SCL Professional and The Ned start a 5-star apprenticeship partnership

On Monday the 9th of September, Antonia McGrane, SCL Professional’s Coaching Programme Lead, delivered a truly insightful session to our ‘Unlocking Talent’ apprenticeship learners at The Ned in London.

SCL Professional’s relationship with The Ned, began in February 2022 at an event in Copenhagen. Fast forward to 2024 and there are 26 learners currently on a bespoke Team Leader Level 3 apprenticeship programme, made up of staff across the business including sous chefs, head waiters, receptionists, a wedding planner and members of the membership and sales team.

As part of the programme, learners have been taking part in face to face workshops every month to contextualise their learning, then practicing these skills on the job, with the 9th of September being their third session.

The session, Communication Theories and Communication Practice, was planned and delivered by Antonia in one of The Ned’s stunning conference rooms, complete with two glittering chandeliers!

Fresh from her recent delivery at an international conference in Australia, Antonia is a recognised specialist in coaching, leadership and management. Highly regarded in the education sector, she uses her expertise to inspire transformative learning experiences.

The programme, designed by Head of Design & Client Programmes, Kerryann Kelly, includes a unique delivery model which involves 6 of our incredible trainers running the programme together!

Alongside the face to face workshops, the programme includes 1:1 coaching with Ben Ballard, to ensure learners are getting the best from their learning on and off the floor.

Antonia’s session focused on key areas of communication that the learners would expect to come across in their daily roles, including dealing with confrontational situations and giving and receiving feedback.

She stressed the importance of emotional intelligence, understanding the fear/flight response and being able to harness their emotions effectively to be the best leader possible for their team.

It was interesting to learn that the brain can only process a maximum of 7 pieces of information at a time, and that the key is to approach your team and clients with positive energy, especially during team meetings where motivation and support are needed for optimum performance.

Antonia shared that the Unlocking Talent programme gives learners the ability to approach their role differently and be in control: “You always get more ‘buy in’ from individuals when they’re in the driving seat.”

Antonia closed the Communication Theories and Communication Practice workshop by encouraging the learners to consider the importance of self-reflection by asking themselves the question: ‘how do I think that behaviour made others feel?’

These sessions provided great learning insight, to ensure the programme works for The Ned and its staff, matching their brand ethos of being ‘all about the experience’ with a focus on quality.

The SCL Professional team are proud of the unique offering they’ve developed.

Kerryann worked with The Ned from the outset to deliver a tailored approach and bespoke content, including the look and feel of the programme and its materials, whilst Stephen, Client Executive for SCL Professional, helped the Ned to assess applicants to ensure we were able to set everyone up to succeed.

Kerryann said: “From the outset, we worked closely with The Ned to develop a tailored programme, not just in terms of content and design, but also by adapting the sequence to better align with their business needs. Our goal was to ensure the programme not only looked and felt right but also set participants up for success in a way that supported their organisational objectives.”

James Partington, Head of Talent at The Ned said: “This programme is really important to us here at The Ned. Making the move into management is one of the most challenging steps in any career, so I’m thrilled SCL have helped us to create something that supports our emerging leaders by equipping with the core skills to help them grow and thrive. I’m really looking forward to seeing them all flexing their new muscles over our busiest and most dynamic period, Christmas.”

Find out more about SCL Professional and The Ned.