Tarmac Case Study
The Client
Tarmac plc is the UK’s leading supplier of heavy building materials, with offices throughout the country, an international workforce of 12,500 and turnover over £2 billion. The company invests heavily in training and development and is committed to continuous team building and performance improvement among all its employees.
The Challenge
Tarmac’s senior directors are supported by Personal Assistants, who perform a key role in managing internal and external communications. PAs are expected to establish rapport and build relationships with clients and suppliers at all levels and of all behaviours, attitudes and backgrounds. The company identified the need to develop PAs’ interpersonal skills in order to deal effectively with these challenging situations.
The S2S Solution
Solutions2Success devised and provided a bespoke course entitled ‘Effectively Managing Relationships to your Advantage’. The course was customised to Tarmac’s requirements and focused on developing key communication skills, including persuasion, influence and dealing with difficult people.
The course was a resounding success, with excellent feedback from attendees and the client. Participants were able to set their own agenda via pre-course questionnaires, which ensured that the training was practical, realistic and enjoyable. The post-course web-based message board and teleconference facilities provided further added value, and 100% of attendees said they would recommend the course to others.
The Benefits
Participants reported very favourably on the course’s relevance and usefulness and the opportunity for personal involvement, highlighting several key outcomes:
- Excellent team-building experience
- Greater insight into working relationships and ways to improve them
- Improved methods to help deal with difficult people, problems & situations
- Practical solutions to enable the knowledge gained to be applied in the workplace
The client identified further important benefits in terms of increased motivation and effective team building:
- Recognition and application of best practice
- Development of effective communications strategies
- Greater confidence and self-belief
- Improved skills and handling of difficult situaions
- Enhanced professional performance
The Verdict
"In delivering this course Solutions2Success reflected many of Tarmac’s core values, especially by ensuring relevance, adding value and focusing on results. We value S2S highly as a training business partner and plan to involve them in our staff development on a continuing basis.”
As market leader we invest heavily in training that is not only “ Fit for Purpose” but also sets the bar higher for our competitors to chase.
S2S offer such a service and to such a high level I would definitely recommend to any potential customer.
Chris Williams, National Contracting Training Manager, Tarmac plc.
