Stamp it Out, the Safer Highways led programme designed to highlight and make socially unacceptable roadworker abuse have turned to Juice Learning to produce its free to access conflict management training.

Having previously engaged with several providers to provide a customised, off the shelf option, the sponsors of the project elected to go back to the drawing board in their quest to deliver a module which was not only free to access but also thoroughly engaging for the operatives taking the course, as Kevin Robinson, Project Director for Stamp it Out, and Safer Highways CEO explains,

“Over the past 18 months we have engaged with a number of providers to deliver pilot courses to a focus group of established industry trainers, and if I am honest the feedback we received wasn’t great.

“Comments ranged from, ‘not relevant to our sector’ to ‘death by PowerPoint will be lost on the operatives’ and tellingly, ‘the courses are too long and not deliverable in our business.’

“Simply put existing courses produced by established provider with a foothold in other sectors were not considered relevant to our sector and as such we had to adopt a completely different approach to the training.”

In doing so the Stamp it Out taskforce considered a number of factors including:

· Time available to train the workforce

· A medium which operatives would engage with

· Ensuring the training was relevant to the environments and situations our people find themselves in

· What are the key learning take aways we want operatives to achieve.

This involved Mr Robinson and the operations team adopting a ‘Back to the Future’ approach to the challenge, looking at previous successful programmes to form a template for future development, as he explains,

“We didn’t simply want to create another PowerPoint presentation, delivered by an unenthusiastic trainer which had no value to attendees and as such we knew the approach had to be different,” he continued.

“Training doesn’t have to be certificated it has to have an impact and as such we knew the approach had to be different.”

That approach has led to the operations team delving into the world of experiential learning, something Mr Robinson delivered to great effect for Kier, Balfour Beatty, R&W Civils, Eurovia, WSP and many other organisations as well as the client National Highways in years gone by.

In order to do this Stamp it Out have engaged Juice Learning to produce a resource which is video based and able to be delivered in company with a series of facilitator notes designed to engage the workforce by using real life situations they are familiar with to equip them with the softer skills needed to deal with potential flashpoint situations.

Since 2009 Juice Learning have worked with a variety of clients such as SSE and Northern Rail and indeed in our own supply chain Tarmac, National Highways and Balfour Beatty Vinci on a wide range of projects, designing and delivering engaging, experiential and highly effective training which encourages people to make the small changes that make a big difference.

Scoping of the initial scripts has already commenced with filming to take place on the Volker Highways Luton CC contract between the end of March and Early April with the delivery of a pilot programme across a number of key stakeholders in early May ahead of the stamp it Out ministerial summit on 27th June at the House of Lords