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The Background
In 1998, RAF Cosford undertook the self-assessment as part of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) process. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the results showed that there was a clear perception across the organisation that there were weaknesses in the areas of leadership, communications and team working. As a result, ideas for improving these areas were sought and a proposal by Flight Lieutenant John Limbert to provide a series of short training courses was accepted as a first attempt to rectify the situation. John immediately invited his friend and colleague, Squadron Leader Paul Brennan, to join him in the design and delivery of the courses. John had surveyed staff across the organisation and determined their requirements, which were for an informal course, mixed military and civilian participation, to be run off the unit, no more than three days in duration and not too far away! Having found a suitable venue – The Stiperstones Inn – some 35 miles from RAF Cosford, planning began in earnest.
The Course
Paul had previously qualified to use the SDI® and introduced John to the instrument. It was agreed that day one of the course would be given over to the SDI® as it would underpin and complement all of the other training to be given. Days two and three were given over to developing the skills and knowledge of the delegates in the areas of interpersonal communications, leadership and management and all aspects of team working. Finally, the delegates returned to RAF Cosford for a half-day session on the unit’s ‘Low Ropes Facility’, to try out their new learning in a very practical way.
The terms SDI and Strength Deployment Inventory are copyright 1973, 1996 by Personal Strengths Publishing Limited
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The Results
The first batch of six courses was extremely successful and the feedback received was shared with the Station’s Management Board. This was enough to secure further funding and John invited the Station Commander and his executive officers to attend the course. A modified two day course was designed for the Station’s executives and as a direct result of that course’s success, the Station Commander decreed that all of his Warrant Officers were to attend the course as soon as possible and thereafter, all wing and squadron commanders were also to attend. The feedback clearly indicated that it was the SDI® that was the prime reason for the success enjoyed by the course. Over 300 hundred people attended the course while it was provided by John and Paul and not one negative comment was made about the SDI®. In fact some of the specific comments are reflected in the following summary:
Feedback on the SDI® from both Service and Civilian personnel:
The use of the SDI® not only increased my awareness of my own position but also that of colleagues and customers. This will enable me to change/adjust how I communicate in the workplace.
Effective delivery with a wealth of resources to back up the theory brought this session alive. It helps that we can relate to the situations and that it is not just theory.
Eye opening, particularly in highlighting how people react in conflict so that inevitable conflict can be defused/turned into positive effect – more importantly how to avoid creating conflict.
Opened my eyes, not only to my own values but to those I may wrongly perceive in others.
Has been phenomenal in opening my eyes to my own behaviour and to the interaction of others.
A powerful, interesting, non-threatening process. Could be taken further in terms of interaction of different types, but that would be the icing on a very good cake already.
Thoroughly enjoyed finding out about myself and about the rest of our team. Great fun.
Excellent, I now know what I am and why I operate in certain situations. It gives me a far wider view on life (work and family).
The SDI® stands out as the most useful tool throughout the three days. All of the other models and theories complemented the SDI® very well.
And a final comment from a newly arrived squadron commander who attended the course with seven of his senior staff: “This course has been truly beneficial – I’ve learned more about my new team in three days than I would have expected to learn in six months!”
Current situation at RAF Cosford
Although John and Paul have left RAF Cosford, the value of the work they began has been recognised with the formation of a department on the unit to deliver the “Leadership, Team and Personal Development Strategy”. A full time staff of four personnel continues to further develop and deliver the training that is still centred on the SDI®.
Subsequent iterations of the self-assessment process for the EFQM have shown a marked improvement in the areas previously identified as being weak or below average. During the process, many of those who were interviewed quoted their attendance and the attendance of their colleagues on the course at Stiperstones as a major contributory factor in their enhanced perception of the levels of improvement in the areas of team working, communication and leadership.
Additionally, ex-RAF Cosford staff have, on posting to new units, been able to continue to spread the word about the simplicity and effectiveness of the SDI® and it is now in use on many other units across the RAF. At least five other large RAF units are making use of the SDI®.
Paul continues to use the SDI very effectively as an integral part of the training he delivers for clients, large and small, at home and overseas. Among those clients are:
Brintons Carpets
Bromford Housing Trust
Glaxosmithkline
Staffordshire Police
Telford College of Arts and Technology
Intech Training, Dubai
Bahrain Civil Service
Bahrain Government Organisation for Sport and Youth
TRI Solutions Ltd
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
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Brintons Carpets – various programmes
Brintons Carpets is one of the largest privately owned carpet manufacturing companies in the world with operations in the USA, South Africa, Australia and India as well as in Kidderminster!
First contact was with the provision of a one day project management course which was followed by a two day course entitled ‘Leadership skills for newly promoted managers’. The very good feedback from delegates resulted in the Board of directors becoming aware of Paul’s abilities and they invited him to join them for the opening day of a three day strategy conference with the very specific aim of improving their interpersonal communications. That event was so successful that two directors invited Paul back to present the Strength Deployment Inventory to their specific teams and most recently, a group of 25 technical managers gave up a Saturday to learn how the ASDI could improve their interpersonal skills. In addition to SDI based course, Paul has also provided a number of courses on Time management and Presentation Skills for varying grades of management within the organisation.
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Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
After having worked as a visiting lecturer with Walford and North Shropshire College on a programme to motivate the long term unemployed back to work, Paul was invited to undertake a consultancy project by the College with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The Trust was going through the initial stages of Investors in People accreditation and had realised that they had a major area of weakness in the area of staff appraisal. Working collaboratively with the Operations Manager, Paul designed and delivered a training course that fully met the needs of the delegates all of whom were senior managers in the organisation.
Some months later, Paul undertook the CIPD Certificate in Personnel Practice as a CPD activity and needed a project for a work based assignment as an integral element of the assessment for the course. He offered to undertake an evaluation of the effectiveness of the appraisal training at the Trust and to identify further development activities where appropriate. The offer was accepted and the Trust has received a copy of the research report and has taken further action based on the findings and recommendations of the report.
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A4E – Business Skills for Childcare
A4e (Action for employment) is a Sheffield based organisation that secured a contract from Surestart to deliver a series of workshops across the country with the aim of making the provision of childcare a more sustainable business. Paul was one of the initial group of some fifty trainers who got through the stringent recruitment and selection processes. The first tranche of workshops numbered around eleven hundred and Paul delivered over sixty of these to groups of delegates from Bristol to North Yorkshire. Paul received positive feedback from almost every delegate – well you can’t expect to please everyone 100% of the time – and if asked nicely, Paul will tell the tales but no names will be disclosed to protect the guilty! Additionally, Paul fed back ideas and tips from his own experiences on the programme and much of that information was incorporated into updates for the programme which continued into a second year with Paul once again delivering a significant number of workshops up and down the country. In conjunction with another trainer, Paul was invited by A4e to design and deliver a short programme for a local authority who wanted their support staff to be trained in how to coach child minders in the materials used by the main programme. The three day programme was delivered twice during the period of the programme and was well received on each occasion.
A4e also secured funding to deliver training to a range of organisations and individuals in conjunction with a government awareness campaign about the new processes for benefit payments. Once again, Paul was able to deliver the programmes to the highest standard with extremely positive feedback from all delegates.
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Presentation skills – Individual Coaching
Paul was approached by Philip Smyth whose son, Ben, needed some help with presentation skills. Ben had been on a pre-entry visit to Sandhurst prior to attending the Regular Commissioning Board for selection for training as an army officer. He had been advised that while he had many of the qualities needed to pass the selection process, his very weak presentation skills would almost certainly prevent his selection. As a career in the army was this young man’s lifelong ambition, Philip was anxious to improve his chances and asked Paul to help. Paul’s own general military experience was of course useful but Paul had also completed the RAF Personnel Selection Officers Course and to be fair, both the Army and the RAF were looking for the same qualities in their future leaders! After some research with former army colleagues, Paul designed a one day package that managed to give Ben the required skills and more importantly, the confidence in his own ability that saw successful admission to Sandhurst and ultimately to graduation on 11th August 2006!
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Director Development
Paul was approached by a training provider who had a very specific requirement for a client that they needed some help with. The client, a small not-for-profit organisation, had incorporated some 18 months earlier and the executive board felt that they needed some form of ‘health check’ plus guidance on how they might improve their performance as a board. Paul had been chosen because of his previous work for the training provider and his own experience as a non-executive director of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. The one day programme designed and delivered by Paul was well received with positive feedback from all delegates.
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Staffordshire Police
A casual conversation with a fellow trainer led to Paul providing a one day course for a team of officers from Staffordshire Police. The team comprised four senior officers from the division plus the budget and HR managers, who were both civilians. They were experiencing difficulties in the way they handled difficult situations – the very situations that their team had been formed to deal with! Paul’s colleague had designed programme which he felt would meet the needs of the delegates but on hearing Paul talk about the benefits of the Strength Deployment Inventory SDI), he invited Paul to introduce the SDI to this team. Using the outcomes from the SDI, Paul was able to help the team realise where they had behavioural preferences that could be easily modified to completely remove all of the difficulties that they had previously encountered. As a direct result of this training, the Team’s effectiveness improved dramatically and permanently.
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Personal Development – Nursery Manager
The Shropshire Chamber of Commerce operated a Director Development Scheme whereby senior members of staff at SMEs in the area had funds made available for their personal development. As one of the trainers contracted to the Chamber for this programme, Paul was invited to arrange a one day development programme for the manager of a busy nursery in Shrewsbury. Having conducted a form of needs analysis with the manager, Paul designed and delivered a comprehensive package that included a psychometric assessment and the use of the Strength Deployment Inventory as a coaching tool to enhance the manager’s development. The manager’s feedback to Paul was extremely positive with specific mention of how well the programme had suited her learning style and that she felt more at ease with her role and responsibilities following the day spent with Paul.
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