Virgin Atlantic
Standards of service, customer focus and operating efficiency are perhaps more critical in the highly competitive world of aviation than in any other service business. Recognising that people skills are as vital as technological innovation, Virgin Atlantic Airways asked Woodland Grange to recommend, design and deliver a programme that would lead to a professional qualification for its own training staff, and thus help ensure that employee standards would contribute directly to the continuing success of the business.
Need
Virgin Atlantic identified a number of parameters in the design of the “training the trainer” programme :
- The ability to develop training that would focus on the needs of the individual employee in achieving excellence in the workplace.
- Achieving courses that that would combine cost-effectiveness with creative flair and imagination.
- Developing a style of delivery that would be infectious, demonstrating true ‘Virgin Flair’.
- Ensuring employees would not only feel good about their training, but would contribute to business objectives and financial viability.
Solution
After evaluation, Woodland Grange recommended an ‘in-house’ version of the Certificate in Training Practice (CTP), awarded by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development. This was considered especially suitable for trainers working in the very competitive aviation environment. To reflect operational demands, the delivery mode agreed was to complete the 20-day programme in a series of 2-3 day modules over 10 months.
Specific content was developed in support of trainer training for cabin crew, call centre staff, flight crew, ground staff, management development, customer care and performance management.
Results
The programme has proved so popular that it is regularly over-subscribed. Training processes – and the business programmes on which they impact – have been revitalised and streamlined, with the content focused on delivering business results which are tracked and measured.
A specific success story has been the development of a new first class sleeper chair. Conventionally similar processes had taken 3 to 5 years, yet -- facilitated by Virgin’s newly qualified trainers -- development and implementation was under 18 months, including the training of cabin crew. This represented a significant operational benefit and financial saving for the company.