Shelley Hayward, the building society’s Head of Development and Talent, was highly commended for the Leader of the Year accolade at the British Training Awards in a special ceremony in London.
Competition to scoop the prize was tough with over 160 entries being made and firms taking part ranged from start-up innovators to public sector heroes, tech superstars, global titans and every in-between.
Shelley said: “I’m really passionate about providing brilliant learning and development opportunities to our colleagues here at The Cumberland and believe it makes a real difference to career development.
“Being highly commended for the award feels fantastic. It was really inspiring to see all the other nominees and hear about what they’ve been doing in their own organisations.
“Now I’ve come down to earth, I'll be getting back to work and seeing what’s next when it comes to learning for our colleagues.”
In her work at The Cumberland, Shelley’s initiatives have included providing one-to-one coaching for colleagues, career bootcamps and setting up the building society’s Purpose Pioneers group which supports its strategy.
Over the past twelve months, she’s been instrumental in delivering learning to over 550 employees through more than 250 hours of sessions - up 32 per cent on the previous year.
And the feedback on Shelley’s work has been overwhelmingly positive too, with 100 per cent of colleagues recommending coaching and saying it made a difference to their career path.
Nate Harwood, Founder of New Possible and British Training Awards judge added: “The British Training Awards celebrate the inspirational teams and individuals whose transformational approaches to learning and development are unlocking the potential of workforces across the UK and beyond.”