Parking management specialists Gemini Parking Solutions have recently embarked on a unique kind of training and development programme for staff that they have found really gets the best out of employees. The training goes against the grain of traditional classroom based training and instead uses fun training sessions that staff enjoy and even look forward to. The company consider the experiential training strategy they have adopted as ground breaking and they are already reaping the rewards in terms of company successes.

Gemini has reported greater levels of engagement with staff following the introduction of this new training methodology. This has meant that the way employees think and behave has altered and has made them much more empowered in their roles and in their lives outside of work. It is an exciting chapter for this values based parking operator that is striving to turn around the negative perception of the parking industry.

Ryan Jackson of Gemini Parking Solutions describes the shift as one that is long overdue and is much needed in order to modernise the parking enforcement sector and to reinvigorate it going forward. Our focus isn’t just to uplift our team, but to raise the game within the industry and move towards a point where it is recognised for the right reasons.

The training from the Café Style Academy in London is much more about people learning and thinking for themselves rather than being able to regurgitate a training manual or quote textbooks verbatim. Enabling employees to take charge of their own learning means they are in turn much more invested in succeeding personally and professionally, which consequently is good for business.

Practically speaking this unique experiential style of learning happens on the go so employees are learning all the time and not just on a specific day and time. Embedding training into day to day activities is just a small part of the process but it is producing extremely powerful results and giving Gemini employees a set of tools and a focussed mindset that they can really be excited about.

Being forward thinking and leading the way is not a new concept for Gemini Parking Solutions as they have consistently set themselves challenges to be the best in many areas. Their vision to change public perception of the parking industry is a tough call but completely within their sights with this new progressive training strategy on board.

Companies in general face continual training challenges in finding innovative ways to engage employees that will keep them up to date with training and skills development. Research has shown however that the way that people respond to training is now more than ever geared towards bite-sized chunks of learning and being able to feedback ideas and suggestions to their employers on an ad hoc yet ongoing basis.

Crucial to the success of this new way of learning is getting employees to engage with the latest technologies and harnessing the opportunities that this presents. Information is much more readily available than previously with most employees able to access all kinds of information from their phones or other devices. Add to this their ability to access social media and we have a technically savvy workforce that is accustomed to learning being a more constant process.

The Café Style Academy encourages employers like Gemini to blend learning activities into day to day experiences and as such this makes things much more realistic and more likely to hit home with employees. Knowing that a company truly values their input in a collaborative setting is really meaningful in terms of empowering individuals.

Perhaps the key to this method of blended learning is that it can happen anytime and anywhere meaning there could be endless opportunities for training and learning to happen. This could be essential for any company trying to implement a culture change either in the business itself or the sector in which it operates as Gemini is seeking to do. Facilitating fast, adaptable and responsive chunks of learning into everyday business life is what this transformative approach is all about. This doesn’t mean classroom based learning is removed but that this experiential programme can mix comfortably into existing in house training as well often giving the best of both worlds and ensuring that employee training and development is a continuous process.