The housebuilder said it has developed a highly successful and structured approach to managerial training and development that consists of monthly workshops delivered by its training partner, Edinburgh Consultants Group, designed to maximise leadership potential.

The training programme Managing People for Growth (MPFG) includes a variety of learning outcomes that focus on areas such as, business planning, goal setting, coaching and delegation, communication, and managing individual and team performances.

The programme is delivered in a flexible manner over nine months, and has benefitted employees across all areas of the business concentrating on improving line management from a practical point of view rather than overloading employees with ineffective theory.

The training has been designed to be relevant, practical, fast-paced and encourage managers at Stewart Milne Group to think more strategically about how people affect the direction of the business.

Stewart Milne Group’s learning and development manager, Susan Hudson, said: “We’re passionate about providing our employees with access to an extensive programme. The training provided allows members of our team to gain a vast range of knowledge regarding various principles of management and leadership.

“As we continue to grow and see leaders develop within the business, we aim to provide training programmes which are specially tailored to the needs of our employees, allowing them to gain the absolute maximum benefit.”

Stewart Milne Group’s IT operations manager, Chris Kelly, who graduated from the MPFG programme in summer 2016, said: “The programme went into detail regarding the culture that Stewart Milne Group advocates, as well as promoting the company’s culture and style of management. The training was crucial in understanding the psychological aspects of management, including personality traits and different motivators and provided exposure to Stewart Milne Group’s core values and business responsibilities.”

Construction manager, Greg Thompson, added: “The biggest benefit I took from the training programme was learning to effectively delegate and apply key learnings to a variety of different scenarios. It helped me to understand various styles of management. In my previous role, I had managed brick workers, joiners and plumbers on site and this training really helped me with the transition to managing different areas of the business. The training was hugely effective thanks to the practical aspects of the programme. It never felt like a training course, but more like an open discussion, which allowed each of us to share our own individual experiences and examine best practise for dealing with potential management challenges.”

Upon graduating from the programme, managers are encouraged to invest in continuous development by applying the learning outcomes to everyday tasks and make use of the knowledge and extensive materials provided as part of their training.

Following the success of the programme, Stewart Milne Group plans to continue to invest in training and development to retain its talented and skilled workforce.  

After listening to employee feedback and acknowledging that its future audience will predominantly be those on succession plans, without a team of direct reports, Stewart Milne Group has invested further in training and has developed and launched an additional programme Managing Business for Growth (MBFG) to address this. Cohort 1 of MBFG launched in October 18 with 14 attendees and plans are in place to launch Cohort 2 in spring of 2019.

Susan Hudson added: “Attendance on either of our MPFG or MBFG programmes will be based on someone’s role and their own personal career ambition. As we continue to grow as a business, this will ensure that the individuals attending achieve maximum benefit and development opportunities.”