Mark Houghton

Said the following about Training Team:

“Nomination for my Team, details included below:-

Justification:

My name is Mark Houghton and I am the Training Manager for Alstom South UK. I have a team of seven including myself and we look after all the training and maintenance of competencies for 4 Depots covering some 600 employees across the South of England.

When I first came into the company the team was depleted and down to just 2 trainers. The aim over the next 18 months was to create a dynamic and specialised team to meet the demanding needs of a globally leading rail company, Alstom.

My team have been instrumental in developing and implementing the Alstom System Approach to Training and we now produce industry and globally recognised training material, processes and procedures. Our teams produce and deliver courses for all our technical staff and this has been the first time that this has ever been achieved to this standard. The team now deliver First aid courses to a nationally recognised standard saving on time and resources. The training has also allowed us to design the training to be specific for Alstom and allows us to carry out scenario training within an operational environment, something that cannot be achieved elsewhere.

The Team:

The team is made up of the following:

• Mark Houghton MBE (Training Manager)

• Jason Edwards (Senior trainer)

• Martin Howey (Technical Trainer)

• Kalina Bolingbroke (Training Coordinator)

• Harriet Sheppard (Technical Trainer)

• Raymond Ho (Skills Trainer)

• Steve Hetherington (Skills Trainer)

Achievements:

• The introduction of the Alstom Systems Approach to Training into the Northern Line. This enabled the training to be designed to UK industry standard, and is fully auditable.

• The creation and delivery of Technical Training (in house) for Traction and TBTC, this is the first time this has been conducted within the Northern Line to this level;

• The design and delivery of Level 3 Door Irregularity Training, that being we are the only Company outside of LUL that is authorised to design and deliver;

• The design of First Aid training to National Standard, thus allowing the team to teach staff internally and pitch the scenario training to meet the demands of Alstom in an operational environment;

• Managed, Trained and Mentored apprentices, including the successful introduction of the new End Point Assessment, this was extremely challenging as this was brought in at only the later stages of our apprentice scheme;

• Planned and conducted a behavioural exercise for the Alstom Apprentices in which they were assessed in all the behaviour’s required for the scheme. The exercise was made up of 4 days and meant they had to learn how to set up camp, build tents and cook for themselves. This was challenging for bot the staff and students as this was the first time we had conducted this as normally we would have contracted this out. The feedback was very positive and so much that we are now looking at delivering this to our Senior Management possibly in the future.

• As well as all that has been listed above the team have had to continue to maintain all safety critical training within the Northern Line and also are now assisting other business units within Alstom across the UK.

• My Senior Trainer has set up a robust system for a continuous assessment programme for the Apprentices as well as carrying out the role as senior trainer. Often he has had to work evenings and weekends. Part of his role along with all of us was to mentor the apprentices for both work, but regularly as a role model for both social and domestic reasons;

• Introduction of a robust system for the awarding and renewal of the 5-year Competency Standard with a view of the company awarding NVQ’s in future for existing staff;

• Leading on the implementation and integration of Non-Technical Skills within Northern Line with a vision to embed into the business in the near future. Success so far:

• Start of Shift Briefs NTS

• Standardisation of Work Instruction with NTS now proposed

• Internal training for selected mangers conducted

• Ability for Training Manager and Senior Trainer to conduct internal NTS training

• The team have conducted CPD including:

• Managerial Training for succession planning

• External Teaching Qualifications for all staff to national standard

• External assessment qualifications for all staff

• Internal CPD on a regular basis by means of workshops for the integration of Alstom System Approach to Training

• The above has often had to be in their own time due to the demands of delivering what has already been mentioned. Most of the team have not been exposed to CPD for a long time and this raised their own individual challenges. All of them overcame these either by research or often working as a team in order to deliver;

Created a new initiative for Emergency Foster Packs for 3 major hospitals across the UK and conducted CSR events.

Hospitals we are now assisting:-

London - North Middlesex Hospital

Midlands - Birmingham Children's Hospital

North - Manchester Royal Infirmary

The team are conducting a CSR shopping day on the 4th Oct 2019 to get enough contents for mother and baby packs as North Middlesex Hospital is in emergency need of some.

The Team have worked extremely well together and as they say a manager is only as good as the team they manage, and this is certainly true in my case.

It has been an absolute honour and a privilege to manage and continue to manage this team. I spent 22 years in the British Army and have commanded many people, but I can truly say this,

It has been amazing to watch what a relatively new team gel was so well together and support each other the way they do. Having such a dynamic, high achieving and autonomous team means that they continue to grow and develop. They are always looking for ways to improve and progress our processes and procedures in order to remain one of the leading companies within our industry.

SUPPORTING STATEMENTS

Various emails from the hospitals grateful for the work the team has done for them.

E-mails from senior managers and Alstom MD praising the work of the team and individuals.“