Case Study

Academy helps Kimberley hit the ground running

1 Jun 2023

The Agents of Change series celebrates the first anniversary of Ingeus’s Continuous Improvement Academy – an initiative set up to realise the collective potential of all Ingeus employees, regardless of role. Here, Kimberley Cummings, Head of Programmes, reveals how she has benefitted from the Academy – over two different roles.

Starting a new job is daunting for most people, and being able to transfer skills and tools from your previous role is a huge help. Kimberley Cummings, Head of Programmes, was able to do just that – owing much to her work with Ingeus’ Continuous Improvement (CI) Academy.

Kimberley completed her training with Ingeus’s CI Academy last year. The academy, which celebrates its first anniversary this month, was launched to provide learning opportunities to all Ingeus employees. Its aim is to help each individual and team to maximise their roles within the company in enabling better lives. In partnership with Lean Competency System, an accreditation partner of Cardiff University, the CI team provides training in Lean and Six Sigma tools and techniques.

Encouraged to take part by her former manager, Kimberley feels grateful for the opportunity.

“I was a Regional Recruitment Manager with NCS at the time, so quite a different role, but the training has been really valuable across both jobs,” she explains. “Being able to transfer a lot of the processes I’d learned meant the start of this year was a lot easier – particularly given our workload is changing with our new contracts.”

Training levels are split into white, yellow, or green belts, with participants being able to choose their own ‘Change Agent Pathway’. Once they have completed their learning, which can be carried out during a normal working day, the Change Agents are then equipped to pass on their new-found knowledge to their teams.

Kimberley, who completed the yellow belt, has been particularly grateful to Promapp – a tool used to manage policy and processes across the business.

She explains, “Promapp is a bank of processes and as a leader you’re able to organise and edit processes so that teams can access them easily, being able to comment and suggest changes live in the system. We’ve fully adopted it and will be using it going forward.

“The CI and the Lean Six training really encourage people to stand back and identify inefficiencies and reduce time-wasting. I was hooked by that! It’s beneficial to take the time to look inwards and see how the team can improve.”

Kimberley’s enthusiasm for the academy is infectious. A few of her team have taken advantage of the CI Academy since last year, one of them already having passed the green belt and another just about to complete. 

She adds, “The academy is extremely useful for leaders through to front line staff. The resources are very accessible, there are lots of documents available and they’re inviting and easy to read. The team is so approachable too, always there if you need them.”

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