A filmed sequence from the Tyne Tees Television programme Commercial Break looking a management training programme being put together by Northumbrian Water at a training centre at Kielder reservoir. The film shows people participating in a number of group activities and interviews with both representatives of Northumbrian Waters and those taking part. The film begins with general views the edge of Kielder Water showing water lapping on the shore and boats moored along the shoreline. Kielder...

A filmed sequence from the Tyne Tees Television programme Commercial Break looking a management training programme being put together by Northumbrian Water at a training centre at Kielder reservoir. The film shows people participating in a number of group activities and interviews with both representatives of Northumbrian Waters and those taking part. The film begins with general views the edge of Kielder Water showing water lapping on the shore and boats moored along the shoreline. Kielder reservoir and forest is well known as a tourist attraction with its wide range of outdoor leisure activities. General view of a man speaking with a group of people. In the background is Kielder Water. The reservoir is now attracting new visitors; the ‘business team’ for management training exercises. Northumbrian Water starting bringing their managers to Keilder four years ago as part of their business team development programme. 200 managers have been put through the course and they are planning to start to use their own managers to create their own training courses with students as test subjects. A woman is picked from the group to lead a group exercise. She comes to the front and begins to make an address. Interview with a representative of Northumbrian Water who says that the company has intended to develop it’s own management programme for a number of years with the help of industrial psychologists. He believes that any messages that come from training should come from their own people. General view of a five people in yellow hard-hats standing beside a number of ropes and scaffolding poles. Behind them three people stand watching. These students are used to simulate a ‘business team’ as the managers learn the skills as trainers while at the same time being monitored by industrial psychology company C. Kiddy and Partners who have been the consultants to Northumbrian Water since these training programmes began. There are general views of the team beginning to put together the scaffolding poles. Interview with a representative of C. Kiddy and Partners wearing a bright red jacket and white hat. He says that these exercises are part of a more comprehensive programme that is usually run in the workplace that teaches managers to work together as a team. It teaches them to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, how to communicate with each other better and to develop a set common objectives that produce high-quality results.  About sixty-percent of the programme is based in the office where they learned from the practical experiences completed here. There are more views of the group beginning to put together a structure from the scaffolding poles and rope. The exercise with these scaffolding poles are just the first part of the course where managers learn the fundamentals of working together as a team and the importance of advanced planning.   Interview with a second man besides a stone building who says these exercises are good as they can easily relate back to work with regards planning. You can also learn more from mistakes here that you can in other office based training programmes he has participated in previously. General view of the group discussing how best to build their structure and working to attach scaffolding poles. The film cuts to the interior of a barn where the group ‘de-brief’ is taking place. Members of the team talk about what they have learned. In the background members from C. Kiddy and Partners are monitoring and filming with a video camera. Interview with a woman who was the leader of the group who says that their mistake was to rush into the exercise to quickly and that she didn’t know anyone in the team or know their individual abilities. A man crosses a small stream using the rope bridge built by the group. Behind them the team from C. Kiddy and Partners monitor their activities. Interview with the representative of C. Kiddy and Partners who describes these exercises like castor oil; better when it has stopped. It is important to listen to what people say after the event after they have had time to digest the lessons. These exercises are not designed to favour physically fit people and teams must learn to make use of the strengths of its team members. Two teams of people stand together planning the next team exercise. A man speaks to the groups and says that they have to build a platform four feet above the water of a stream that will hold the weight of everyone in the team. One of the groups stands over a number of wooden logs talking. An overhead time lapse view of both teams building their platforms on the banks next to the stream. The camera crew from Tyne Tees Television are also seen filming the teams as they work. The winning team seated upon their platform begin to cheer. As a group they are interviewed and one man says that this time people seemed to know exactly what they had to do to complete the structure. The film ends with an interview with the representative of Northumbrian Water who says that the overall benefits of this programme are simple in that they are now running an organisation with 1500 people where seven years ago they were running the same business with more than 2500.