Defra outsourced the provision of IT services to an external, private IT supplier. To manage the interface between the new supplier and the defra business, an internal Account Management team (ACM) was established. As the contract bedded in the ACM team often found themselves caught between the high expectations of their internal clients in the business and the service delivery issues faced by the supplier.

Xafinity Skillbase were awarded the contract to help develop this team into their new roles and give them the skills to manage these new challenges. The project included an initial study of stakeholder requirements and their expectations, followed by the assessment of management competency levels and the creation of a behavioural competency profile.

A comprehensive portfolio of learning and development initiatives ensured full flexibility in achieving the required learning standards for the organisation. The programme comprised of five core modules including leadership, change, communication and managing workloads. We also designed and delivered specialist modules, as well as one to one mentoring and coaching.  

In delivering a flexible and responsive programme, Xafinity Skillbase enabled the ACM team to understand the competencies and behaviours they needed to be successful in their new role. They were able to understand the attitudinal aspects of the job as well as the knowledge and skills required. For minimum impact on business delivery the learning was integrated within the workplace and catered for a range of learning styles.