Summary

Atelier has a number of recent graduates in three different teams.  The time was right to help them improve their professionalism and confidence in dealing with clients as well as beginning to plan the future and take ownership of their own development.

[If you dont need to read any further to be interested in how we can do the same for your graduates, please click here to contact Sharon Smith, my PA, and request a free consultation]

Background

Atelier is a specialist provider of property finance solutions, with an industry-leading senior team and an impressive record of success.

Joint CEO Chris has ambitious growth plans for the company and recognised that this will also mean developing the talent within the business to step up and take on more responsibility as the company prospers.

One target group for such development was a number of junior staff – mainly recent graduates – from three different teams within the business.  The purpose of the programme was to provide an opportunity to

• Take stock of their skills and aspirations
• Discover ways to present themselves professionally to clients and develop the confidence to do so
• Learn how to plan their own development to align with the growth of the company
• Become more valuable employees

Why Brilliant Minds?

We hadn’t worked with Atelier before this project, but we’re a good fit:

• We work mainly with professional specialists on the development of non-technical skills
• We have a tried-and-tested programme, ‘Professional Impact’ which formed the core of this programme
• We were able to adapt the material and delivery methods to suit ACP’s needs

What we did…

To start the process we held meetings with the target group and explained the purpose of the programme and how it was all going to work.  Each member of the team had a one-to-one session with Dianne to compile their LAB Profile.

Although we use the LAB Profile to help effective working within a team, and this group was not technically a team, it was agreed that by getting to know each other through the Profile discovery would encourage the development of strong professional relationships.  Long term, members of this group can foster communication and collaboration between departments as the company grows.

On completion of the profiles, the group participated in two one-day workshops and two group coaching sessions plus a review session in which they presented to senior managers about their experiences and the benefits of the programme.

Results

The benefits of this kind of development programme are wide-ranging and some will probably only come to light further down the line.  However, there were plenty of specific results reported at the end of the 4-month programme.

Across the group, we saw confident presentations to Senior Management and commitments to professional development opportunities such as external qualifications and working with mentors.  It was clear that every person had taken up the idea that this stage of their career was for learning and exploring and taking every chance to build their experience and value as an employee.

The LAB Profiles not only raised self-awareness and enabled members of the group to get to know each other in a different way, they also made it easier for them to understand how to best work with their managers.

Marc, a management accountant in training had struggled to balance his work responsibilities with studying for his CA exams.  After going through the development programme he identified ways to streamline his working week and carve out time for study.  With that clarity, the motivation to study returned and he began to make much more progress.

Slav, an Asset Manager, admitted to being sceptical at the start of the programme.  Despite his reservations, he participated fully in all aspects.  In his presentation to Senior Management he outlined ‘daily wins’ he had created by reviewing his time management and understanding more about his own motivation patterns.  He concluded that he was now doing more work in the same amount of hours.

Charles, a Case Manager and former intern, talked about how he had applied what he had learned to both client interactions and internal relationships.  He highlighted the value of the neuroscience included in the programme content and how he had been able to use that in his sporting hobbies as well as his efforts to continuously change and improve at work.  His line manager reported that Charles is now asking more focused questions and only asks once.

These are all great benefits from a relatively small investment of time and budget.  In total there were four days of group sessions plus the one-to-one profiling interviews.

What to do now…