Written by Absence and Performance management training at the ABMU (Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University) NHS Health Board, South Wales
760 NHS management staff were trained over an 18 month period on this two-day training course to improve their skills in managing absenteeism levels and the performance of their teams
The problem
…was mainly of absence and we designed a one-day course specifically for managers covering essential topics such as: conducting a return to work meeting, keeping in touch with staff when they’re off sick, making ‘reasonable adjustments’ and guidelines on the procedures. We added another day to support the managers who need to improve the performance or behaviours of their staff giving them dozens of low or no risk, yet powerful tools and strategies. You can see typical programme outlines on our NHS training programmes page.
Using our unique drama based approach we were able to respond directly to their fears and concerns about challenging team members. The results of the actors’ approach to their scenarios were often hilarious yet addressed their problems by showing them the consequences of not handling them correctly. Whilst the sessions gave the delegates time to laugh, they gave them the space to reflect upon their own approaches and to come away with a personalised action plan to tackle those awkward conversations.
We were able to help with the budget constraints of the Health Board by training the staff in larger groups of 30-36. Our highly interactive approach has shown that we achieve equally high quality results even where costs mean that smaller group sizes are outweighed by the need to train the maximum number of people within a budget.
The feedback was fantastic …the managers were asked to write down 3 words that described the effectiveness of the training. The most commonly used words were:
- Motivational
- Inspiring
- Relevant
- Fun
- Funny
- Useful
- Interactive, and
- relevant
One of the course commissioners; Beth Lavercombe, Workforce Programme Manager, said of the training
Over the last two years, Nelson Training has trained approximately 760 managers in AMBU Health Board; feedback has been fantastic. Their drama-based style makes the sessions fun, memorable, and very effective. They come highly recommended.