Challenge

Our client, a multinational management consulting corporation, ran a highly successful Degree Apprentice and Apprentice scheme. This scheme delivered talented young people to the business, ready for work and fully engaged.

The induction programme was a key part of the scheme, as this was their first experience working as an analyst or fledgling consultant.

The first week of the induction contained orientation, a team-building day, and a two-day communications/ personal brand workshop.The feedback from participants and managers was showing poor results for engagement, relevance, and results.

Our client recognised the vital importance of these personal and interpersonal skills and sought to replace the existing workshop with one that met their needs and expectations. Kaplan was invited to design a new workshop.

Action

Our first task was to develop an understanding of the existing programme and what outcomes were expected. This enabled us to add relevance to the desired outcomes. For example, on inspection, the team-building event was based on activity alone, with very little insight or reflection.

There was also no continuity between the event and the communications workshops, losing out a major opportunity for learning.

We decided to build a relationship with the team-building provider and work with them to create meaningful debrief sessions and an activity that enabled the group to bring their learning to the 2-day workshop and build on it.

We also explored the specific mind-sets and behaviours that our client wished to develop in their apprentices, paying particular attention to what successful apprenticeship looked like in terms of both technical and behavioural capability and confidence.

Out of this research, we designed the programme. The two days were highly interactive and engaging, and pitched at a level that connected with, but stretched the group.

The facilitation style was both lively and supportive. Extensive feedback was worked into the fabric of the workshop so that the information learned during the team-building day was enhanced and embedded.

Result

The improved workshop, ongoing, has constantly received excellent feedback from both the client and delegates.

“It was a resounding success. Everything was pitched at the right level, and the apprentices were still talking about the course when I saw them all in the evening on Thursday.”

-Programme Sponsor