The brief
As a development to the ILM programme we were delivering, our client challenged us with enhancing the delegates problem solving skills in the work place even further.
The solution
We added a work place assignment to the course which asked each delegate to identify a real business problem they faced and develop a solution to it. The solution had to be properly investigated using the skills and tools they had been taught and then presented to senior management.
The results
Strimmer guard development
One delegate’s problem came out of a real experience he had had whilst working on the motorway embankment. He was operating a strimmer when he was approached by a woman who had pulled over on the hard shoulder. She was distressed as a stone had flicked from one of the strimmers and had smashed her car’s rear passenger window. When he approached the car he saw an infant in a car seat in the back of the car.
The delegate worked on finding a solution to this dangerous problem and developed a prototype guard that fitted on to the strimmer to prevent debris being flicked on to the road. He patented the design on behalf of the company and presented his problem and solution to a panel of senior managers.
E-signatures
A delegate who worked as an on site supervisor realised that he could save the company time and money and at the same time allow supervisors to be remain on site more rather than being occupied with office base paperwork.
Each supervisor had a tablet which they used to manage jobs whilst on site. They also had to follow a paper based process which required them to physically sign and fax forms for counter signing approval. This required them to return to the office every day in order to complete this task. The delegate investigated ways of improving this system and presented a proposal to introduce e-signatures which meant supervisors could file paperwork whilst still on site. There were multiple benefits to the organisation, the supervisors and the teams.
