Go MAD Thinking wins award for increasing profits for the Co-op

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) October 23, 2009 -- For immediate release: Leicester Friday 23 October 2009



Leicester based business improvement consultancy Go MAD Thinking has won the Providing Education & Training category in the National Training Awards (East Midlands). Organised on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) by UK Skills, The National Training Awards honour those who have made an outstanding contribution and commitment to training in the workplace.

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Go MAD Thinking wins award for increasing profits for the Co-op

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http://www.gomadthinking.com

The company was also instrumental in the win for the Boots UK Ltd in the Large Employer category for its ‘Training through change’ campaign. These two awards follow success earlier in 2009 when Go MAD Thinking founder and managing director Andy Gilbert won the Entrepreneur of the Year in the Leicester Business Awards.

The Providing Education & Training Award is made in recognition of a quality training and development service that demonstrates a positive impact and achieves client success. Go MAD Thinking (it stands for Make A Difference) used its unique "shared thinking" system brand of training to create remarkable results for the Midcounties Co-operative.
About the award entry:

Following the merger of Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-op and West Midlands Co-op a new business, Midcounties Co-operative, was born. It is a diverse operation that spans funeral homes, travel agencies, food retail stores, pharmacies, motor dealerships, estates management, post offices, childcare nurseries and head office support functions.
Co-op bosses realised that to unify their business they needed excellent leaders and managers who could communicate with each other effectively. They needed to establish a ‘One Midcounties’ organisation with a joined up culture, now known as “Team Midcounties”. And the best way to do that, they decided, was to Go MAD with an initial 14 month development programme.

The benefits of Go MAD's programme far exceeded the Co-op's initial aims. Trading profits have increased by an incredible 25.8% in 2008. Managers now understand how the Executive think, work and what they expect. They all have a common language and way of working. One of the most visible successes of the programme was the “Midcounties Got Talent” innovation scheme, which generated over 620 team entries from across the organisation and from all levels on ideas to take the organisation forward. Most of the ideas entered are being put into action, Midcounties Co-op reports a 75 per cent employee engagement score with the innovation scheme and conservatively estimates a return on their training investment of at least 400%.

“This programme was created to bring together the people from two organisations to share knowledge and a focus in order to increase effectiveness in the Society and move it forward - and it is succeeding," says Trish Poole, Group General Manager at the Midcounties Co-op. "The measurable differences stem from the common language that people can now talk - it is about people being more creative about solutions."

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For further details:
Rosalyn Palmer/Gale Witts: Go MAD Thinking – tel: 01509 891313

rosalyn@gomadthinking.com, gale@gomadthinking.com
www.gomadthinking.com

About Andy Gilbert & Go MAD Thinking:

Go MAD (Make a Difference) Thinking is a business improvement and transformation consultancy. It was founded on rigorous research that was structured into a unique Thinking system that helps people to think with greater speed, clarity and creativity to achieve success in business improvement, leadership & team development, cultural transformation, employee engagement, coaching skills and personal effectiveness. Andy Gilbert spent many years in training and development roles before starting Go MAD Thinking 12 years ago. He is the author of, Go MAD – The Art of Making A Difference and several other leading personal development and business improvement books.

About The National Training Awards
The National Training Awards (NTA) identifies and celebrates organisations and individuals that have achieved really outstanding business and personal success through investment in training.

The National Training Awards are organised on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) by UK Skills. The National Training Awards support the training delivered by organisations working on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

For further details on the National Training Awards contact:

Matthew Sunderland, Fresh PR – Sutherland.matthew@yahoo.co.uk 01872 262 977

More information can be found online at http://www.gomadthinking.com

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