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Now in its fourth year, the Broadcast Industry Training Award is fast becoming a coveted award for the HR and Learning & Development community across all sectors of the broadcast industry. It is the only industry specific accolade within the acclaimed National Training Awards. All companies in the Broadcast Industry can enter and there are categories for Small, Medium and Large organisations.
These awards are organised by the partnership of Skillset, Ofcom and the BETR in conjunction with UK Skills and The National Training Awards. They have been judged by a panel of independent experts, most of whom have significant experience of the broadcast industry.
The winners of this year’s Awards were announced at a prestigious awards ceremony at BAFTA on 11th Oct 2010. The awards were presented by radio and TV favourite, Maggie Philbin.
The finalists, who were all in the Large Employer category (organisations with over 250 employees) were as follows: British Sky Broadcasting, Global Radio, ITV and Lime Pictures. Peter Block, Executive Director of the BETR said “We have been very impressed to see innovative training being deployed in so many areas, and to such powerful effect - from helping to increase sales, improving efficiency, supporting staff during a tough time, through to developing innovative entry points into the industry. Once again the quality of entrants this year has been extremely high.”
To view the award ceremony, please click here.
In September 2008, British Sky Broadcasting created a new learning infrastructure, the Sky Development Studio. This is a single, group wide system for all Sky’s training and development, accessible to all Sky employees. As part of the Development Studio, Sky introduced of a new performance development process, pulling together the best of 21 different frameworks, then training managers and staff alike to ensure effective use of the new system.
A key part of Global Radio’s 3-year commercial strategy was to establish a brand-new Telesales Team capable of generating lucrative new business whilst maintaining ongoing client relationships. Global designed an induction package to meet the ‘activity based’ learning needs of the ten recruits who were teamed together and trained in just six days.
During 2009, ITV went through a period of transition putting 600 employees at risk of redundancy. In partnership with Fairplace, ITV developed a hugely successful career transition programme, providing a variety of training interventions to staff leaving the company and those remaining.
In order to attract the industry’s next generation of talent, Lime Pictures introduced an innovative media placement scheme, which has given experienced and aspiring media specialists the chance to work on top programmes such as Hollyoaks. With the aim of developing non-traditional entry points for people, the scheme was launched in January 2009. With 83% of those who have participated thus far under the age of 24, Lime believes they are creating a ‘talent pool’ whilst motivating and engaging their existing staff.
The Broadcast Industry NTA Judges felt Lime Picture’s Media Placement Scheme, although a worthy finalist, had not quite met the winning criteria but if they are able to provide evidence for the support training of the mentors, this has the potential to be an Award winning entry in the future.
However, the BETR felt Lime Picture’s rigorous and structured Media Placement Scheme was an excellent example of good practice and should be acknowledged as such.
To that end the BETR has introduced a Good Practice Award, which Lime pictures were presented with.
The judges awarded BSkyB a Broadcast Training Award for creating a complex system in an admirably short space of time, and ensuring that managers and staff alike were trained to make effective use of the new single group-wide Performance Development programme. It is a functional, blended, fit for purpose, programme involving e-learning. Everyone at Sky now has agreed objectives and a personal development plan, leading to an overall improvement in individual, departmental and business performance.
The judges commend Global Radio on the design and delivery of their Telesales Team induction. The judges particularly liked that Global had identified the preferred learner style prior to course design, and that the chosen activist approach was relayed to and acted on by the trainers at the outset. Described by the recruits as the best induction to a company and job role they had ever received, the induction programme has resulted in a cohesive and successful team, who have increased company revenue by offering new products and a different to approach to customer needs.
As regards ITV, the judges felt this was an exemplary transition support programme, meeting the needs of diverse participants. Through a variety of interventions ITV had managed to sustain morale of those who remained with the company and equipped those leaving with the confidence and skills required to move on, with many remaining in the industry. The success of the scheme worked both for the individual, giving increased potential, dignity and respect, and for the company in reducing the risk of grievances and retaining a motivated, happy workforce. The L&D culture is now further embedded in ITV as a result. Staff see more benefits in, and take more notice of personal development plans than before – resulting in a rise in completion from 46% to 86%.
The overall UK Award for the Broadcast Industry NTA, the highest accolade, was presented to the entry that was deemed not only outstanding but exceptional. The judges acknowledge the high standard of all this year’s winners but felt that of all the entries Global Radio’s Telesales Team induction had demonstrable benefits for the individual, the team and the company. Through the tailored induction the individual’s commitment to the industry is high; they are confident in their own ability and can place their role within the overall business context. Eight of the ten original joiners are still with the Team, over one year on – an impressive level of retention for Telesales – and the initial prediction of £1.9 million has been far surpassed, with £4.2 million made in the first year.
Global were invited to a UK Ceremony in London in December, where they were a contender for the ultimate accolade of NTA Winner of the Year in their category.
Have a look at our finalist and Broadcast Award Ceremony videos from 2010 on Youtube. You can also see finalist and Award Ceremony videos from 2009 and 2008.
To view our winners on the NTA site follow the link http://www.nationaltrainingawards.com/celebrating_success/ceremonies/broadcast_industry.cfm
More details about the NTA awards can be found at http://www.nationaltrainingawards.com/index.cfm