case studies
Corporate Training and Training Consultancy Case Studies from Kaplan Hawksmere
Kaplan Hawksmere’s in-house capability is built on a solid foundation of over 20 years experience in the training consultancy, public course and conference industries. We serve over 60,000 customers each year. Our portfolio of management development training solutions is both deep and broad, encompassing professional training programmes across the management, legal, finance, HR, leadership and strategy disciplines. In addition, we provide specialist development for clients involved with facilities, health and safety, commercial contracts, import/export and other focused areas.
Our management development training team tailors professional training solutions to respond to the needs of each client, who may need an extensive and complex management development training programme. The following are case studies from recent clients showing how Kaplan Hawksmere have helped them develop their corporate training solutions.
AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca launched a Finance Academy to support the structured development of the finance function. The Academy is complementary to existing learning and development delivery and provides a single point of access to learning for finance, driving consistency and focus on the development key finance professionals.
We developed and delivered the two classroom-based courses to be launched for the Academy. The courses, Forecasting & Budgeting and Business Opportunity Evaluation, were both two day, interactive courses.
Both courses were highly tailored to the pharma industry and AstraZeneca itself, with the Business Opportunity Evaluation comprising detailed client specific cases studies. These courses were rolled out on a global scale.
Business Link
As part of a month-long programme, we delivered the 5-day MBA to Business Advisors who were new to the role or new to Business Link. In addition, we delivered a two-day Understanding Finance programme which complemented the financial management module on the MBA to provide delegates with a broader awareness and understanding of finance.
With the MBA, delegates came with varied experience but by being flexible, the trainers were able to meet their needs. As an example of this, mini tutorials were run on more technical aspects of finance to provide those newer to the role with a more solid understanding and greater confidence.
As a further example, there were discussions and action plans formulated for those who wanted to focus on Business Link itself and its processes. The programmes were very well received – delegates were highly engaged and the flexibility afforded by the trainers enhanced the overall learning experience.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Since Jan 2007, Kaplan have also been delivering finance training to FCO senior management across the globe in order to respond specifically to the Professional Skills for Government (PSG) agenda. This blended learning solution incorporates our PSG on-line self-assessment and learning materials, with an intensive two-day training event which addresses six of the ten PSG Financial Management modules which had been identified as priority areas for FCO staff. The face-to-face training covers the broad range of PSG core skills and has been specifically tailored to respond to the requirements of senior management within the FCO.
This course has been delivered to some of the most experienced and senior FCO managers including Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Directors. It has consistently been well received and Kaplan have been commended for the way in which we have engaged participants in what many participants feared would be a “dry” subject that has been a mandatory training requirement.
Since 2001, we have trained hundreds of new and recently recruited UBS staff from across all of their business lines using the Kaplan Business Challenge (KBC). The ‘Business Dynamics’ course includes a five-day residential board game, incorporating a wide range of commercial and personal development skills sessions.
Interjected into the simulation are various ‘lecturettes’ from the facilitators on strategic analysis and strategic choice. The models introduced are then used by the delegates to analyse the markets they are operating within and choose the most appropriate strategic direction. Delegates are asked to present their strategic plan to a board of their ‘shareholders’ (played by the Kaplan facilitators and the client’s L&D staff), and at the end of the simulation present again as to whether that strategy came to fruition and the subsequent financial results of the business.
A particularly attractive feature of the board game is the constant undercurrent of personal development skills that the delegates will need to demonstrate, as well as the hard financial and commercial skills. Teams need to work well together, exhibit leadership qualities, work under time pressure, and negotiate with a wide range of stakeholders. There is plenty of scope to incorporate formal lecturettes on these topics within the programme. They chose to incorporate this by requiring the delegates to complete MBTI behavioural questionnaires at the beginning of the programme, and then facilitating ‘reflection’ sessions on the results of these questionnaires as the delegates move through the programme.
Our work with this client demonstrates the depth and breadth of business skills that The KBC can facilitate. In feedback questionnaires, it consistently ranks as one of the highest scores within any of their training programmes.
Tailor made training – free in-house training quotation
For more information and an initial discussion please contact one of our training consultants on 0845 076 0679 to discuss your exact requirements in more detail or email incompany@hawksmere.co.uk.
