Croda
Just add accreditation: Croda's new blend of staff development
"The uptake has been tremendous - we have a waiting list of managers who want to undertake the qualification, and the results have been very encouraging."
Nigel Fenwick, Group Employee Development Specialist at Croda.
Global chemicals company Croda wanted to enhance their New Manager Development Programme and looked to University of Derby Corporate to help them achieve it.
By turning the programme into an accredited level 5 qualification we added value and created prestige. The programme's popularity has since soared and Croda has scooped a national training award.
The Challenge
In 2006, following a large acquisition, Croda International recognised it needed to hone the people management skills of its new European and UK managers.
The New Manager Development Programme began in 2007 to provide newly-promoted managers with the fundamental skills, tools and techniques to effectively manage a team of people. The measure of success would be that new managers would display the required competencies, and meet their business objectives.
In 2009 Croda turned to University of Derby Corporate to find ways of adding value to the programme, while recognising and retaining its existing strengths.
The Solution
Following discussions, we felt the most appropriate way to strengthen this offer was to accredit the existing programme, turning it into a recognised university qualification which would be perceived by employees as more valuable.
Our accreditation process judged that the course should be a University Diploma - and so we translated the existing eight modules into higher education level 5 modules, worth a total of 60 credits.
Part of this process involved making sure the assessment methods were balanced and relevant.
The accredited programme took its first delegates in 2009, with one cohort a year being planned. The interest and demand amongst Croda's managers was so high that between 2009 and 2012 the programme ran five times - two more than originally anticipated.
We also put in place a system enabling those who had already completed the programme to work towards the new, accredited qualification, refreshing and re-visiting their learning and gaining the University Diploma.
The Impact
As well as delegates from Croda UK, the reputation of the programme has spread through the global operation and attracted delegates from across Europe and South Africa.
At the end of 2012, just over 100 delegates had successfully completed the programme and been awarded the University Diploma.
Steve Foots, Group Chief Executive, says, "The programme is a successful learning event which has had a positive impact on those that have attended, helping to deliver continued growth in business performance.
The New Manager Programme has become the flagship event within the internal learning and development portfolio of Croda. An additional benefit is that it has given senior management an early insight to who might become Croda's leaders of the future."
Delegate feedback endorses the success of the training, with comments including "the team now has clearly defined objectives and development plans to achieve and are motivated to achieve them" and "I am more organised as a manager and able to clearly established team priorities."
Croda are now looking to work with University of Derby Corporate further to accredit additional training programmes and develop further work based programmes for different areas of their business.
Academic Impact
Our 'train the trainer' programme has supported Croda's in-house delivery team, developing different approaches to engage delegates in a work based learning context, with a particular focus on communication style, appropriateness of contextual language, presentation and materials.
The New Manager Development Programme was the first accreditation process University of Derby Corporate undertook. Both partners have learnt from the journey and have since published papers and a book chapter on the process.
