6th April 2019
A training and leadership consultancy is harnessing technology to deliver real-time specialist support to businesses which place top priority on the development and wellbeing of their staff.
Trans2 Performance, which provides services to clients including KCOM, Siemens, and Smith and Nephew from its headquarters at The Deep Business Centre in Hull, is driven by the growing commitment of employers to build their businesses on looking after their people.
Martin Johnson, CEO of the business, said the company’s ethos is all about putting people first and investing in human resources over other resources.
He said: “We’ve seen businesses invest in real-time information on their finances, their vehicles and various other assets. That’s all vital, but most businesses now recognise that people are their most important resource, so we have developed an online tool which enables our clients to provide direct and instant support to their front line.
“We can provide them with the evidence of what their people are searching for and struggling with, enabling them to target resources to the right areas.”
Trans2 Performance commissioned Hull-based digital agency Strawberry to develop the “T2 Hub”, which focuses on six core categories of leadership, management, sales, customer service, wellbeing and performance psychology.
The system stores historic content from training and development programmes in various formats and can be updated with new material from clients and with best practice from elsewhere. That combination enables users to re-cap on previous lessons learned and to embrace new thinking, and it is generating interest only weeks after being launched.
Martin said: “We built the system because customers were asking for a way to maintain momentum after attending our courses and events and experiencing our programmes. We have found a way to enable the training and development to live in their organisations.
“We’re thrilled to report the launch was successful. In just three days, the T2 Hub sold two corporate licenses and received multiple demo requests. This has been followed up with further sign ups.”
Users of the T2 Hub have the option to read, watch or listen and they also have access to Trans2 consultants and to the real-life experiences of other users.
Martin said: “With videos and podcast we are trying to remove dead time. Licence holders can download, read, watch and listen. In time, the T2 Hub will become rich with content from its users.
“In the modern world, the Millennials and Generation Z access information using their smart phones and other devices and it follows that the future of learning and development lies in our ability to arm managers, leaders and professionals with the content, tools and insight necessary to make decisions and take action in real time.
“Courses are not dead. They are the catalyst for learning. But if we are going to drive results, we need to allow people to embed their learning on a day to day basis, with templates, current thinking and best practice all updated.
“We commissioned Strawberry to build this for us and we see it as a two or three-year journey because we will keep investing in its development with new features. It represents a six-figure investment which is huge for a company of our size.”
Strawberry, which is based at C4Di in Hull, was tasked with ensuring all content was presented in a way that helps users to learn, with the platform accessible on all devices.
Liam Quinn, Strawberry’s Head of Digital, said: “This was a really interesting project to work on, and we’re proud to have worked with Trans2 Performance to create this incredibly useful resource. With issues such as mental health affecting more and more UK workers, it’s essential that managers and leaders are well-equipped to give staff the correct help they need, when they need it. The T2 Hub can do just that, whilst helping them to excel in their roles.”
Martin added: “The success of the T2 Hub in such a short space of time highlights how the industry was ready for a different approach. We’ll be working hard to continue populating the platform with fresh, unique content with our weekly ‘Hubcasts’ and delivering specialist advice in real time. I’m excited to see where the T2 Hub will be in 12 months’ time!”
Freya Cross, Business and Corporate Manager at The Deep, said: “Trans2 Performance has made a big impact locally, regionally and nationally since launching at The Deep Business Centre in 2015 to deliver training and development insight which really gets to the core of the specific issues relevant to individual companies.
“The T2 Hub is another innovative step and one which supports the modern business priorities of staff development and wellbeing.”