October 31st, 2024 - Beth
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And GGF’s recently launched free training platform CLARA and GRACE provides that strength needed by companies to overcome the toughest of times while continuing to cultivate and improve workforce personal and professional development.
Training has long been a vital part of the benefits and services offered to members of the Glass & Glazing Federation. From promoting the industry to school and college leavers, inspiring them to take advantage of its Skilled Pathways Scheme, to ensuring all employees – no matter how long serving – are as up to date as possible in all areas of production, installation and health & safety – training is key to an individual’s sense of purpose and achievement in the workplace.
For any training course to be successful it needs to be accessible, affordable, up to date and relevant to its audience. Additionally, those undertaking the training need to be proactively engaged and motivated and come away from the sessions with a real sense of progress.
Henry Ford once said: “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” Richard Branson countered this by saying: “Train people well enough so that they can leave, treat them well enough so that they don’t want to.”
The GGF has, over the last 12 months, made a significant investment in the way in which it delivers its training modules, creating a rich and vibrant learning environment which not only brings even the dullest of topics to life, but is delivered direct to your workforce, in your own location.
The result of this investment is CLARA (Comprehensive Learning And Resource Academy) and GRACE (Glazing Resources and Career Education) – an online training environment which has been fully customised to the needs of GGF members. From manufacturing and installation methodologies, standards and practices, to employee wellbeing, CLARA and GRACE aims to become the industry’s most inspiring portfolio of training courses presented at to the point of use for all GGF members.
Technical officer and training manager for the GGF, John Mannell, has been spearheading the investment.
“The skills shortage generally in the UK is having an increasing impact on our particular sector. While the GGF is proactively reaching out to schools and colleges in a bid to attract new blood and talent into the sector, it is imperative that all players in the industry focus on the care and retention of its people – no matter their age and longevity. CLARA and GRACE is an essential part of this nurturing policy. We know that by equipping our members with the most consistently up to date training modules, they have the necessary tools to cultivate their employees throughout their career.
Elliott Masie is an education technology expert, particularly within the workplace. He is famous for coining the phrase ‘e-learning’ to describe the evolution of online learning. He also described how: “We need to bring learning to people, instead of people to learning.” CLARA and GRACE does just that – it allows the GGF to take the best learning into companies, wherever they may be.
“E-learning has been around for some time now, so as a concept is not new. CLARA and GRACE is the result of a collaboration with a leading UK learning system provider – Nucleus Learning – that understands how to build engagement and motivation into the content. By harnessing evolving technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, the GGF has been able to enhance what is already an incredibly strong offering to our members,” continued John Mannell.
“It has also given us the flexibility to include a more diverse range of training topics that can help your workforce feel valued and supported, such as emotional wellbeing.”
Certainly, as the economic outlook continues to follow an unpredictable path, being in a position to maintain – and indeed increase – the amount of training a company can offer its employees stands out as a paradox. The training and development budget is often the first to be slashed during tougher times. CLARA and GRACE brings a certain grace back to the ensuring your workforce is nurtured and supported, freeing up those budgets for use on other more pressing areas.