InShops InSpires Success

Home  About Us  News  InShops InSpires Success

InShops Middlesbrough, located within Dundas Mall, is the town’s only remaining indoor market. It is home to more than 60 businesses and receives, on average, around 20,000 visitors every week. Looking after InShops, its businesses and its customers is the responsibility of James Williams, a manager with over 25 years of managerial experience to his name.

But even with such a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience behind him, James has shown that there is always room to learn more and grow within your role.

Working with Zodiac Training, James has recently completed a Level 3 NVQ in Management alongside a Technical Certificate and Key Skills in Application of Number and Communication. James says the qualifications have made a real difference to every aspect of his job and taught him a great deal about different leadership methods and specific legislation that is linked into his sector.

James’ Training Advisor, Darren Tate, is extremely pleased with the progress James has made and says that one of the keys to success was adapting the training to suit James’ style.

“Each Leaner has an individual style” says Darren, “So it’s important to adapt the training we offer to suit that style. At Zodiac we have a range of assessment and delivery methods which means that every individual has the opportunity to learn in the way that suits them best. One method James and I found fantastic was to use a digital voice recorder to record his work. James is a very confident speaker and exceptional at verbally communicating the practicalities of his work, so the Digirecorder was the ideal way to capture this.

“When it came to maths, James wasn’t quite so confident. Although he uses maths every day at work, he was still a little anxious because he hadn’t done any formal maths since leaving school. Rather than have James read a question and then sit and work it out, I realised that the best way to help him was to create an example of a real life situation and then put him into that situation. This worked really well and enabled James to achieve his Level 2 in Application of Number.”

James is very happy with the way things have gone and with the new skills he has learned. He said:

“The qualifications I have passed have been a great help and the standard of training in all aspects of my job is invaluable.  My Training Advisor, Darren Tate, was really easy-going and helpful and he gave me the determination and guidance to complete the course, so I would like to thank him for all he has done. I will certainly be recommending Zodiac Training to others.”

Darren added, “James was a fantastic learner and ever enthusiastic. He thoroughly enjoyed the qualifications and they give him formal recognition for a job he does so well. I’m extremely pleased and proud of what James has achieved, it was a pleasure to work with him and I wish him continued success for the future.”