Whyy? Change, reveal their 10-month journey of the pain they went through when COVID-19 struck and how they were able to change.
This is our year
Having entered 2020 with securing our long-held status on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) we went seeking new opportunities for our apprenticeship and commercial offering. February saw our training centre fill up with our latest intake of new apprentices and we signed our first Skills Bank deal. Business was on the up, and you can probably guess what happened next…
You don’t survive without action
Change is difficult, even for a company with change in the title, but circumstances meant this change couldn’t be avoided. Do we give up? Do we keep moving forward?…We keep moving, but how:
In truth, it’s all about the fundamentals. Challenge everything, plan a road-map, manage the cash-flow, negotiate with everyone and look after your wellbeing. “This was a time of lockdown and being able to visit the office, even with all the power turned off, created the space to focus on solving the business problems. This really saved my mental health” Ray Byrne, CEO.
Surviving, but what now?
It’s late April and we are feeling calm in the storm. The plan is on track, but where to go. Do we stick? Or do we pivot? You do both but first you take a ‘sledge-hammer’ to every resource and ask:
a) Is the current website fit for purpose?
b) How do we increase our revenue?
c) Is the training centre an asset or an anchor?
d) How do we find the talent needed?
All terrific questions, but really, they all follow on from the question of questions. If you believe, are you willing to commit? Well we are, we did and we will.
Whyy? 2.0 is born
It’s July, we have committed to a new website and invested in a new hybrid classroom setup, where Ray can still partake in his love of whiteboards and post-it notes whilst engaging with the learners, via a high-powered webcam and a giant screen through Zoom. Two interns joined us who will be focused on our communication strategy. Investment in making Whyy? HQ Covid secure was a priority and welcomed back our learners.
What comes next
We enter September at pace. In July, we couldn’t foresee making the internship position permanent, but when you work with exceptional talent you find a way. Welcome to the team, Matt. (Keep reading, learn more about him here). We also concluded the partnership agreement with Bureau Veritas to deliver all their Quality HSE training programme. Upon reading this, our new website should be live, you’re most probably on it now! We’ve just been awarded the competitive tender by Skills Bank to deliver Lean6 – Yellow Belt training to businesses in the Sheffield City Region with savings of over £750 per learner.
That brings us to today. Our story isn’t unique. It isn’t spectacular, but it is real. We look forward to introducing the team and their journey.
The region talks about there being too few opportunities to fulfil their potential, whyy not join us on the Skills Bank funded course on problem solving? Give us a call 0114 400 0077!
Follow us on Social Media!
