcome the potential barriers to effective mentoring
• Provide evidence that they have planned the mentoring for an individual.
• Clearly state two or more mentoring goals, for at least two sessions, paying close attention to how measurable the goals are.
• Feel equipped to have the reflective conversations
• Develop their listening skills
• Effectively support new members of staff

Eliesha worked with Nexus in a collaborative partnership that explored their requirements and challenges in full. Along with our lead designer and facilitator, we discussed relevant processes, documentation and culture to ensure that a tailored solution could be provided that was still within the ILM standards. It was proposed that two highly interactive, one-day face-to-face workshops would be provided. During the review and sign-off process for the subsequent course outline, high-level design and materials, it was also agreed that shorter sessions would be made available to anyone who missed a workshop.

The workshops included pre- and post-work (including self-reflective questionnaires and access to Eliesha's microlearning videos - pearls of wisdom®. The workshops included exploration of reflective conversations, creating a safe environment, emotional intelligence, recognising and valuing difference, structuring conversations and questions, levels of listening, a period of skills practice and action planning. To ensure maximum engagement and impact, it was agreed to split the 30 mentors into 3 cohorts.

Nexus is delighted with Eliesha’s partnership performance, with very high content, acquisition of knowledge, ability to apply in the workplace and tutor evaluation scores. Tutor scores are consistently in the range of 90 to 100%. The range of programmes delivered is potentially to be expanded to another cohort which is an indication of success in itself.

Overall, the content is well received, delegates are keen to learn and are engaged and have provided good feedback both on enjoyment and interest and on the value of the programme, with impact back in the workplace.