Crown Pet Foods - Team Leader Development Programme
In October this year, Crown Pet Foods launched a brand new developmental programme for Team Leaders in the factory at our Castle Cary site.
Working with Lynda Tongue from Triangle Partnership, a learning and development consultancy based in Devon, Shane Evans put forward the developmental aims he had identified for the programme.
Shane had consulted with Paul Crocker, Operations Manager and Alex Chadwick (P and O Director) to ensure that the programme provided the skills and development appropriate for the challenges of the Team Leader role.
The Team Leaders had previously attended a four day programme called the Academy 101 where they were introduced to some of the tools of Transactional Analysis (TA).  TA is a psychological approach to communication and relationship building which provides a set of interlocking tools and concepts to help us understand what makes us tick, and where we can get in our own way and make life difficult for ourselves – and others!
Lynda Tongue designed a programme to build on the learning from the 101, supporting participants to use the TA concepts within the context of team leadership.   In addition, areas such as Leadership Style, Communication, Motivation, Team Building and Handling Poor Performance were also designed into the programme.
A launch was held in October with a 2 hour session to give an opportunity for participants to ask questions and develop a learning contract with their manager to identify their personal learning goals.
The two modules took place at the beginning of November and December at Dillington House, a splendid venue with spacious training rooms and grounds.  Lynda used a varied mix of teaching input, small group exercises, discussions and simulation exercises to enhance the learning.  Much of it was fun too!
Individual presentations were held a couple of weeks after Module 2, where participants talked about their personal learning, and what they had taken away with them from the course.

Paul Dunford said “It was a great atmosphere for learning”, while Stuart Robbins commented that “The feedback from my peers, and the Bridge too Far exercise were invaluable.”  Kerry Hatcher and Rob Tucker both said the tools were useful in their personal lives too.
Lucian Padararu said “The course was incredible – I discovered a lot about myself”.
At the end of the presentations, Paul Crocker gave his thanks, expressing his appreciation of the work that had gone into those presentations and encouraging the Team Leaders to use their new tools.
After a couple of photos were taken, certificates and books given out, all present went off to a celebratory dinner in the rather grand library at Dillington House.