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TA6 Becomes a CIMSPA Training Provider Partner
TA6 are delighted to announce that we have been made a CIMSPA Training Provider Partner following a successful application process.
This renowned position signifies CIMSPA’s endorsement of the high-quality training delivered by TA6, and we will join over 500 other CIMSPA provider partners in Employment, Awarding Organisations, and Higher Education.
Our Head of Training, Marina Thomas, says:
We want to ensure that we deliver the highest quality training to our clients, and with a growing number of employers committing to only using CIMSPA recognised training this partnership ensures that our training meets all the criteria and professional standards in the sport, fitness, leisure, and physical activity sector.
Marina Thomas
Head of Training
Paul Woodford, Director of Marketing and Partnerships at TA6, added:
TA6 are passionate about delivering impactful and inspiring training for the leisure sector and to now be a CIMSPA training partner is a real buzz. Going through the accreditation process has forced us challenge the way we approach delivering development programmes, training courses and coaching, we feel our training offering is even stronger.
Developing the leisure workforce is one of our core purposes and look froward to developing a strong partnership with CIMPSA.
Developing the leisure workforce is one of our core purposes and look froward to developing a strong partnership with CIMPSA.
Paul Woodford
Director of Marketing and Partnerships
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Q&A: An Interview with Woody
As TA6 celebrates its one year anniversary, Paul Woodford, aka ‘Woody’, Director of Marketing and Partnerships at TA6, reflects on the achievements of the last 12 months and reveals his ambitions for the brand moving forwards.
Why was TA6 introduced?
Originally set up to drive the sustainable success of leisure facilities redeveloped by Alliance Leisure, the client services division needed its own identity to promote services direct to market and support leisure providers not necessarily investing in development works. Enter TA6.
The brand name is the postcode of Alliance Leisure’s office in Somerset and the ‘6’ represents the number of service categories offered: training and development, digital marketing, sales and retention, creative, insights and power packs.
What is the brand’s mantra?
To improve the health and wellbeing of local communities, plus empower and develop the leisure sector workforce. This in turn will drive income and make local leisure more sustainable.
What does TA6 offer?
TA6 provides bespoke marketing, sales, retention and training services focused on driving community engagement. Our services are driven by an experienced team of individuals, passionate about getting more people, more active, more often.
We offer leisure providers the chance to build a viable future through effective community engagement. Our training and development division also works to embed cultural values at all levels of the business. This ensures everyone pulls in the same direction, working towards common goals and service standards.
Partnerships are hugely important. We develop strategies which promote ongoing growth and development. Our services are all managed in-house, simplifying processes and ensuring control over quality and turnaround times. Clients are appointed an Account Manager who acts as a single point of contact, drawing on a rich resource of creative, digital, training and sales expertise.
Who are your clients?
Working with leisure trusts and local authorities, TA6 is currently partnering with more than 200 leisure facilities across the UK, including:
- University of Warwick
- South Lanarkshire Cultural Trust
- Active Luton
- Abbeycroft Leisure
- Village Hotel Group
- Vibrant Partnerships
Each organisation has its own culture and every community is unique. We conduct a full assessment at the start of every project and create a tailored solution that will deliver the required outcomes within the framework of the organisation’s mission, vision and values.
How is the TA6 team structured?
We have three key service areas:
- Marketing – headed up by the legend that is John Leaver
- Training & development – driven by trainer extraordinaire Marina Thomas
- Strategy – developed by industry veteran Neil Harrison
I oversee all three services and each of the service leads are supported by a team. TA6 is currently a team of 12.
Why should clients work with TA6?
We deliver. It’s as simple as that. We are straight talking and realistic. We implement strategies which achieve success, based on years of experience. We don’t over promise to win a contract. If we say we will achieve a KPI, we will achieve it.
What are your ambitions for TA6 moving forwards?
- To continue to drive engagement in physical activity. We are totally aligned to ukactive’s ambition to get more people, more active, more often
- To create a sustainable future for leisure provision in the UK
- To empower workforces to achieve success in both of the above
If you are interested in finding out how TA6 could re-energise your organisation, get in touch with Woody direct on 07789998624 or drop him an email at paulw@allianceTA6.co.uk
Woody has just the most amazing ability to get into peoples’ hearts and minds! He quickly makes people feel at ease with his style and manner and can bring the best out of nearly everyone. I have worked with Paul and Alliance Leisure over many years and they have helped me transform businesses I have been involved in to deliver the best, most exceptional customer service. His innate ability to understand quickly the challenges facing my business delivered positive change and his drive and enthusiasm is second to none.
Lisa Dodd-Mayne
Director of Sport & Active Communities, Warwick Sport, The University of Warwick
Empowerment Creates a Sustainable Future
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.