Join the service and receive:

3 to 6 months tailored coaching and training and 6 places on open workshops and master classes to the value of 10-12K, for only:

•  £600 + VAT for Micro and start-up businesses (1 to 5 employees)
• £1500 + VAT for small businesses (6 to 49 employees)
• £3000 + VAT for medium businesses (50 to 250 employees)
• £2000 matched funding per senior manager for leadership and management training, with no cap on the number of senior managers who are eligible

Join the service and you could achieve:

• Accelerated growth for your organisation, whether in turnover and/or employees
• Clear direction for your leadership team
• Realistic operational plans underpinned by strategic intelligence
• High performing teams that exceed goals and expectations
• Organisational dexterity for a competitive advantage
• Delighted customers that attract new ones
• Robust HR and performance management systems

You are eligible if:

• You are determined to grow your organisation
• Your organisation is registered in England
• You employ fewer than 250 people
• Have a turnover below £40m

Next step
Contact Karen Tidsall 020 7692 5882 or karen@WacArts.co.uk to discuss your needs and ambitions and learn how to join GrowthAccelerator.

What better way to start 2013 than by learning a new instrument. 10 weekly sessions packed full of group performing and lots of musical learning and fun!

Tuesdays:
15th January-26th March
BEGINNERS COURSES
Led by Amy Cunningham BMus, MMus

4pm-5pm - Upper and lower strings
5pm-6pm - Ukelele

Wednesdays:
16th January-27th March
UPPER & LOWER STRINGS
Led by Frankie Papadakis LRSM

ALREADY PLAY?
Join our Intermediate courses for that added support, as well as musical fun!
4pm-5.30pm

Call 07799 332562 to book today.

www.thestringsclub.org

16 November 2012

Mosaic Testimonial

Hi Karen

Mosaic is delighted to be working in partnership with InterChange Training and Development to provide quality training and resources to Mosaic volunteer mentors.

InterChange was appointed following an open tendering process, where they demonstrated great understanding of our needs.
InterChange has been working with us on two major tasks; to overhaul the training that we provide to volunteer mentors, and to do the same for the resources we provide.

In the development phase of both these tasks, the team at InterChange has worked with great skill, enthusiasm and flexibility, and has always been responsive in terms of our timescales and deadlines. We have been particularly impressed by their whole hearted approach to working in partnership with us, and their willingness to be open and honest in debating possibilities and discussing feedback.

In terms of delivering training, InterChange has a great range of professional trainers, who have each brought the sessions to life and have managed well with unexpected circumstances.

Here are some of the enthusiastic comments we have received from mentors about the new training sessions:

• “Fantastic training – lively, engaging, fun, informative, challenging and sensible exercises, v. useful and inspiring!”
• “This training could be great for teachers working with students one to one”
• “GROW coaching approach is incredible and I will definitely use it in life, with friends, family and myself!”

Volunteer mentors are at the heart of Mosaic’s ability to inspire young people.

Kim O’Reilly, Mosaic’s Senior Operations Manager, says:
“This year, Mosaic’s programmes will reach more young people than ever. This would not be possible without the huge number of volunteer mentors who give their time, skills and enthusiasm so generously. Supporting our mentors in therefore of the greatest importance, and we are thrilled to be working with InterChange to deliver a high quality training programme."

Have a good weekend

Alison Bradley, Mosaic International Director
Mosaic – the power of positive thinking

Courtney Murray has taught ballet conditioning classes locally at Spring Health Leisure since 2006. Initially inspired to dance by her grandmother Virginia Hauseman née Wilson (a world champion and figure skating pioneer in Canada). Courtney trained with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Pinellas County Centre of the Arts, Joffrey Ballet, Jurgen Schneider (Mikhail Baryshnikov's coach), National Ballet of Canada's teacher training programme and danced professionally with Bay Ballet Theatre under Christopher Fleming (world renowned choreographer and former principal of New York City Ballet).
 
A new Ballet Conditioning class is starting in Belsize Park on Mondays at 7:00pm-8:00pm at InterChange studios.
 
£15 per class
(concession rates available)
£12 class cards of 6 available to be used within a 6 month period.
 
The first taster class will be held on Monday 26th November.
 
The class is open to all adults and will be a beginners ballet conditioning class.
It will be instructed by Les Child and Courtney Murray.
 
It will be comprised of a ballet barre, cross the floor centre work followed by floor stretching and toning exercises.
The aim of the class would be to correct posture, instil grace, improve stamina and strength while developing a strong core and long lean musculature.
 
* Private tuition available on request

Our stunning main hall space - where WAC students perform their shows each term - has just finished hosting rehearsals for the forthcoming West End production of The Bodyguard!

The production used our various hall spaces to rehearse the new theatre version of Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner's film, set to launch at London's Adelphi Theatre in December. Stars of the show, Heather Headley and Lloyd Owen, talk about the production and were seen rehearsing the show in our main hall on BBC Breakfast.

Our main hall space converts from the performance mode used in WAC shows, complete with blackout blinds and seating, to a light and beautiful daytime environment for developing and rehearsing professional and 'best in class' West End shows.

The Bodyguard and its cast follows in the footsteps of Shrek the Musical, currently performing at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and the recent Barbican production of South Pacific! Both productions can be seen in rehearsal in our main hall by clicking on the links.

So, our students truly tread the same boards as the stars when they take centre stage at WAC!

15th July 2012

Testimonial for InterChange

Dear Karen

Please find following the feedback from our sessions with Philip Barnes:

We entered into a learning partnership with Interchange and Philip Barnes in July 2011. We felt there were gaps in our management skill sets and it would be beneficial to speak to someone independent to identify and help bridge those gaps. We purposely spread our sessions with Philip over a long period so we could try to learn, apply and then assess how we were progressing.
More specifically we felt we lacked expertise and experience in the area of finance. This in terms of how our financial and management information would be assessed by lenders and potential investors with the aim of raising investment capital and ultimately valuing our company.

We did address these areas to a certain degree and received some valuable advice in terms of what performance indicators were important and where our focus should be. In addition we spoke a lot about our operation and how we as managers were allocating our time on a day to day basis. The purpose of this to bring a focus and a degree of discipline to achieving the goals set out in our formal business plan. Because our time and sessions were limited overall, we actually were frustrated at one point because it seemed we spent time discussing issues we knew existed and had experience addressing rather than the other issues where we felt we needed more advice. However we knew in retrospect that we ended up discussing these issues because they were barriers to us in moving the company forward. So in sense, he held a mirror up to us and made us take a look at the obvious so we work on those things first. We think Philip’s primary expertise is process management and gaining efficiencies.

An area where we gained insight we had not planned on, was in how our customer might view our service and product. He has many of the attributes that are customers do and he gave us honest feedback in how he, and by association our customers, would view our company. This was ultimately valuable to us. In the latter sessions we were actually drafting a long term business plan and he critiqued this document for us and gave recommendations on what should be included and why. This was probably the most valuable and productive process we went through with Philip. Parties that had a reason to read and review the business plan were complimentary about the logic, content and overall clear outline that had been developed for future planning of the business.

All that is good, but Philip left us with a clear message that you must execute your plans and manage your business with ‘rigor’. That last message has stuck with us.

With best regards,

Peter Stearn, Director, Wellbeing Escapes Ltd.

July 2012

Testimonial for InterChange

The training took place over 5 weeks and has already made a big difference to the way I work and to the nursery!

I was encouraged to talk about the running of the nursery and as I talked, issues and problems arose that I hadn’t necessarily been able to verbalise, or wasn’t sure how to do anything about. Karen helped me to put solutions into place.

Karen was extremely effective and gave very practical steps as to how to solve issues – even down to the smallest detail of the wording to use which meant that I felt really able to go out of the session and put things into practice.

I would highly recommend InterChange as a training provider!

Amelia Aptaker, Puss in boots

July 2012

Testimonial for Interchange

We had several proposals for project management training but Karen at Interchange was the person who really understood what we wanted and she found the right trainer for us. Philip Barnes enthused our managers about the benefit of using project management principles without bogging them down with too much process and the result has been that they have embraced project management and it has become embedded in the organisation far more easily and quickly than we could have hoped.

We are now much better at really working out what we need to achieve and who needs to be involved and feel more in control of all aspects of our projects.

Jill Colbert, Director of Resources, CILIP

The Atrium Cafe is located in the Hampstead Town Hall.

Click on the attachment below to view the Audited Accounts for Interchange Trust and the Audited Accounts (Consolidated) for Interchange Trust / The Hamden Trust.

25.04.12

Dear Karen,

Below is a testimonial for InterChange regarding the training you recently provided:

Thank you very much for the training you did for our members last Saturday. We have had some very positive feedback about the session and it sounds like all who attended really benefitted from the session. In particular the programme you devised, which was tailored according to our organisation’s individual requirements, really struck a chord with those who attended. They also praised your training style and approachability. The staff at Interchange gave a great deal of support and guidance in setting up this course and the follow-up material which was provided has been invaluable. We very much look forward to working with you again soon and would have no hesitation in recommending you to other organisations looking for high quality, flexible and intelligent training.

Regards,

Sita O'Shea-McAllister, Administrator, ISLINGTON COMMUNITY HOUSING CO-OP

The Trust has worked with Interchange Training and Development for some years now mainly in the delivery of soft skills training for staff. The feedback from staff attending their programmes has been excellent and personally, I have always found their trainers to be extremely knowledgeable and competent in their delivery. I have also found the company as a whole to be quite innovative, extremely good to deal with and always willing to go the extra mile to adapt their programmes to fit the needs of an organisation such as ours.

Namdi Ngoka, Assistant Director of HR

Download and read our first quarterly newsletter here!

"It made me ask myself questions about the business which I was not prepared to do before"

Christian Single - Managing Director, SAMM

"A very professional coure, leading to savings for the business and helping to make important decisions for the future."

Nick Harris - Managing Director, BFP Wholesale

An enjoyable course, spent with people who understand the strategic needs of the smaller [business] better than I know (or thought I knew) myself.

Andy Bestard of Stokes Bakery

This was the first coure/consultancy I have been involved in that gave me a good level of fulfilment.

David Yates of Luke Evans

"The feedback we get from Philip Barnes training is always extremely positive. People enjoy his energetic and active presentation style and the practical value of the content. More importantly, we can see the difference in our staff's behaviour!"

Philip Couler - Head of Procurement, BASF

"Philip Barnes has been instrumental in developing our business. From strategic planning to coaching and mentoring our staff, Philip Barnes has been invaluable and we look forward to many more years working with him"

Richard Blake - Managing Director, Auric Car Leasing

The Module which Philip Barnes delivered fitted this requirement perfectly. The RACI structure he introduced during the event had a huge impact on the way in which our managers began to understand their role and their projects. The course was a huge success and has already made a difference to our project performance.

Steven Wood, Head of Business Services, Engineering UK

...AND STILL COUNTING!!!

A wide range of research has shown that self-awareness is a key ability of successful leaders. By understanding the impact they make on others leaders can flexibly modify their styles contingent on the situation rather than relying on a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Interchange as a part of their leadership and personal development programme offer individual coaching in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ( MBTI). Through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator managers and leaders can gain insight into themselves, their motivations and potential areas for growth. MBTI also enables managers and leaders to understand and appreciate those who are different from them and create effective strategies for working with them.

The individual MBTI coaching session is practical and broadly covers the areas below.

• Insight into the mechanics of type dynamics
• Exploration of the 8 functions of type dynamics
• Type in the context of developing effective leaders
• Applying type dynamics to communication issues
• Recognition of and appreciation for differences with others thus reducing conflict
• Ability to see things from other perspective
• Recognising how your own preferences might impact on helping others to identify how their preferences can impact on performance.
• Understand what to do when experiencing stress and how best to navigate through it.
• Practical personal action plan

• Using MBTI in Leadership and Personal Development

  A wide range of research has shown that self-awareness is a key ability of successful leaders. By understanding the impact they make on others leaders can flexibly modify their styles contingent on the situation rather than relying on a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

  Interchange as a part of their leadership and personal development programme offer individual coaching in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ( MBTI). Through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator managers and leaders can gain insight into themselves, their motivations and potential areas for growth. MBTI also enables managers and leaders to understand and appreciate those who are different from them and create effective strategies for working with them.

  The individual MBTI coaching session is practical and broadly covers the areas below.

•  Insight into the mechanics of type dynamics
•  Exploration of the 8 functions of type dynamics
•  Type in the context of developing effective leaders
•  Applying type dynamics to communication issues
•  Recognition of and appreciation for differences with others thus reducing conflict
•  Ability to see things from other perspective
•  Recognising how your own preferences might impact on
•  helping others to identify how their preferences can impact on performance.
•  Understand what to do when experiencing stress and how best to navigate through it.
•  Practical personal action plan

Associates

February 2012

“Since the Board Away Day that InterChange facilitated we have developed a stronger Board, who now receive better quality proposals, and who challenge and debate with greater vigour. Everyone has a clearer understanding of what the organisation has achieved and all Board members make a positive contribution outside of Board meetings. We have run successful fundraising events and we are taking steps to develop greater involvement from our less engaged communities”.

Jane Lawrence, Chair - Board of Trustees , St Mary's (Eltham) Community Complex

Following the session – I have received extremely positive feedback from the team and already started to notice a ‘change’ in management style and staff more focussed on driving the business and their department forward. Some of the very positive feedback has been:

Following the 1st session I have been able to introduce some of the key skills and techniques that we discussed, which are already starting to have an impact on my performance and work.

I feel more challenged and yet motivated at the same time and feel far more comfortable to delegate to the team and achieve more positive results

I hope the comments are helpful and of some use InterChange. I have copied Karen into this email in the hope that she may be also able to use some of the comments for InterChange.

Kind Regards

Declan Carroll
Chief Executive

 03/02/2011

To Whom it May Concern

Interchange were tasked to resolve challenging communication and cultural issues amongst senior staff within our company. They took the time to exactly understand the complexities of the brief behind the agenda, in order that the participants received real value and would feel it had been worth their time - essential with this highly intelligent, time-pressured and performance-focussed audience.

Interchange provided us with an extremely experienced and sharp trainer who was instantly able to engage the audience, who was utterly unphased by difficult people and challenges - and yet had the sensitivity to respond thoughtfully and pragmatically to each individual's issues.

Everyone was given powerful techniques to improve their communication, relationships and quality of life both in and out of the workplace. I would recommend them highly.

Joanne Heath

9th April  2010

InterChange Testimonial

Groundwork UK have worked with InterChange for 6 years. During that time our partnership has developed from the provision of ad hoc courses and now Karen and the team provide valuable, bespoke training solutions to Groundwork's federation training programme, particularly in the areas of equality, diversity and governance.

 InterChange has consistently delivered high quality, dynamic and challenging courses for our training, which have been supported by robust administration and client contact which has been second to none. This has been reinforced by their flexible approach to our need for delivery to take place, in-house at regional locations, with sensitivity to our environmental policies.

When planning our induction training we were keen to ensure that equality and diversity awareness raising went beyond the obvious and general and really aimed to tackle the topic in a way that made it relevant for our practitioners and managers. InterChange have helped us to achieve this by providing interactive and engaging sessions, challenging employee beliefs, creating understanding and encouraging participants to take their learning forward when they return to work.

Hazel Langley, Learning & Development Manager 

Monday, 06 November 2006

To whom this may concern

I have known Karen Tidsall, Interchange trainer, since June 05 when she started delivering training for early years and childcare practitioners in Camden.

I have appreciated the care and professionalism with which Karen has approached this project. Karen has liaised with me regularly to ensure the sessions are responsive to the needs of participants and to suggest ways forward. We have worked well together to develop new ideas: Karen has been very responsive to suggestions and has embraced new projects with great enthusiasm and professionalism.

Participants' feedback shows that her depth of knowledge and ability to create and invigorating learning environment has enabled them to grow in confidence and develop the necessary expertise to successfully manage a diverse range of team members and tackle challenging work dilemmas. Karen's particular strength is to encourage individuals to achieve insight, clarity and appropriate solutions through interaction with others. she combines group discussion, pair work and individual and group exercises with informative teaching slots on practical techniques, knowledge and relevant theory.

The management courses run by Karen have now become a core element of the CPD training programme offered to all early years and childcare practitioners.

Yours sincerely,

Catherine Todd, Training and Quality Manager, Early Years and Sure Start Service

November 2008

Interchange Training and Development have delivered a variety of bespoke courses for us over the last couple of years including - appraisal training, effective communication, time and workload management and Customer care. My colleagues and I have been impressed by all aspects of the organization. On every occasion the tutor has worked closely with us to ensure maximum benefit to all participants by designing a course to meet our specific objectives whilst engaging all participants through challenging and varied delivery. This has been underpinned by reliable administrative back up from the first step in booking a workshop through the delivery of pre course questionnaires to collating and communication feedback from workshop evaluations. As a result, we have implemented an appraisal system, introduced new procedures to improve and standardize communication, as well as strategies for better time and workload managements and formulated an action plan to deliver a customer charter.

Sandy Clayton, Manager