News
- Customer Care Course - Open Workshop 9th November 2009 Limited places are available on CentreStage's one-day customer care course, running on Tuesday 9 February 2010 at South Hill Park in Bracknell, Berkshire. We've run this highly successful programme for some of the most prestigious London hotels as well as the Royal College of Music, and this is an opportunity for book your place on this highly interactive, thought-provoking workshop. Read More...
- A Leading Role for Customer Service 28th October 2009 The curtain went up on a rousing performance at First Friday Club's September meeting. An audience of 80 members of the networking club gave CentreStage Roleplay a standing ovation for the actors' presentation on improving customer service. Read More...
- In The Spotlight - Katrina Percy (Hampshire Community Health Care) 14th July 2009 Hampshire Community Health Care (HCHC), part of Hampshire Primary Care Trust, is one of the largest PCT provider arms in the country with a turnover of £135m and approximately 3500 staff. HCHC’s main business can be summarised in one sentence – ‘bringing health care home’. Many of its services help people stay independent in their own homes, help reduce unnecessary admissions to large hospitals, provide support for patients after major operations and to children and their families. Read More...
- TEVA - Leadership Skills 13th May 2009 CentreStage is working with Andy Maggs at Arema on an ongoing series of workshops for TEVA. The programme, based on the Situational Leadership model, uses actors to explore the benefits of adapting management style according to the skills, experience and engagement of the individual being managed. Read More...
- Coca Cola - Disciplinary Skills 13th May 2009 CentreStage recently provided the one-to-one roleplay element for a series of workshops for Coca Cola in Wakefield. Our actors took the roles of bottling plant employees with too many sick days to their name, with whom delegates were tasked with handling in return-to-work interviews and disciplicaries. The workshops may be rolled out at depots around the country. Read More...
- CentreStage and 3C Showcase the Power of Drama 9th April 2009 CentreStage is supporting Henley-on-Thames based development consultancy 3C Associates, using forum theatre to enhance a whole range of training courses. 3C’s latest offering was showcased recently at a seminar at the Henley River & Rowing Museum to a large group of learning and development professionals. Read More...
- Julian Hirst Speaks at Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Lunch 25th February 2009 Good customer service is vital to the success of any organisation. In these days of smaller profit margin and credit crunch, the level of service we provide to our customers is often the only thing that differentiates us from our competitors. Read More...
- Free Forum Theatre Training Event 4th February 2009 CentreStage has been working a lot with 3C Associates, using Forum Theatre to support a number of development programmes on customer care and appraisal skills, and on Friday 27th March 3C is holding a free showcase to demonstrate the power drama has to demonstrate what 'good' really looks like. Read More...
- Customer Service Workshops for 3C/Fidessa 10th January 2009 We begin a series of workshops for 3C Associates in January, supporting their delivery of customer service workshops to Fidessa. Fidessa provides software support to the stockmarket and, as well as publishing a best practice booklet, wants to ensure its 80 strong systems customer care team has the skills to deliver excellent personal service. Read More...
- Julian Hirst Speaks at Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce 5th January 2009 On 12 February 2009, Julian Hirst will be guest speaker at the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Networking lunch at Regency Park Hotel in Thatcham, Berkshire. Becoming a regular feature for the West Berks membership, this monthly lunch event will provide the ideal opportunity to build the profile of your brand in the area and to build new business relationships. Call 01753 870500 for further information Read More...
- Assessing Candidates Interpersonal and Motivational Skills at Skanska 10th December 2008 This month, CentreStage provided roleplayers for the latest in a series of assessment centres for Skanska UK. The centres, designed and run by Mercuri Urval, seek to identify the potential and development needs of key managers within the organisation, including the use of roleplay to assess candidates’ interpersonal and motivational skills. Read More...
- Centrestage and Banana Park Provide Team-Building Workshop for Hampshire Primary Care 5th December 2008 CentreStage will be supporting Banana Park Consulting to provide a two-day team-building workshop for the senior executive team of Hampshire Primary Care Trust. The two-day event will build self-awareness through a focus on Transactional Analysis and practical roleplay exercises. The event takes place in Bath later this month. Read More...
- Year Long PDR Training for Banana Park and Hampshire PCT 27th November 2008 CentreStage begins a 12-month project for Banana Park Consulting this month, supporting their delivery of PDR training for Hampshire Primary Care Trust. The workshops, for managers of one of the largest PCTs in the country, will equip delegates with a better understanding of the PDR process and use CentreStage to bring the behavioural challenges of the PDR to life, including how to motivate staff, delivering difficult messages and objective setting. Read More...
- National School of Government 28th March 2008 How do you influence someone three grades above you? It’s a challenge that faces so many these days, but one that remains extremely difficult to overcome. Read More...
- Symbian 21st March 2008 Recently, we got a call from our friends at specialist development consultancy, HRworkbench, who provide development solutions for leading mobile software licensing company, Symbian. Read More...
- The Hot Seat 14th March 2008 We’ve been working with Kinnarps UK, providing roleplay services as part of the ongoing development of their sales team. Read More...
- In the Spotlight - Graham Broughton (Kinnarps UK) 7th March 2008 I’m Sales Coach. I’m responsible for improvement - i.e. the way we develop our business, how we interact with and deliver value to our customers and, of course, the way the sales team performs. Read More...
- 'The Alex' 1st March 2008 We were delighted to be asked by our friends at Banana Park to provide roleplay services for a series of development centres for nurses at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton recently. Read More...
- Free Seminar 4th October 2007 On Friday 26th October, CentreStage is running a breakfast seminar exploring customer care in the catering industry, at London’s Royal Garden Hotel. The seminar will provide a ‘taster’ of our Customer Care Soap and an opportunity to discuss the issues raised. Read More...
- Face Value 4th October 2007 So where does bullying fit in to the whole diversity debacle? Bullying is often a symptom of diversity and can prove very expensive for businesses. Last year Deutsche Bank had to shell out £800,000 to workplace bullying victim Helen Green. In 2003 Steven Horkulak was awarded nearly £1m in damages by the courts after months of abuse by his boss, president of brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald International. Read More...
- Welcome to the Customer Care Soap 4th October 2007 Here in the UK, we seem to love our soap operas. During the 1960s Coronation Street’s main rival was Crossroads, set in a Birmingham motel. While the series was popular, its purported low technical standards and bad acting were much mocked. It was cancelled in 1988 leaving a void in the hotel soap genre... Read More...
- Coca Cola - Appraisal Techniques 4th October 2007 Earlier this year CentreStage ran a series of two-hour workshops for managers at Coca-Cola Great Britain and Ireland, based in Hammersmith. The sessions — or skills-labs as they are known — aimed to help participants get the most out of mid-year reviews, and specifically explored ways of opening up honest dialogue, managing employee expectations and managing upwards. Read More...
- Media Skills on the Big Stage 4th September 2007 CentreStage is now offering a fun, pioneering way of helping large numbers of people in an organisation deal with the news media in a single dramatic session. Read More...
- You're Hired 4th September 2007 16 million customers now shop with Sainsbury’s on a weekly basis, and the company’s success over the past year is in no small part down to getting the basics right — reviewing price, product range, quality and service — and recognising that in the world of the supermarket the tiniest things can have a huge impact. Read More...
- Banana Park 21st June 2007 CentreStage recently provided roleplay services for a development and assessment centre for SA Partners, an innovative consultancy that inspires a wide range of businesses to raise their game through the application of lean principles. That means challenging their clients to find fresh and creative ways of operating and brings practical improvements not only for the business but for the people within it, which creates leaner, keener and more successful enterprises. Read More...
- Dragons Eh? Makes a Change! 21st June 2007 How often do we get the chance to be inventive? To be truly creative? Seldom? Never? Sure, you may come up with ideas - particularly if you’re a designer or a consultant - to fulfil a brief or problem-solve. But when do we apply that sort of creativity to the way we work? Read More...
- Excellent Service Included 6th May 2006 It’s funny how you always remember the negatives; how despite the great pillows and the clever spa thingy and the funky ice machine, what sticks in the old memory is the blocked sink. And it just goes to show that hotels must feel like they’re fighting a losing battle when they’re doing everything right but receive letters of complaint for matters that are uncontrollable. Read More...
- A2 Housing - The Foundations of Change 1st February 2006 In partnership with Headline Training & Consultancy, CentreStage is helping to deliver coaching and performance management skills training for A2 Housing Group. Read More...
- Spicing Up Customer Services 6th January 2006 Imagine our delight at being asked, one day, to help deliver customer service training at one of London’s top new Indian restaurants! Imli, located in the heart of Soho, is something of a departure from the run-of-the mill Indian eatery. Created by the people behind Tamarind (one of the first Indian restaurants ever to be awarded a Michelin star), it offers innovative tapas style food for a casual but sophisticated dining experience. Read More...
- Getting Cultured 14th November 2005 What a summer it’s been! Never mind the sporting heroics in cricket or the political storms with the fuel feuds. At CentreStage, culture has been top of the agenda in a series of workshops with the North London Gas Alliance. Read More...
- Act On It! 10th October 2005 Thursday 22nd September saw the world premiere performance of Act On It!, an interactive show commissioned by Bracknell Forest Voluntary Action as part of its ongoing development programme for members. Written, produced and performed by CentreStage, Act On It! is a two-hour show about the challenges faced by people working in the community and voluntary sectors. How do you apply for funding? How do you manage groups? And how do you make the most of the resources available? Read More...
- Sainsbury's - Induction Training with a Difference 30th September 2005 CentreStage has been supplying roleplayers for Sainsbury’s graduate assessment centres for the past three years. Each year, Sainsbury’s recruits around 90 graduate trainees, and in terms of the opportunities and the training it provides, a better fast-track programme would be hard to find. Read More...
- Risk Management at the Top 20th September 2005 Together with the renowned training and development provider, Mayo Learning International, CentreStage has embarked on a project to bring risk awareness to senior management at Skanska. Read More...
- A Tale of Love, Adventure and Endangered Gnomes 24th August 2005 Bracknell Forest Volunteer Action - a central support network for voluntary and community work in Bracknell Forest Borough - has commissioned CentreStage to design and produce a piece of interactive theatre as part of its ongoing training for members. Read More...
- Creative Thinking in a Creative Environment 1st July 2005 CentreStage is working in association with South Hill Park Arts Centre to offer a range of innovative drama-based learning and conferencing solutions. Read More...
- Investing in the Future 28th May 2005 CentreStage is working with a leading City of London investment bank to deliver communication skills training to 26 summer interns. Read More...
- A Second Breakfast Meeting 21st April 2005 Due to overwhelming demand, we are delighted to announce that we will be holding a second breakfast meeting on Wednesday 29th June at Headline Training's offices in Swallowfield, Reading. Read More...
- Forum Theatre, E-Learning and Croissants 13th April 2005 Our exciting new blended learning initiative with Headline Training was officially launched last week with a demonstration to businesses at Headline's offices in Swallowfield, Berkshire. Read More...
- Ham & Horror? Dispelling the Myths of Assessment Centre Roleplay 23rd March 2005 CentreStage has teamed up with Sainsbury's to give graduates a taste of the assessment centre experience. The 'mock' assessment centres, the first of which was held at University College London on the 2nd of March, are part of an initiative by Sainsbury's to attract the very best candidates to its exciting fast track graduate schemes and take away the mystery surrounding what many still regard as an extremely daunting experience. Read More...
- New Learning Initiative Develops Leaders - Not Just Managers 3rd February 2005 CentreStage has teamed up with Reading-based learning consultancy, Headline Training, to launch a new leadership development initiative. The initiative will equip managers with the necessary leadership qualities to deal with today’s fast-changing world. Read More...
- Going Electronic with Headline Training 7th January 2005 CentreStage is delighted to announce a brand new e-Learning initiative in partnership with Headline Training & Consultancy, based near Reading in Berkshire. The joint venture brings together Headline’s expertise in e-Learning and CentreStage’s experience in live drama-based learning techniques to offer organisations a powerful and exciting new development tool. Read More...
- The Media Challenge 2nd December 2004 A unique, exciting, hands-on development course that addresses your organisation's capacity to respond to change, maintain public image and endure the scrutiny of the media. Read More...