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Learning & Development

Learning & Development

“Continuous Professional Development”, “Learning and Development” or just “Training”, whatever you call it, it is about helping people to better themselves. It benefits our businesses, our teams and ourselves as leaders and managers, but where to start?   

At SYLO | Beyond HR. we know the importance of continuously developing ourselves and our people and, luckily, we have some of the best trainers in the business.

We asked our expert trainers to talk through some of the key challenges facing leaders and managers, and how learning and development sessions helped them. Here is what they said.

For more information download our Learning and Development information pack.

For a free 30 minute consultation, please email us.

Download our Learning and Development information pack.

We deliver training in multiple formats, in the UK and internationally, in person and virtually. We are flexible, so whether it’s executive-level one-to-one coaching, or a workshop on time management, we can adapt to fit your requirements.

Our experience comes from working across a wide range of sectors, such as IT, construction and franchises. As with all SYLO | Beyond HR. services, our training is planned with you, and aligned to your business goals.

Leadership Skills

Whatever business you lead, you may need a completely different set of skills to those that earned your leadership status in the first place.  Your role may shift from being ‘technical’ to being one of developing your company’s culture, strategic planning, creating high functioning teams. 

Senior leaders and managers need skills to balance their focus across customer engagement, team engagement, business processes and business success. This may require training, mentoring or coaching in small groups or individually. 

We cover areas such as: 

  • Leadership skills 
  • Managing diverse teams 
  • Developing supportive and inclusive cultures 
  • Workplace mental health and employee wellbeing 
  • Setting and achieving business strategies and plans 
Job Skills

Developing skills and capability for specific job roles leads to improved productivity and retention, as participants return to work and use their new skills immediately. Our approach incorporates your business culture and language to resonate with participants. Group sizes vary between 4 – 12 people.

Just some of the areas we cover are:

  •  Effective customer service
  •  Managing recruitment and selection
  •  Sales for growth
  •  Recruiting for success
  •  Conducting effective appraisals
  •  Introduction to financial management
  •  Understanding marketing

For details of current training courses please contact us.

Generic Skills

No matter where or when you started work, there are some generic skills essential for personal effectiveness, which are often overlooked. However, we ensure these courses are tailored to your business, and so will have increased traction over standard off-the-shelf versions.

We believe strongly in these core attributes and run programmes such as these, for all levels:

  •  Time management skills
  •  Communication skills
  •  Managing employee Individuals rights
  •  Managing Employee exit
  •  Managing the remote employee
  •  Handling difficult conversations

For details of current training courses please contact us.

Team Development

This programme considers how we can improve the team dynamic, helping, members of the team to become inter-dependent, improving creativity and speed of response. It can work really well in conjunction with the outputs from the Psychometric Assessments (see Assessment Tools for more info) or independently.

It includes the following modules (can be run separately or as part of a larger programme):

  • Managing a Successful Team: Parts 1,2 & 3
  • Change Management
  • Improving Business Performance
Coaching

This will ensure you feel equipped to deal with the current challenges you face, both now and in the future.  Your business will gain clarity and you will feel in control, with new skills to help you and the wider team.

We provide Coaching for all levels of your workforce, from the CEO and MD to the young graduate starting out.  Our qualified coaches have extensive experience in dealing with all the issues you might be facing; we’ve probably seen it before!

We’ve found Coaching can bring enormous benefits to your business, as it gives broader opportunities for an employee, including; covering many aspects of the work-life journey, looking at elements of their Leadership Style, how their behavioural impacts on a team or just simply having an alternative ear to talk through their challenges!

Managing conflict and how to deal with it is always an area that requires more impactful coaching with an employee, so maybe including specific roleplays can help. Coaching has consequently become a popular outreach to many employees who would like to be supported through their daily pressures of being an employee, as well as adding the amazing and elating element of being told they are the future of an organisation.

Balance is key and Coaching can be an invaluable way of developing you and your future talent. You may find the following article interesting: ‘The Importance of Wellbeing at Work Right Now’ from one of our Executive Coaches.

Our coaches are Sally, Steve, Elizabeth and Roo.

Assessment Tools

To support your workforce, we also are qualified/accredited by Thomas International, SHL, Strengths Profiling and Emotional Capital Assessment in delivering a wide variety of Psychometric Assessments.

We find these invaluable in learning more about the specific characteristics of an individual and use the outcomes to develop support packages to match individual and team needs, which benefits the whole business. We also find them particularly useful in Recruitment, either during candidate assessment or onboarding new employees.

Thomas International – PPA

  • This behaviour assessment (PPA) provides rapid and deep insights into a person’s behavioural preferences and communication style.

Thomas International – TEIQUE

  • This assessment (Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire) allows a better understanding of employees’ emotions and how they approach the emotions of others in the workplace.

SHL – OPQ

  • As one of the longest standing and most “Validated” Assessment Tools, the OPQ is widely regarded as a solid standard for Executive Assessment.

Strengths Profiling – CAAP

  • This is an online self-assessment tool designed to help people to identify, classify and measure their strengths. The tools also help to develop a simple language to move people to meaningful action in their role at work (and in their life).

Emotional Capital Assessment – ECA

  • This is an online psychological assessment tool which measures an individual’s capacity to use their emotional intelligence to develop their leadership capability. This tool has been proven to help people reach their potential, or change some difficult behaviours that may be limiting their performance. In the UK, companies using this tool include EasyJet, Sky and Network Rail.
What our clients think
  • “

    The coaching sessions I had with Sally were hugely empowering, nurturing and constructive. Sally provided a wonderful and safe space in which I could reflect on where I am and where I want to be. She helped me work through and build practical strategies, laying down a personal plan for how to progress and reach my goals. I would recommend SYLO’s services to anyone looking for a tailored and forward-thinking approach to professional and executive coaching.

    ”

    Hannah McCracken, Client Services Director – Global Management Consultancy

  • “

    The wonderful support from SYLO Beyond HR has enabled us to ensure our foundations are in place to support growth, whilst also maintaining and driving the culture that is important for us to have in place.  They have truly worked in partnership with us and provide consistent support to help us drive priorities forward.

    It’s great to have an HR partner that feels part of our team, is available for whenever something comes up and that continues to work with us as our organisation grows.

    ”

    Carolyn Hicks, Co-founder/CFO COO – Brill Power

  • “

    We have been using Breathe over the last term to track our staff holidays. This is a great system as it highlights different cohorts of staff and when is free for others to book on the calendar. This has supported our ratio requirements and helped us to track holiday entitlements.

    We like the system so much that we have extended it to using the staffing schedules to log staff attendance and hours needed to be processed for payroll. Sharon has been so helpful in helping us set up different employees work patterns and it has been really effective for our nursery needs.

     

    ”

    Phillipa Arnold – Operations Manager. Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries – Cambridge Franchise

  • “

    ​I found working with Sally incredibly comfortable.  She helped me to define the real issues and then guided me through figuring out a solution. This resulted in a huge shift in the workload I was carrying to manageable levels, greater and welcomed empowerment for the talent in my team, and a manager (mine) who was fully up to speed on what was actually going on.

    ”

    Georgina Carey, Senior Manager – Transport For London

  • “

    Sarah allows our business to concentrate on the jobs we set out to do, and not have to worry about the HR input, with a highly professional service that she provides. 

    ”

    Stuart Barr, Director – Barr Group, Thame

  • “

    As always, SYLO delivered a thoughtful and insightful session and I enjoyed hearing their thoughts on valuing difference in the workplace. It has helped me to be able to think about how I can encourage the people I work with to consider how effective their inclusive policies and practices are.

    ”

    Karen Tate – Employee Relations Lead MPDN

  • “

    SYLO delivered on the brief by matching me with an excellent coach, Elizabeth, who I trust implicitly…the coaching ensures I am in the best position possible to execute my duties and add value to this fantastic business. 

    ”

    Rich Blunden, Group Managing Director – Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries, Berkhampstead

  • “

    We met with SYLO to discuss creating an in-house Leadership Programme and felt confident in their ability to help us deliver our vision.  They designed and delivered various modules and one-to-one coaching for the Leadership.  

    The SYLO team pivoted from face-to-face to online training during the COVID-19 pandemic and our employees were able to continue to learn and develop. It has been a pleasure to work with the SYLO team this past 5 years and they continue to contribute to our business success.

    ”

    Claire Madle, Training Advisor – Jonas Software, Wallingford

  • “

    SYLO | Beyond HR. are great to work with – they are challenging but supportive, highly skilled and adaptable. Together we have developed a sharp, focused appraisal process, to enable managers to be more consistent, staff to develop their professional capability, and the school to provide competencies-based evidence of staff performance. 

    ”

    Maxine Evans, Head Teacher – Rush Common Primary School, Oxfordshire

  • “

    We found SYLO very approachable and professional – they took the time to understand the specific needs of our business and delivered a course which has provided real assistance and focus to time management across the various elements of our business.

    ”

    Mark Pelopida, Partner – Machins Solicitors LLP, Luton

  • “

    We contacted SYLO back in 2013 as a growing company in need of some HR support. SYLO has proved invaluable in helping us find our way through the complexity of HR policy and procedure. 

    Since the initial contact, we have doubled in size and our partnership with SYLO has gone from strength to strength. They have been there every step of the way providing endless support from recruitment to employment contracts, to business development, and everything in between!

    ”

    Duncan Doig, Managing Director – Doig Furniture, Thame

  • “

    We are looking forward to SYLO Beyond HR helping us sustainably grow our business in 2022. Our people are at the core of our services and with SYLO’s retained support, we will be able to nurture and grow our team with the right HR frameworks in place to succeed. Exciting times ahead! 

    ”

    Lexi Clarke, Agency Director – Action Rocket, London

  • “

    Businesses must act and not just speak the words of inclusion but support the world to become more equitable. We needed support to guide these conversations within our agency and to get the whole team involved in creating change.  SYLO | Beyond HR gave guidance and clarity to create an agenda over 6 engaging workshops with experienced facilitators.  This year we look forward to working with SYLO on developing more training sessions and organisational process improvements. 

    ”

    Lexi Clarke, Agency Director – Action Rocket, London

  • “

    We outsource our HR and have been supported by SYLO for over two years; they have handled everything in a timely and professional manner. Communication is clear and regular reviews mean we remain compliant with all regulation. The cloud-based HR system has proved particularly helpful. I would recommend SYLO without hesitation. 

    ”

    Gareth Wakefield, Chief Technical Officer – Xerion Healthcare, Bicester

  • “

    We appointed SYLO for a one-off project. The confidential, professional manner in which they approached the project, gained the confidence of those taking part resulted in an informative report of great use to us in the future – so much so, we have asked SYLO to undertake another project for us. 

    ”

    Ann Midwinter – Thame

  • “

    During COVID-19, we decided to rework and update all aspects of our HR & GDPR and health and safety policies. We engaged SYLO to help guide us through what can be a very daunting, and complicated set of processes. We have been very impressed with their speed and attention to detail.  

    ”

    Simon Percy, Managing Director – Little Shadow, London

  • “

    Sarah and Sally from SYLO are loyal and enthusiastic supporters of Lord Williams’ School. They deliver sixth form workshops with an employment-related focus, provide work experience placements, and attend the school business breakfast meetings. Sally and Sarah adapt their experience to the classroom situation to engage and inform our young people in their preparation for the workplace. 

    I am delighted with and very grateful for the support SYLO has shown Lord Williams’s School and I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with them in the coming years.

    ”

    Nicky Stallwood, Personal Development Curriculum Manager – Lord Williams’s School, Thame

  • “

    We are coming up to our second anniversary of using Breathe HR and I can honestly say we would be lost without it now.  It’s improved our HR recording beyond measure with everything being secure in one place and no paper files!!  The massive time-saver is the annual leave functionality, which is automated and intuitive and makes the whole process painless. I have a bird’s eye view of it all. 

    ”

    Seana McLachlan, Office Manager – Doig Furniture

  • “

    As the recently appointed voluntary Commercial Director of a small-town sports club I was faced with the daunting task of establishing employment contracts with my part-time bar and catering staff, and also putting in place an HR documentation system. With the support of SYLO this has been accomplished to my total satisfaction and at a cost that I consider very reasonable. The SYLO team that I have worked with have been very fast, efficient and extremely professional and I cannot recommend them more highly.

    ”

    David Leggett, Sports Club Commercial Director – Marlow

  • “

    CEA have been working with SYLO for 3 years now. We’ve been very happy with their continued support. They are knowledgeable, professional and offer a wide range of useful services.

    ”

    Josh Axford, Head of Operations – The Centre for Effective Altruism