A hilarious interview with two of our very experienced training consultants Nina Maan and Steven Farmer. Together they have a combined total of 15 years at Accelerator and after often partnering up to deliver creative and engaging training they've become known as 'work husband and wife'.
A fantastic, high-energy session last week presenting at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing all company event to more than 500 people!
Happy International Women's Day!
Follow the Accelerator Curve...
After over 20 years helping businesses stand out from the rest, we’ve seen what’s really made the difference in accelerating the cultural change needed.
Three words: Clarity, Consistency and Confidence.
Whether you’re creating the best customer experience or developing your people and leaders, addressing these three simple words, in that order, can really bring pace to things.
SOCIAL HOUSING: TURNING THE TIDEThe social housing sector started with a clear purpose to give those in need the quality and dignity that insecure and unaffordable private renting could not. We’ve been fortunate to work with several social housing organisations recently and experienced first-hand how employees and managers can get caught up in internal process and procedure, losing sight of the core purpose of the organisation. For the last 12 years the English social housing sector has seen little scrutiny in the services it provides to residents.
There is nothing we like more than our amazing Training & Development Consultants getting such complimentary feedback from customers, well done Naomi Jones.
“Having started less than a week ago, I’ve already jumped straight into interesting and challenging data analysis. It’s great that Accelerator has trusted me and encourages an autonomous way of working. I look forward to being able to provide some great insights and also hopefully a fresh perspective!”
Huge congratulations to Accelerator consultants Samantha Gough and Jacqueline Regan who have recently become qualified as Lumina Learning Practitioners. This increases our practitioner team to four and reinforces our growing partnership with Lumina Learning
How does the whole country of Japan gain absolute buy-in to this strong cultural belief in cleanliness? And how can we relate that to getting cultural buy-in within an organisation?
Assuming they’d be disappointed and a bit annoyed after re-arranging appointments and holding dresses back, she was pleasantly surprised by all four companies! Every single one of them simply said …
GamCare was founded in 1997 and is the leading provider of information, advice and support for anyone affected by gambling harms, including the National Gambling Helpline. It’s grown significantly from a small charity to an extensive team who have supported over 100,000 people in the UK to date. GamCare’s leaders and managers are critical to success, empowered with the skills to motivate and engage their teams, in turn reducing absence levels, building confidence and enhancing performance. Previous leadership training had had been seen as too theoretical and lacking practical skills, so they turned to Accelerator for help.
INCREASING DEMAND FOR MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING
Mental Health First Aiders are crucial in helping boost employee wellbeing as we adjust to the profoundly changed workplace environment. Demand for certification is increasing and our upcoming MHFAider® Online Mental Health First Aid course next month is already fully booked! To help meet the increasing demand, we’ve set new dates for January 2023 and we’re holding the price at £300 + VAT (£25 reduction from MHFA England recommended cost).
One of Accelerator’s senior coaches recently worked with a company that were experiencing real tension within their executive leadership team due to one individual’s behaviour. Our involvement really was the last chance to turn things around. Our intervention consisted of a single 60-minute coaching session. During this, it became apparent that everything up to that point had only been based on vague comments and feedback from colleagues had not successfully pinpointed the problem. This ‘laser coaching’ identified the actual behaviour that was creating such tension and led to a true mindset shift that was immediately noticed and welcomed by senior colleagues.
Naomi Jones joins us at Accelerator as a Training and Development Consultant and has had experience in Consumer Goods and NHS. She has been involved in a great variety of projects and programmes including Employee Experience, Early Careers and Team Effectiveness. "I’ve had a great first week at Accelerator and excited to jump into the journey ahead! Looking forward to working with Accelerator’s diverse range of clients and supporting their growth through their people."
As you can see, Naomi is adventurous and up for a challenge!
Lessons in leadership from our co -founder, Heidi Daniell!
If the bizarre weather this summer has reminded us of anything, it’s that our environment is highly unpredictable, and change is inevitable. And that goes for the business environment as much as the natural world. The vital component is to have agile leaders who can adapt their style and approach. People are inherently averse to change, so how do you navigate unexpected change that will impact your business? And how do you bring people with you on the change journey? At Accelerator we’ve seen a big uptake in leadership programmes with clients who recognise that change seems to be the only certainty these days.
Customers are now 29% more likely to leave feedback – good or bad – than before the pandemic (Feefo). Roughly half of UK customers say they will switch suppliers after just one bad experience and for multiple disappointments this number rockets to 80% (Zendesk). Customers expect considerably better experiences compared to pre-pandemic times. Organisations that continue to blame Covid for poor customer experience will lose business to competitors who have been able to transform their service to match customer expectations.
As the dust is settling post-pandemic, the traditional approach of ‘bums on seats, five days a week’, seems to be a thing of the past, as hybrid working is the new normal. Recent research from the Office of National Statistics found that, while productivity and work-life balance are reported to have increased with hybrid working, it is not without its challenges:
1. 30% of employees report an increase in hours worked as a result of being unable to detach work from home life, resulting in chronic burnout.
Holding on to your top talent has never been so crucial. Employees are redefining what’s important to them and rival organisations are equally keen to get their hands on your people. Recent research conducted by Gallup and Workman shows that employee recognition is one of the biggest driving factors in people feeling valued, empowered and productive. Most importantly, it can also boost loyalty three-fold. So why do 81% of leaders say employee recognition is not a strategic priority and 73% say there is no appropriate training for managers?
Authentic
One thing Leah is most conscious of is not changing who she is. “I’d be devastated if somebody told me, ‘You’ve changed’. Instead of maybe trying to apply myself to the role, it’s about trying not to be any different.”
England team-mate Demi Stokes said: “She’s very cool, very calm and most importantly she’s Leah and she just brings herself”. Humble
“It’s the way she interacts with people. She’s just easy-going, has that understanding that it’s not all about her.
Customer expectation is increasing pressure on businesses to put service back at the heart of decision making. Join us in this interactive workshop to learn how to create a thriving service culture, against a backdrop of hybrid working, supply chain challenges and skills shortages. Feel confident & inspired for the year ahead. In this workshop, you will:-
Identify areas of focus for your service culture learn how to improve customer loyalty and how to measure success Feel more confident & inspired to shape your customer strategy for 2022 The workshop will be a blend of presentation, case studies and active participation in facilitated break out rooms.
Customer expectation is increasing pressure on businesses to put service back at the heart of decision making. Join us in this interactive workshop to learn how to create a thriving service culture, against a backdrop of hybrid working, supply chain challenges and skills shortages. Feel confident & inspired for the year ahead. In this workshop, you will:-
Identify areas of focus for your service culture learn how to improve customer loyalty and how to measure success Feel more confident & inspired to shape your customer strategy for 2022 The workshop will be a blend of presentation, case studies and active participation in facilitated break out rooms.
Our co-founder Henry Hopkins features on Episode 74 of The Leadership Enigma podcast. Hosted by the esteemed Adam Pacifico, in this episode, you will learn:-
1. How you must carefully decide what your service is and is not
2. If you can delight your customers all the time versus the need to deliver consistently whilst occasionally delighting customers along the way? 3. To have the correct listening systems in place in order to hear and action the customer 'moments of truth'
Henry also outlines the three critical ingredients for creating customer trust; clarity, consistency and confidence.
Join this engaging, live discussion with Accelerator’s Research Team as they share their experience in gathering and using feedback in a changing world.
The Accelerator PCA Showcase Awards recognise innovation in Service Excellence, Employee Wellbeing and Human-centred Leadership during the uncertainties of the pandemic in 2020
Please join us for a special webinar with The WOW! Awards on 'Kindness & Gratitude' on 9th February 2021, register your place today.
Please join our team for a three-part webinar series on 'The Empathy Factor' starting Thursday 15th October 2020, register your place today.
In partnership with Investor In Customers (IIC), we’re excited to announce the IIC Ambassador Award - a brand new customer experience development programme and recognition award for individuals.
Please join our team for a one-hour preview webinar on the new award. Places are limited, so please book your place now.
During these very uncertain and stressful times, the Accelerator team is here to help. We’re pleased to be supporting Mental Health Awareness Week which takes place from 18-24 May 2020. We’re providing a series of free webinars throughout the week, co-hosted by our Senior Consultant Steve Farmer and Mental Health First Aid specialist Nina Maan. This year’s theme is KINDNESS – a simple but powerful aspect of our communication that has such a positive impact when it comes to emotional resilience, managing stress and personal confidence.
As we become more aware of mental health issues and the serious impact they can have in the workplace, more companies are seeking out effective solutions to improve the mental wellbeing of their employees. Mental Health First Aid is one of these solutions, and in this article we will try to answer some common questions about the subject.
This article will provide you with all the reasons why putting forward your promising managers for an Accelerator Solutions leadership course can be cost-effective, improve morale and retention and ultimately benefit your business.
Did you know: 89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following a poor customer experience? (Oracle) Additionally, a customer who has had a bad experience is likely to tell 9-15 people about it! (Reputation Refinery)
According to UK hospitality statistics for 2017, the hospitality industry accounts for 3.2m jobs through direct employment and is the 3rd biggest employer in the UK. This is bigger than automotive, pharmaceuticals and aerospace combined, and twice as big as financial services. Significantly, the industry generated over £72bn of gross value directly to the UK economy, and a further £86bn indirectly. As a result, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that hospitality is thriving.
Angel Trains, one of Britain's leading train leasing companies, has re-appointed Accelerator to manage its Stakeholder Feedback Programme until 2021...
According to the Office for National Statistics, 5.34 million people across the United Kingdom work in the public sector (as of June 2018). If you’re one of these employees and aiming to improve the customer service delivered within your department, the information in this article will outline a number of basic customer service tips. However, Accelerator Solutions believes that in order to achieve maximum results, customer service training should be tailored to the context of an organisation. As a result, our training courses and workshops are aligned with the specific needs of your team.
We are very proud to say that Accelerator has been appointed by the House of Commons to deliver...
Did you know, according to Tom Rath's and Dr. Donald Clifton’s book ‘How Full Is Your Bucket’, the number one reason individuals leave their job is that they don’t feel appreciated. Recognition is one of the most important things you can do to increase retention and lower turnover. What is employee recognition? In the simplest way possible, employee recognition is the acknowledgement of a job well done. See, that’s it. It’s just about showing them that you notice and appreciate all the hard work they’re doing.
We are excited to announce that, in partnership with The Gym Group, we have been shortlisted as a finalist at the UK Customer Experience Awards 2018 for ‘Best customer experience training - Programme/Project’!
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