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A team

Future-forward learning

Improve Team Productivity

At the heart of all business in Greater Manchester are its people, and we're here to empower employees, leaders and business owners alike through the power of skills, training and future-forward learning. Improve productivity, nurture the opportunities to grow and increase retention of talent by developing your team with skills.

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Health and Wellbeing | Apprenticeship

Drive Business Growth

Our team can help your business to become more productive and motivated by changing wellbeing and workplace culture and developing your team through apprenticeships.

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Maximise the Potentials

Upskill Employees

Enhance your growth trajectory by investing in skills, training and the personal development of your team to prepare your business for the future. We can help you develop a productive, engaged and motivated workforce with tailored individual support for each of your staff members.

FAQs - Support for Business

We put together some commonly asked questions to give you more information about how Skills for Growth – SME Support programme can help your business to improve team productivity, drive business growth and upskill the workforce. 

Absolutely nothing. The only thing that we need you to do is invest a little bit of your time to register your business and your employees on to the programme and then we take it from there.  

Join the Skills Revolution today 

Your employees are one of your greatest assets, they are working to support you achieve your business goals. It’s important to keep your workforce engaged, dedicated and invested in, one of the best ways of doing this is by offering them the opportunity to upskill and develop through training.  

With the cost-of-living crisis and workforce recruitment challenges, training opportunities can be a benefit that will drive workforce retention, support with succession planning and help make employees more adaptable to change.  

By completing one of our business assessments, our Skills Coach will identify the skills that are required to grow your business.  

The popular courses on our GM Skills Map are; 

Sales and Marketing, Leadership and Management, Digital Marketing, Customer Service, Office Admin, Human Resources, IT & Digital, Health & Safety and Sustainability and a whole range of sector specific options. Find out more here.

Skills are at the heart of business growth... 

Vocational education enables teams to turn visions into reality, to function at high levels of productivity and to confidently tackle any challenges that come our way. In the wake of the pandemic, SMEs in Greater Manchester need to look forward to the future and to begin the process of rebuilding stronger, smarter and better by plugging knowledge gaps, maximising growth opportunities and rethinking the way we do business to be sustainable for years to come. 

The best way to upskill your employees is through training. To find out about the range of commercial, part and fully funded training available for you and your business, search the GM Skills Map

Commissioned by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the GM Skills Map bridges the gap between workforce learning and training providers. Currently, the directory holds information from over 200 training providers, top Universities, Colleges and community organisations. There’s over 2000 different training courses, with over 450 fully funded courses available.   

Skills for Growth SME Support will upskill your workforce, improve productivity and drive business growth.  It will give you an awareness of what support is available to you and your business.  Companies we have worked with have said that following training their staff are more confident, they feel recognised – especially if they do a qualification, they feel their employer is committed to their development - which can make them feel more loyal.  Increased knowledge leads to more efficiency/productivity and it can help to multi-skill staff, which makes them more adaptable and agile. 

To see some of our fantastic success stories, visit our case study page:  

Many organisations are looking to recruit and Apprenticeships are a great way to ‘grow your own’ by taking someone on to ‘earn while they learn’.  Many organisations don’t know what Apprentices are, where to go to source Apprentices, what training is available, what financial support is available – we can answer all of these questions.   

Health & Wellbeing is an area that has become more of a priority during and post-Covid – ensuring the mental and physical health and wellbeing of the workforce, so they can be productive, present and motivated – our support gives you and your employees access to a range of information, blogs and over 80 short bite sized training modules. 

Find out more here.

A lot of training can be done online at a time and place that is convenient to the learner with a whole range of learning platforms offering 24/7 access to learning one of which is included and accessible to you and your employees within the Skills for Growth SME Support package of support. Training providers often offer flexible learning be that the traditional attendance at a training venue, virtual delivery, training on the employer’s premises (there may be a min. number of learners required) or a combination of all delivery methods. It's fair to say that there is a lot of flexibility in learning covering all learning styles and preferences.

Start your Skills for Growth Journey Today

Apply for Skills for Growth - SME Support and start upskilling your team today