G4S partner Halton Homes to devise a culture change programme Add this

Halton Housing Trust (HHT) is a housing association that owns and manages 6,100 homes. The trust formed in December 2005 following the transfer of homes from Halton Borough Council. HHT identified an issue with their customer focus and recognised they needed to undergo a culture change project, therefore they engaged G4S as a partner.

To scope the extent of the requirements G4S formed a project team, which spent ten days meeting with various stakeholders, ranging from apprentice plumbers to the Chief Executive. Mark Caddick, G4S Business Development Manager recalls “the scoping exercise involved speaking openly with employees and shadowing visits to gain an appreciation of the work undertaken and the existing culture of the Trust.”

Following on from the scoping exercise G4S conducted an evaluation of HHT’s operations to assess the breadth of learning solutions required. The diverse ethnic mix of customers required front line field workers to be sensitive when dealing with customers therefore there was a real need not only to improve the skills of the workforce but to also increase awareness and understanding of employees. A full training package, which took into account the needs of all 240 staff, was devised to provide real business benefit.

A significant challenge for HHT was to gain a full awareness and understanding of their customers so they could become central to their service. Therefore an element of the project involved the delivery of equality and diversity training to all members of HHT, from board members to frontline operatives. Attendees stated that uniting various employees and the practical application of examples was useful and “thought provoking”. To underpin the objectives of each course a ‘traffic-light report’ was devised, this acted as a learning plan to reinforce behaviours and traits which were to be practiced, developed or stopped.

HHT's vision is to operate with a social conscience so they needed specific customer services training to improve their customer focus and put their customers at the heart of their operations. G4S’s solution was to provide training which explored the issues of customer service and made clear links between customer groups and HHT's mission. The course bought together attendees with various experiences to provide this focus, a participant commented “excellent way of learning and meeting with colleagues whom I hardly ever encounter”

A full Management Development Programme was also deployed to HHT’s managers. This reflected and contextualised performance and behaviours and provided managers with the tools and strategies to move themselves, their teams and the HHT forward. The programme was imperative to the culture change, as managers were ultimately responsible for steering and leading the process. To evaluate the learning and provide the most constructive feedback a 360º feedback exercise was conducted to identify the perception of attitudes and behaviours linked to the competency framework. This comprehensive approach ensured the training had a significant impact on modifying behaviours. Attendees clearly recognised the benefit as the feedback comments ranged from “enjoyable, relevant and beneficial” to “excellent course”.

As a result of the partnership between G4S and HHT a successful two year culture change programme was delivered. The learning solutions engaged the workforce and overcame many of the barriers, ensuring the organisation became effective and able to achieve its objectives, Christine McLoughlin, Assistant Director Human Resources and Organisational Development at HHT commented “G4S took on board every aspect of our discussions with them. Without doubt they researched our organisation and took account of all the information previously provided to ensure their bid was a competitive one and they listened to what we required. Once appointed they spent time with the organisation at all levels and in many different ways to help with the scoping and development of a specifically tailored learning solution for Halton Housing Trust. Our experience is that they have always been willing to listen and continually review and improve the learning solutions".

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