Malmaison & Hotel du Vin

 “We couldn’t be happier with the support that we’re offered through both HIT Training and the Executive Development Network.”

Nurturing talent through bespoke training solutions

As Director of Learning, Talent & Organisational Development at Malmaison & Hotel du Vin, Phil Hudson-Davies is responsible for designing and delivering new programmes to support the professional development of staff across the business. HIT Training has been a long-time apprenticeship provider for the organisation’s technical skills requirements, including its chef academy and hospitality team member qualifications.

In 2023, Phil was on the hunt for a more rounded solution that worked across all roles, including management. The Executive Development Network (EDN), a division of HIT Training Ltd (HIT), was the perfect fit to fulfil the additional training needs and allowed for seamless integration between the two specialist offerings.

Bridging skills gaps with a bespoke approach

“We spent time with our relationship manager explaining the vision for what we wanted to achieve for our people managers, and the different streams of work we wanted to put in place, so that everyone had the opportunity to develop their management and leadership skills,” said Phil.

Working with HIT and EDN to map the relevant apprenticeships to the identified training needs, Phil was able to design a bespoke training plan that met the needs of the business. This involved offering technical skills qualifications through HIT for staff in both guest facing roles and back of house roles, and partnering with EDN to offer a range of apprenticeships for managers.

Elevating learning through including leadership

A bespoke learning programme, known as the Inclusive Leadership programme, was created for Malmaison & Hotel du Vin. With an apprenticeship qualification at its heart, the programme has additional learning delivered in-house and via EDN, coupled with senior leadership team mentors and on the job training experience.
Sharing his thoughts on the programme, Phil said: “Our inclusive leadership programme that we’re delivering in partnership with EDN is something we’re really proud of. Our senior leadership team are really invested in it as well, as they offer mentoring to those in the programme and help them overcome certain challenges along the way.”

Putting learning into practice

Katie Blundell, people and culture manager, is currently undertaking her Level 5 Operations Manager Apprenticeship and balancing the demands of the job with her studies.
She said of the apprenticeship: “It’s a bit like a driving test. You do the theory and then come back to your role and think, how can I apply this? I really enjoy looking at how I can make processes better, streamlining things to make things more automated, and I think the apprenticeship really helps with that aspect.”

Reaping the benefits

The bespoke training programme developed for Malmaison & Hotel du Vin has been of great benefit both to the individual learners and to the organisation.
Of the apprenticeship offering, Katie noted: “You gain a qualification funded through your employer. The business will gain and you will gain. I will always strongly encourage people to look into apprenticeships.”

Phil agreed, saying: “An apprenticeship is a longer learning program that people are invested in for a period of time. So it’s more likely they’re going to want to stay with us and complete that. And then when they have completed it, they’ve got new skills that they can then use to apply for their next role in their career with us. It’s a real win-win.”