HRH Prince Andrew Congratulates Ringley At National Training Awards

by Mary-Anne Bowring

Property company The Ringley Group put Camden on the map and were congratulated by HRH Prince Andrew, then collected a National Training Award by The Skills Funding Agency for the London Region from Dragon's Den Theo Paphitis and Dame Judith Wilcox at Excel on Wednesday 5th October. Also in attendance was the Chief Executive For Skills Funding, Geoff Russell

Judge Richard French-Lowe said: There were 116 shortlisted entries over all regions and categories (such as large or small employers). So, to win a National Training Awards marks a significant achievement.

In assessing Ringley's entry the judges were impressed by the decision the company made to look inwards to itself and its ways of operating, to commit to Investors in People and put a structured learning process at the heart of its operating.

The judges enjoyed the quality of the learning materials, highly creative and showing the best practices of our profession. It should also be noted that learning in Ringley is delivered by the staff and leaders of the organisation rather than a learning and development department. In fact, it was a bit worrying for a learning professional to see such good teaching materials put together by someone outside of our profession and done so well, makes me concerned for my future but that is all the ethic of a good manager, to develop their staff.

We were particularly impressed with Mary-Anne's commitment to learning in the pursuit of greater success of the company.
Now in their 25th year, the National Training Awards recognise and celebrate Investors in People accredited organisations that have delivered outstanding organisational benefits by directly linking the training needs of their people to the business needs of their organisation.
Being presented with a National Training Award offers Investors in People accredited organisations:
public recognition for their exceptional training initiatives.
The opportunity to be named the best of the best on a regional and national level.
Competing for a National Training Award drives up standards in workplace learning and development by identifying best practice.
Ringley decided to include the whole firm in a training programme that ran for 18 months, led from the top by Managing Director Mary-Anne Bowring and Operations Manager Jason Karim, working with HR specialist Rachel Block (RBHR), and Number 1 business writer Michael Heppell. The programme spanned a total 10,300 personal training hours.

Some training was quite radical, for example, writing workshops that examined the styles of The Sun and The Financial Times; a problem-solving session called Heroes and Spanners; and an exercise where learners described building defects with their eyes closed to demonstrate the need for clarity.

Managing Director Mary-Anne Bowring describes the effect of the training as "profound", as staff displayed vastly improved motivation and performance. As a result of the training, output per employee has risen significantly, with average annual sick days plummeting from four a year in 2004 to less than one per annum in 2011.

In addition, over three quarters of staff now have professional qualifications relevant to their roles. "Staff, now more than ever, are valuing Ringley as an employer of choice," says Mary-Anne.

Managing Director Mary-Anne Bowring adds, I simply could not be more delighted for our teams. At Ringley 2011 is officially the year of leaseholder love. Everyone at Ringley knows we are on a journey to deliver a 5 star service, every-time. Our people have truly raised their game to adopt the attitudes and behaviours that 5 star service requires and we shall continue to roll more leaseholder love initiatives, the true reward is the growing recognition and recommendations from our Clients.

Ringley is a key innovator and are at the forefront of the property industry. Our brand promise is 100% transparency, a just ask culture, and this includes owners being able to see every invoice, site report and Property Manager's work in progress. Customers also feel safe with our Money Back Guarantee, supporting our service promise.