Greater Manchester businesses urged not to forget their ‘original intentions’ and make the most of training in 2023

Business In Greater Manchester are being urged to make the most of the support offered by Skills for Growth - SME Support so they can reach new heights in 2023.

The start of the year is a good time for businesses to invest in skills, training and the personal development of their team. As we approach February, Greater Manchester’s SMEs are being encouraged to check the status of their Original Intentions and aims made at the start of the year.  

By checking their original intentions and looking at the training and support that can help them achieve them they can look to get as close as possible to achieving their aims and goals for the year ahead.

Skills for Growth - SME Support provides the fully funded training that can help to do this by developing a productive, engaged and motivated workforce. This is done by working with a dedicated skills coach to get tailored, individual support.

While businesses are facing a range of challenges, including rising costs, they are being urged to take advantage of all the training available to them, to help them to tackle these challenges, retain and develop talent, grow their business and also support colleagues to develop and achieve everything they can.

Janine Richardson, Programme Manager, Skills for Growth – SME Support, said: “As we start another year, it’s always a great time to look at skills, training and personal development of teams.

“That’s why we’re urging businesses to ‘not forget their original intentions’. By looking at why they went in to business in the first place and what they want to achieve, businesses can have great results for the year ahead.

“Skills for Growth – SME Support helps businesses to identify training that will increase productivity, grow their talent pool and help in the challenge of retaining staff and reducing turnover.

“Both the support we deliver and often the training recommendations and solutions we present to businesses are fully funded, giving businesses access to thousands of pounds of support at no cost. This is resulting in businesses benefiting for upskilled staff, more effective and dynamic leaders and managers that can ultimately drive productivity and profit.

Mandy Clark, is one of the expert Skills Coaches helping businesses across Greater Manchester and is urging businesses to make the most of the support available.

She works with SMEs to identify what training programmes meet their needs, find solutions to challenges they may be facing and use her expertise to match them to appropriate training and support that can help.

Mandy Clark, Skills Coach at Skills for Growth – SME Support, said: “Skills for Growth – SME Support is an incredible opportunity for businesses to show their staff that they value them and then upskill them.

“It provides a lot of benefits, including increased productivity and that feeling of being valued means they want to stay with the business.

“We know right now there are lots of jobs out there but not many people looking for jobs so this is a great chance to help develop your business and your staff.

“We do hear from some businesses that they don’t have the time to release staff for training but we make it as easy as possible and there are massive benefits.  The overarching feedback from Greater Manchester SMEs is that working with us gives them opportunities they have not had in the past.”

Skills for Growth – SME Support works with a range of expert partners to ensure that businesses are getting the very best training. More fully funded training available in their website GM Skills Map | Skills for Growth - SME Support (skillsforgrowthsme.co.uk).

Tom Laws, works for Serco on the digital careers upskill programme. He supports Skills for Growth – SME Support by offering businesses digital support and increasing digital confidence amongst people employed in Greater Manchester.

Tom Laws, partnerships coordinator at Serco, said: “It has been fantastic working with Skills for Growth – SME Support. They have a clear mission by knowing what they are trying to do and the areas they should support and put the resource into it.

“Skills for Growth – SME Support makes it so that businesses don’t have to work as hard to find what areas they want to get better in and then make delivering the courses as easy as possible.

“By identifying what is beneficial to individuals the business then gets the most out of it and then the employees are getting more confident and more confident people do better work.

“From a business point of view, their staff are getting better and that can only be beneficial to the businesses. Most businesses realise the reciprocal benefits of helping their staff to do training like with Skills for Growth – SME Support is helping them to be as profitable as possible.”

Businesses interest in working with Skills for Growth can get in touch by going to Contact Us | Skills for Growth - SME Support (skillsforgrowthsme.co.uk)