A day in the life of a training partner Gill Blair

Gill Blair is a Training Partner for learndirect scotland for business (lds4b) and covers the Forth Valley, Dunbartonshire and Lanarkshire regions. Gill has worked for lds4b since its inception in 2002.

Gill works with small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), providing information, advice and guidance on all aspects of workforce development.

This is an account of her day.

6 am Jump in the shower, get my daughter, Georgia, ready for school. Bowl of cereal, cup of tea and then out of the door.

7.30 am What time I leave the house all depends on where my first meeting is. I live in Callander and as I cover from Alloa in the North, Abington in the South, Kilcreggan in the West and Falkirk in the East, my travel time can be anything from 20 minutes to two hours.

9 am First meeting today is with Trossachs Leisure Ltd. They are responsible for managing the trout and pike fishing on Loch Vennachar as well as running a high quality lochside restaurant, near Callander. Trossachs Leisure Ltd contacted me after I was recommended to them by another client which is always satisfying.
I evaluate their service and identify skills gaps in Health and Safety, First Aid and Customer Service, all of which are paramount in the hospitality industry. I also suggest, due to their high seasonal staff turnover, they produce an induction booklet for all seasonal staff to make sure legislative training and service standards are covered with all staff in a structured manner.

11 am In order to provide the best service possible, an integral part of my job is to liaise with partner organisations and intermediaries. Today I am having a catch-up meeting with Mattie McLeod, the National Parks Hospitality programme Manager to discuss the programme, prospective new clients (including Trossach Leisure Ltd), and share best practice.  The programme is jointly funded by SE Forth Valley and SE Dunbartonshire in partnership with Visit Scotland. It is aimed at businesses who felt that improving their Visit Scotland Quality Assurance (VSQA) scores would help raise the overall quality of their business and increase turnover.

1 pm It’s a cheese and ham sandwich on the run today, as I am travelling to Kirkintilloch to meet my next client, Harley Jo Hair Salon. Today I am delivering a ‘Training Solutions Document’ with information on training in alternative therapies, through which they wish to grow and diversify their business. Taking their training budget into account I will advise them on how best to spend it moving forward. I will also be introducing them to learning bytes for business, a series of short, effective courses you can study online.

3 pm My final meeting today is with my new SDS colleague, Alan Hughes. Alan and I have been working in partnership for some while and today we are discussing a Business Improvement Programme targeting the manufacturing and engineering sectors in Lanarkshire.

4.30 pm It’s time to go home and catch up on my days admin for half an hour as I have no workshops, networking events or presentations to attend this evening. The work doesn’t stop there though, I have a 11 year old to entertain for the evening.