Raised Floor Solutions
Composite flooring, access flooring and car park specialist.
“The CMI course at Edge Hill is a fantastic opportunity for anyone wanting to expand their theoretical knowledge through an accessible and practical medium. I have formalised my management experience and gained new skills and knowledge which I can apply to my professional career.
The tutors at the Business School have been superb in delivering the course and have offered their support, experience and knowledge to help me apply my learning in my working environment with confidence.”
Sarah Ormsby – Operations Manager, Raised Floor Solutions, Skelmersdale
CMI Management and Leadership Level four – benefits and impact
- Formalised my management experience with a professional qualification.
- Re-ignited my passion to continue learning to enhance my career.
- Ability to problem solve more efficiently has been recognised.
- Noticeable improvement in communication among my teams.
About the business
Raised Floor Solutions (RFS) is a composite flooring, access flooring and car park specialist. The Skelmersdale based company serves clients in a diverse range of sectors including commercial, retail, industrial, education and facilities management from across the UK. The company has 50 employees and is proud to be an employee owned business.
There is a varied skills base across the organisation, consisting of a high number of long-standing members of staff. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, they have seen a growth in turnover of approximately £17m during the last year. New systems have been implemented during this period that has generated the need to increase the workforce.
Building leadership and management capabilities
The current training requirements of the organisation are established on a one-to-one basis through a review system. Andy Wharton, Construction Director ensures that knowledge and specific training to support operational strategies is undertaken regularly. Traditionally, training takes place within the organisation to develop specific skills related to job roles in IT and health and safety.
Operations Manager, Sarah Ormsby has worked her way up through the organisation over the past 14 years, meriting her place on the senior management team. Sarah leads and supports a team of contracts managers, site operatives and administrative staff to deliver projects from pre-construction to completion. Her fast-paced role requires her to adapt and modify processes and procedures to meet the changing needs of customers.
As the company continues to grow and diversify, Sarah recognised that it is increasingly necessary to support her team’s alignment with the goals and needs of the business. Sarah had no previous management and leadership training and welcomed the fully-funded opportunity to develop her skills and knowledge and achieve a nationally recognised qualification.
Andy supported Sarah’s application for the CMI Level 4 Leadership and Management qualification and acknowledged the value of the course as a great addition to Sarah’s high repertoire of sector specific academic achievements.
Outcome and impact
Sarah’s busy role combined with business pressures provided little time throughout the day to apply to professional development. Sarah was delighted to find out that the course had various start dates to choose from and secured her fully-funded place one of the Saturday courses, this providing her with the flexibility to attend the live lectures (which are recorded) or access them and the high-quality learning resources in her own time. This fitted into the needs of the business and met Sarah’s enthusiasm to develop her management and leadership skills.
The successful completion of the CMI modules have provided Sarah with a better understanding of people’s needs and provided her with the tools to ensure individual productivity is maximised and motivation is improved within the team.
Sarah has been able to approach real-working situations differently, using the theory learned on the course to provide feasible solutions.
Internally the feedback from senior management has been extremely positive. The team structures have strengthened, problem solving has become more efficient and there is a definite improvement in communication which has been undoubtedly the biggest benefit to the business, particularly during the pandemic with new changes to working practises.
Whilst being on the course, ambitious Sarah has re-ignited her passion to continue to learn and develop and has commenced a MSc in Project Management in Construction. Sarah hopes to also soon become a chartered member of The Chartered Institute of Building. We wish Sarah good luck with her future studies and career.