Northern Ballet

InterCHANGE organised management training for a number of members of staff from across Northern Ballet including the technical team, communications, education and training. These people spent a day together looking at management in general and exploring particular issues relevant to their work. It was also a valuable experience for people from a number of departments to come together as this doesn’t always happen naturally.

Philip Barnes was an inspiring and responsive trainer and the whole group commented on how valuable the experience was.

The impact was immediate. For example, from the training it became apparent that there were inconsistent approaches to the formal annual appraisal systems so a new system for carrying out appraisals has been agreed at Director-level and implemented throughout the Company ensuring all staff members receive an annual appraisal in a timely fashion. The participants all felt an immediate increase in confidence in management style, specifically people management, as well a raise in morale.

We have followed up the day with one-to-one coaching sessions for the people who took part in the training and these members of staff found this hugely beneficial. Again, the impact was immediate as people were able to discuss specific issues relevant to them and this resulted in everything from tidier desks to some very quite difficult discussions to resolve particular problems with staff members.

I’d highly recommend InterChange and only wish we were in a position to offer it to more staff at Northern Ballet.

Laraine Penson MCIPR
Director of Communications
Northern Ballet