Toojays Blog

Emotional Intelligence and CV Writing workshop during the first week of July.

Toojays Segways were a big hit with the crowd. A short course was set up and a challenge of completing it in the fasted time possible was set.

This week saw the second workshop take place for the Heineken International 2010 intake. 12 international graduates flew to the UK for the three day event at Toojays' dedicated outdoor activity centre, Yellowfoot in Eton.

Toojays facilitators, Lee Martin and Miral Mahrous, were on hand to deliver the workshop, which focused on the competencies of achieving results and decision making. The facilitated discussions included case studies, competency reviews and the utilisation of decision making tools.
The graduates were also put through their paces with a series of outdoor experiential activities, designed to challenge their thought processes and further embed their learning.

Post workshop comments were extremely positive with graduates expressing their enjoyment in taking part, the value of the exercises themselves and eager anticipation of the third workshop!

The Pearl Vets, sponsored by Toojays, unfortunately didn't make it past the group stages and ended up having P4, W1 D0 L3 - which was one result better than last year's performance!

I thought you might be interested in knowing about the changes that have been made to the Leadership and Management Advisory Service.

From 1st April 2011, EMB will be delivering the service across three regions, the East of England, the East Midlands and the West Midlands, supporting business leaders and decision makers across these regions to access tailor made learning and development support.

The service is funded by the Skills Funding Agency and provides a cost effective way of providing training and development to organisations. Some alterations have been made both to the eligibility criteria and the scope of activities that are covered by the grant element of the programme. These are as follows:

Eligibility

Organisations in scope for the service are either private sector businesses or social enterprises which employ fewer than 250 full time employees and have at least one employee in addition to the eligible beneficiary

• Beneficiaries must be the owner/MD/CEO of a business or social enterprise if it employs 50 people or less.
• If the business or social enterprise employs more than 50 people, a beneficiary who reports directly to the owner/MD/CEO can be considered.
• Eligible organisations must also be able to demonstrate growth or growth potential.

Funded Learning and Development must address one of the following areas:

• Developing a highly effective personal leadership and management style (including strategic thinking; and effective communication).
• Creating a joint enterprise culture with the workforce (including developing an innovative, creative and productive culture for the organisation; developing productive working relationships; reducing and managing workplace conflict).
• Planning and developing an effective organisation and teams (including recruitment, selections and departure; building and managing effective, creative and innovative teams; conveying vision and objective setting).
• Leading and managing employee high performance (including employee motivation and commitment; delivering value; learning and development).
• In some very limited circumstances, other proposed leadership and management development activity which supports the beneficiary to fully engage and make full use of their workforce may be approved but this will require additional approval from the Skills Funding Agency.

Executive Coaching is an established service with plenty of providers offering personal development.

Toojays M-Coaching is a different concept though. With the increase in mobile learning and knowledge attainable 24-7, the need to access expertise, when and where you want, is essential. Our flexible, cost effective approach to Executive Coaching is unique and puts you in control of your personal development. You choose when and how you wish to engage your coach.

• You choose the service package you want based on hours and fees.
• You choose how you wish to engage your coach. Once you sign up, you'll be given phone, web meeting, video calls contact details...and even details of how to set up face to face meetings.
• You then start engaging with your Coach, benefiting from their expertise and addressing your development needs.

Small and medium sized businesses based in the East of England (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk or Suffolk) may be eligible for grant support for training opportunities that focus on improving business performance.

Toojays has recently expanded its professional team with the addition of a new international L&D consultant. Miral Mahrous joins the company from Heineken International where she was a Learning & Development consultant within the Group Human Resources department based in Amsterdam. Prior to this, she held the role of Training & Development Specialist for Heineken Egypt. With a proven track record of working with global organisations, Miral is well positioned to deliver exceptional business results to Toojays, expanding their international client base.

Lee Martin, Managing Director of Toojays, says: “We are delighted to welcome Miral on-board. She brings with her a wealth of HR experience gained from working within Europe and the Middle East. We already know she will be a valuable member of our team. Her abilities and professionalism will strengthen the existing team, and her considerable international experience in dealing with multi-cultural organisations is a fantastic asset.”

We have now added to our portfolio of learning solutions...with Microsoft On line Learning!

Toojays have recently introduced their very own channel on the YouTube website, Toojays TV.

Here you will find the latest uploads from Toojays Training & HR Consultancy Ltd.

These include videos of recent Toojays events, informative learning sessions, and interviews with successful and influential business leaders.

For those of you who are not already aware, Toojays has its own page on Facebook. Why not add us and send invites to anyone you know who might be interested in our services. Search for "Toojays Training & HR Consultancy Ltd" and click on "like". As a fan, you will be able to keep up with all the latest news and offers from Toojays.

Toojays are pleased to announce the publication of its 2010/11 Training Brochure. The online brochure lists the personal development courses on offer from Toojays for the next 12 months.