Lincoln Social Services
Posted on March 17th, 2007
Nicola Marshall
Around the start of the year in 2005 Business Advice Direct met with Nicola Marshall, the Learning and Development manager for Lincoln Social Services, following a telephone contact during which IT training was discussed. Business Advice Direct was telemarketing an IT workshop promotion at that time.Nicola met with one of Business Advice Direct’s Training Advisers and explained that her staff used Microsoft Word and Excel in their every day jobs, but it had been identified that some staff were only able to use the programmes when working from templates; some had limited knowledge, whilst others could find their way around but had gaps in their knowledge/ability.Following this initial meeting, Nicola expressed an interest in the IT training being offered by Business Advice Direct and arranged for one of her colleagues Colin Baines of the HBS (Business Services) to discuss the details of what was required and the solutions available.As a result staff attended the Business Advice Direct learning centre where they undertook learndirect e-learning courses with experienced tutors on hand to support and guide the staff through their learning. Learning was delivered to individuals and also to groups as a workshop, with trainers leading the group through the underpinning knowledge, before providing assessments and other practical work to test the new skills and knowledge acquired. Staff took part in Level 1 and Level 2 training to facilitate and demonstrate progression.Both types of training were successful whilst the workshop training proved very popular with Nicola’s staff who found they were able to work at a sensible pace with tutor support and one to one help on hand when needed.
“Business Advice Direct’s training was very flexible and we developed an excellent working relationship which allowed us to liaise together adding new and additional workshops at optimum times for staff release. With Business Advice Direct’s location being central to Lincoln our staff had no problem travelling to their learning centre, there was plenty room to park with out added expense and the tutors supported our staff in a friendly, positive and professional manner”Nicola Marshall - Lincoln Social Services
Between January and July 2006 Social Services have placed 33 staff members through IT training.
“We have found the success of the training and the workshops in particular to be a mix of excellent tutoring, with an informal, relaxed atmosphere and excellent value for money. Also, very importantly to Social Services, the learndirect courses are recognised as contributing to Nationally recognised qualifications such as ECDL and CLAiT which demonstrates our commitment to staff training and provides for individuals to put their training on C.V’s and it actually means something!”Nicola Marshall - Lincoln Social Services
