More About Andy...
“We’re moving the College in the right direction, both for the College and for the people of Bradford.”
Andy was responsible for managing the professional teams and contractors involved in Phase One of the Accommodation Strategy, Andy said: “Every time I go up to the new campus I like it more and more. The staff and learners seem to like it too… it’s a very positive centre!”
Andy went on to outline other areas of responsibility, Andy explained: “I’m also in charge of Human Resources. This involves discussions with the trade unions, making sure systems and procedures are in place to ensure the right number of staff are skilled up to the right level to do a good job.”
In charge of Human Resources, Andy is keen to promote staff wellbeing. Since his appointment in 2004, Andy has secured both Investors in People and Work Life Balance awards. Andy said: “When I first arrived, the College did have an ‘Investors in People’ award but quickly lost it. Andy jokingly added: “No connection to me.” Andy continued: “Things needed to change so we put an action plan in place. It was mainly Judith Marples who did all the work on the project. This took us forward and we managed to get ‘Investors in People’ again at the next assessment!” The HR team were also the driving force behind the ‘Work Life Balance’ award. Andy commenting on the achievement said: “There’s a lot more work we can do, but it was great to get the award.”
During an inspection carried out by Ofsted, inspectors awarded the College Grade 1 Outstanding for: ‘Effectiveness of improvement since the last inspection.’ Speaking about the long term future strategies and changes implemented since his appointment in 2004, Andy explained: “We only change things when we know it’s for the best. We’re moving the College in the right direction, both for the College and for the people of Bradford.” Andy added: “There’s the new structure Michele and I implemented when we first joined the College. It was helpful, in terms of getting the Directors and Assistant Directors focused on their particular market sectors. We’ve now got a team of Programme Managers all working at the same level, which works very, very well. There are clear programme areas now, whereas in the past there was a bit of an overlap between different areas. That’s quite a fundamental change.”
Andy remarked: “We’ve updated the communication systems, with regular monthly team briefings now. All the managers attend a monthly meeting with Michele and share information with one another. The information is then cascaded down to the teams. We’ve also got some good written communication in place as well.”