Up To Speed Training | Reflection on challenging 2020 provides platform of pride for 2021
Whilst every company in the sector can say 2020 threw up some unforeseen challenges, it’s unlikely that no specialist within the entire highways industry saw more challenging environments than training providers.
When the very nature of your business is to have multiple people in a room together, there is only so much adapting that can be done until the situation becomes simply not possible.
This is exactly what Up To Speed Training had to contend with last year as Government instructions kept the nation at home. However, rather than focus on the negative, the company utilised the time their doors were forced to remain closed in order to reflect, plan, and find ways that it could continue to support the key workers still allowed to remain active in employment across the industry.
Director Adam Mills told us:
“It was obviously an incredibly challenging time for us, and it would be a lie to say we didn’t have moments where we felt hard done by.
“As restrictions were applied, we made a number of changes to keep providing our services as best we could – reducing course sizes even ahead of the national lockdown for example as the news of this thing we only really knew of as ‘Coronavirus’ was becoming more severe throughout January, February and early March. As more information was available, we found out more specifics about Covid-19, and
“Additionally, we upped our digital offerings with the development of online and e-learning courses wherever possible but, again, there are some courses and assessments that just can’t be conducted that way.”
In a time where the company were seemingly in a constant of batting away curveballs, Up To Speed made the conscious decision that this was a time to make full use of. Reflection took place, research was done, plans were made, and action was taken.
Resultingly, the company made strides as it pioneered the online training provisions alongside Lantra and invested energy into a rebrand more fitting for where the company currently stands as a leader in its field.
The rebrand is supported by a new website build, which provides details of all ‘open’ training courses scheduled across their 3 venues around the UK as well as a fully integrated booking system along with a client login area offering comprehensive details of all completed and future training undertaken.
Preparing for re-opening, Up To Speed also completely revamped and refurbished its training centre, meaning as lockdown 1.0 was lifted, the company was delivering courses in a completely covid-19 compliant arena, with additional measures in place for both workforce and visitor safety.
An extremely productive period was rounded off by locating a new training location in Milton Keynes, as Up To Speed looked to be able to provide a more convenient location for its clients based in the south of England.
Managing Director Adrian Pulham added:
“We certainly made the most of the hand we were dealt.
“As Adam eluded to, it’s really difficult at time to not feel like things are against you. However, we knew we weren’t the only people with challenges to face and we were also extremely confident that we were built of stern stuff on very solid ground.
“Our team were all remaining positive and proactive as to how we utilised our restricted delivery time to work on the business and put us in a position that when we did fully re-open the doors, that our clients were receiving an even stronger product than before.
“We now look forward to implementing the plans we have made to further improve our offerings throughout 2021 and beyond.”
