Partner with You

Dick Boulton, Staff Forums and Reps Manager of Cancer Research UK explains:

"Our staff representatives act as volunteer support for colleagues during difficult and emotionally charged disciplinary or resolution meetings eg. those covering misconduct or early retirement.  I wanted to create a training and development day to give a flavour of what this type of meeting can be like to increase the reps’ experience of what to expect without increasing their fear.

"Partners With You designed a bespoke programme for us which included a piece of forum theatre followed by the opportunity to ask the characters what made them behave as they did – a great opportunity for our newer reps to learn from the more experienced team.

"I’ve run the course again as I’ve had so many reps telling me how useful and practical they found the sessions. It’s really helped our newer reps deal more confidently with any difficult situations and the older hands have got a new viewpoint to work from.  I would really recommend using Partners With You to work out the best way of getting your team to communicate successfully whatever the situation."