We are delighted to share the success we’ve had working with Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries (MPDN).
SYLO | Beyond HR. was approached by MPDN to develop and deliver a bespoke development programme designed especially for the MPDN franchisees and Nursery Managers. The objective? To build a common understanding of key management activities from which the franchise can further assist the development of the nurseries.
At the MPDN head office, their focus is simple. Happy franchisees lead to happy teams. Happy teams lead to happy children and parents/carers.
Our job was to help define the subject matter, build programmes based on the knowledge levels and needs of the franchisee directors and managers and then deliver them in an inclusive, motivational manner.
What started as a rough programme outline, involving various modules, was quickly shaped with the help of Gemma Nance, Head of Operations, into a programme that would add value to the business. We then worked with specialists within the business to build materials that reflected and supported the MPDN’s services provided by the head office. What made our work easy, was the quality of the services provided.
The work led to 8 targeted modules covering:
- Understanding who MPDN are, their vision, mission and values that can be shared through the businesses
- We encouraged managers to share their learning with their teams, developing their perception of the brand and how it helps both their customers and themselves
- Communication, starting with a module developing great communication skills, from how we talk and write to how we listen. Think about it, when was the last time you were taught to listen?
- The second part of communication skills considered the differences between personality types and how our communication should be influenced by this
- Participants were introduced to the essential elements of recruitment and interviewing. Like many industries, it is difficult to recruit the right people and know that they are the right people. We looked at simple methods of making our recruitment more thorough yet keeping it simple to implement
- MPDN franchisees are lucky to have a specialist team at head office who can help them with their marketing needs. However, in order to get the most from services, the programme considered what forms marketing and how we can drive success. No, we didn’t make them true marketeers, but we gave them the understanding necessary to brief and check their marketing
- Now, one module they all wanted to attend was “An Introduction to Finance”, as you can imagine. However, we broke it into some of its key constituents, helping participants understand why they looked at certain figures. Again, it was not about becoming financial experts but being able to ask the right questions of the experts available to them from head office
- As leaders of their businesses, we introduced participants to coaching, a key element of leadership today and one that will help their team succeed for years to come
- Finally, we considered how we make plans to move our businesses forward, putting a simple technique used by PLCs in place to help the participants to plot their futures
Does it sound like a lot? Yes, it was, but we constantly asked, ‘what is right for the individuals and the franchise?’ Sticking to this led to a programme that has seen wonderful feedback as the attendees are able to apply new learning to the workplace immediately. One said, I’m ‘already putting skills into practice of managing teams and taking steps back to analyse situations fully‘. This has evidenced improvements in performance.
We’d like to thank all at Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries from the team we worked with at Head Office. So, a huge thank you to Kirsty Bradbury, Chess Rau, Sarah Wheatley, and those who participated in the pilot programmes. It has been a wonderful experience and, as we start the 2022 Cohorts, we know it will be a fabulous experience this year.
It is what we love about development… fun and exciting.
If we can help with training and/or building your business bespoke development programme, please contact us or visit our Learning and Development webpage.
Lead Trainer
SYLO | Beyond HR.
