Ted Leeming, managing director of Natural Power, says investing in skills
ensures a motivated and productive future workforce, and makes employees
and their company more competitive.
“Our talent is our future,” he says. “Retaining that talent is key to
driving the business forward. Continual development of our learning and
development strategy ensures our ongoing competitiveness in what is
ultimately one of the most exciting markets globally and, I hope, provides
the opportunity to work for one of the most exciting companies within the
market.”
That market is renewable energy and Natural Power, from global HQ The Green
House, in Castle Douglas, takes clients’ renewables projects from concept
to operation.
This means an incredibly wide variety of roles for its staff to fulfil,
including operational controllers manning the 24/7 control centre, which
manages almost 40% of the UK’s onshore wind energy, ecologists ensuring the
environmental success of any project, and technical analysts, who secure
ultimate operational success.
Such a diverse base necessarily requires a diverse set of skills.
“There are excellent support mechanisms and opportunities to further our
staff’s knowledge and careers once onboard,” notes Leeming, “and we
constantly develop our employee value statement in line with the company’s
growth and the maturing market.
“We continually look at new methods and different types of learning – in a
modern working world people have different needs, especially in terms of
learning styles. It is our responsibility to understand these needs in
order to maximise the potential available and then retain the talent.”
Leadership skills are an integral element here and Leeming believes it is
important for businesses to embrace strategies for both leadership and
confidence.
“Natural Power is a relatively young company and our emerging leaders are
essential to the future – onwards and upward development, managed
appropriately, are keys to holding on to that talent. There are numerous
mechanisms for support from outside the organisation, from bodies such as
Scottish Enterprise, with which we have developed core training programmes
for all of our senior management.”
Leeming is keen to emphasise that training and development of staff are
essential. He says: “We place a strong focus on our employee lifecycles,
providing opportunities almost from day one to participate in company-wide
committees, such as our environmental or staff committee. Recent projects
have resulted in the implementation of solutions such as our carbon
management plan.”
This mission to nurture leadership and talent within the company has led
Natural Power to be active in a number of HR groups, through trade
associations and with wider industry bodies.
Leeming says: “We have found that the promotion of successful talent
development strategies is a very powerful tool. There is a real benefit in
the sharing of success stories – where others can learn, and where both the
industry and the country as a whole improve.”
So what prevents many businesses from embracing staff improvement? Leeming
says: “In a rapidly growing company in an equally rapidly growing market,
you can become a victim of your own success where time and financial
pressures act as obstacles to those businesses wishing to work harder for
their staff.
“This, combined with a lack of, or misdirected, company vision can be a
dangerous mix. However, one thing should always be at the forefront of our
minds – our people are our biggest asset.”
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