Marina Thomas, Head of Training and Development at TA6, has delivered training and education to all levels of the public and private sector workforce for more than 25 years. Passionate about empowering others to realise their full potential, while meeting organisational goals, she is one of the most inspiring trainers in the sector. Here she explains her role with TA6 and why she believes education at all levels of business is vital for commercial success.

Education is key to success. That’s the bottom line. I’m not just talking about the practical skills needed to satisfy a job specification; I mean the education needed to embed a brand’s vision, mission and values into the DNA of every person working within the organisation, regardless of role. The aim has to be to create a team of advocates who truly believe in their cause and who outperform the requirement of their roles, every minute of every day, not because their manager tells them to, but because they have the personal passion, desire and drive to do so.

Working in partnership with leisure providers, instilling this cultural allegiance to the organisation’s vision, mission and values is what TA6 does best. Yes, we can (and do) deliver individual courses to segments of the workforce and yes, this does drive success but where we see the most profoundly positive commercial results is where we involve the whole workforce, involving everyone in the team.

TA6 is not about investment for short term gains; we work with organisations to create a long term sustainable future. We rally individuals at all levels of the business to stand behind the values of the organisation and empower them to act on their own initiative, in line with those values. Once everyone is pulling in the same direction, striving for the same goals, driven by a personal desire to achieve, it’s amazing how the business will flourish.

Our company hired Marina to come into our leisure centre and transform our sales team into rock stars. She was absolutely fantastic. Always smiling, personal and professional, she created an excellent learning environment for myself and my team, allowing us all to gain valuable knowledge and techniques to better ourselves in the leisure industry. I can’t recommend her more highly.
Matthew Waymont
Membership Sales Manager - Bluecoat Sports Health & Fitness Club

The role of the TA6 education team is not to directly deliver operational or commercial outcomes. It is to empower all team members to play their part and perform to the best of their ability. To achieve this, everyone must understand the objectives of the organisation as well as their personal value and the impact they make to the bigger picture.

When we deliver our training and education, we often have the CEO and senior management team in the same sessions as those who are delivering front line services. This is because a receptionist, gym instructor or swimming teacher is arguably more influential when it comes to the day to day delivery of brand vision, mission and values. Everyone plays a part and every part is valuable.

Recognising that leisure remains a transient industry, especially in consumer-facing roles, we also work with senior teams to provide the skills and confidence needed to enable them to pass our teaching on to other team members. This ensures the allegiance to vision, mission and values remains intrinsic at all levels of the business, creating cultural sustainability.

Instilling loyalty among all team members and getting them truly behind an organisation’s cultural values is no easy task. It requires long term investment and commitment to education and training. My experience has taught me that a commitment to training and empowerment gives back far more than it takes.

If you would like to talk to TA6 about how we could empower your workforce to drive your business, contact us here.