British Energy - part of EDF Energy

Graduate induction and development 2009

For the fourth year running, Maximillion was commissioned to design, deliver and event-manage a five day graduate induction and development programme for the 2009 graduate intake of British Energy – part of EDF Energy. The group comprised new starts from across a number of engineering disciplines.

The week started off with technical and commercial presentations, delivered by senior representatives from across the European business. The presentations introduced participants to the scheme, provided them with further insights into the organisation and outlined what was expected of them in their new roles.

This was combined with a comprehensive programme of facilitated team development workshops, input sessions, indoor / outdoor team challenges and activities, daily safety messages, evening personal work and ongoing review and debrief sessions. These were delivered by members of the Maximillion Lead Facilitation team and included inputs from selected past year graduates. To ensure organisational relevance, the programme was designed around the organisation's existing competency areas of:

• Teamwork
• Building Relationships
• Developing Self.

The week culminated in personalised one-to-one review and planning sessions, where time was set aside for participants for personal reflection and where they used the facilitation team as a sounding board to plan their development.

Objectives

• Smooth the transition from academic study into a professional workplace context
• Stimulate personal development through teamwork, collaboration & positive interaction, generating individual & team learning opportunities and creating workplace associations
• Bring the group together under a shared agenda and a set of common goals and organisational competences to encourage and develop leadership, communication, collaboration, creative thinking, problem solving and personal influencing skills

• Strengthen relationships in a fun, safe environment while providing a memorable experience

Event Detail

• Venue: Lodore Falls Hotel, The Lake District, Cumbria
• Style: Team-based personal development
• Format: Internal business presentations, facilitated workshops and input sessions, whole group and sub-team indoor and outdoor activities and experiences. One-to-one review and development planning sessions
• Guests: 57 participants, plus 14 managers and staff of British Energy - part of EDF
• Duration: 5 consecutive days

Programme outline

The main appeal of the programme was its diversity and its ability to provide a dynamic and engaging platform upon which the participants could:

• Explore personal strengths and development areas
• Share experiences and increase self awareness of their contribution in a team context
• Reflect on how actions and behaviours can impact on individual and team effectiveness and performance.

Key programme components:

• Pre-programme BELBIN Team Role Self Perception Inventories (SPIs) for all participants
• Internal positioning and corporate addresses by representatives from senior management, HR, Talent & Leadership Development throughout the week, as well as past year graduate presentations
• Facilitated input sessions on Personal Impact, The Competence Approach to your Development, Communicating Effectively, Giving & Receiving Feedback, BELBIN Team Role profiling - implications and applications, Goal Setting with Personal Goal Maps
• Tailored experiential activities, including facilitated TeamWorks In, Kinetic Connections, TeamWorks Out, Checkpoint Challenge
• End of week Participant - Lead Facilitator one to ones
• Infiniteams games-based learning session
• Wii Olympics-style inter-team competition & end of the week team quiz

• Post-programme BELBIN 360° Observer Assessments (OAs)

Outcome

The key one for all was increased self awareness of and a gauge for measuring individual performance and contribution in team-based situations. The programme provided an ideal opportunity for the newly appointed graduates to create an individual template in their real world against which their own contribution could be valued - building the bridge back to their new workplace.

Programme sponsor feedback

"It has been a pleasure working with you and the team at Maximillion. You have always delivered excellent service"

Linda Whitla - Organisational Development Manager

Participant feedback

"Everyone from Maximillion was really great and showed genuine interest in our developing ourselves."

"It was an absolute pleasure in terms of personal development and experience. I would recommend that this is continued for new graduates."

"It has been a good week and I enjoyed learning about myself and receiving useful feedback on how I can improve."

"I really enjoyed the week - everyone was really good, full of energy and eager. Thanks to Lodore Falls Hotel and Maximillion."

Maximillion is an event management company which organises conferences, live events and team building activities across the UK. To find out more about our range of services, see our team building events section or get in touch.