Stronger Together – Making It Happen!
STAFF CONFERENCE #4 for Aston Services Group
The fourth Staff Conference was held at Manchester 235 Casino (www.manchester235.com) on Thursday 8th November. As a natural progression from the previous conferences, the theme was maintained as ‘Stronger Together’ but with the added strapline, “Making it happen”.
Utilising the impressive corporate facilities at the Casino, James Wheeler, Aston Services Group Managing Director, welcomed everyone by giving an overview of the day and a ‘State of the Nation’ presentation.
This was followed by Kieran Coe, PR, and Marketing for Aston, who talked about the importance of good photography in communications such as the newsletter and online news. This message was underlined by a team competition to take the best photo.
Alistair Clayton, Group Commercial Director, then presented a Sales / Commercial update – outlining several large new contract awards.
During the lunch interval – which was a sumptuous buffet served by the Casino – a group of apprenticeship candidates were presented with their certificates by Suzie Roberts of Equals Training and Ian Gilston, Chairman of Aston Services Group.
These individuals were the first of our Apprenticeship Levy cohort and have recently completed a range of qualifications including NVQ Level 2 and 3 in Customer Service, Team Leading & Management.
Sally Taylor, Operations Director, gave an entertaining talk on World Host and customer service training, before Phil Todd, Industrial & Maintenance Operations Director delivered presentations on SHE, ISO 45001 and then the introduction of the new HR portal.
A workshop, facilitated by Nick Brooks and Kieran Coe, focused on how the Aston Brand had developed and what it now represented. Teams came back positively with a whole host of suggestions including words like Progressive, ProActive, Relationships, Communication, Innovation, Growth, Loyalty.
Alistair Clayton then revealed the new communications ‘hook’. APTITUDE represents everything that Aston Services Group is achieving – Aptitude means a flair, a capability, a skill, and competence. The philosophy behind Aptitude will be communicated throughout the new website which was also presented in its initial design form. Bringing it all together, a wide-ranging Brand Standards Document has been developed to promote good practice and consistency of service across all aspects of the group.
James Wheeler then brought the conference to a close thanking everyone for their attendance and gave out prizes to the winners of the photo competition and the Brand Workshop.
Playing chips were issued for everyone to enjoy on the casino tables within the casino and some people even left considerably in pocket!!
Thanks to everyone for the participation and the next Stronger Together event is planned for the new year.