Adapting to change – Cogent Skills shares lessons learned from 2020 and announces a new, inclusive business delivery model
From June 2021, face to face courses are back!
As UK home workers prepare to emerge from behind their laptop cameras, the thought of face to face courses may be a cause for celebration for some, or a source of anxiety for others – that’s why are delighted to announce that our courses have adapted to change.
Our business delivery model has been amended, so that you now have the option to stay with the online and blended learning platform options, or you can choose to return to traditional, face to face courses. These delivery options are aligned to Cogent Skills’ values of being inclusive to all needs, along with providing enterprising solutions for science industry skills.
Face to face courses will be adhering to UK government safety guidelines, either in your own premises or via ‘open’ courses (individuals from different companies), which will be located in carefully vetted, Covid safe venues, across the country.
This means, for those who want to network with their peers, keep up to date with industry approved training standards to keep your sites safe and comply to regulatory guidelines – the choice is yours! Stay online or return to face to face.
A year on from the first 2020 lockdown, I’m so proud of the adaptability of our courses production team and our expert trainers. I’m also incredibly impressed by our customer’s positive attitude in adopting the changes.
 I’m sure a lot of our customers will be excited that the face to face courses are returning, but virtual courses are here to stay also. Clients buy from Cogent Skills because of our approach to delivering sustainable solutions, so I’m happy that our online courses will remain – for those who find them more suitable.
During 2020, we saw a 40% drop in course participants, so irrespective of how our customers learn, the most important thing is that businesses continue to invest in their industrial training and keep up to date with the industry standards – to keep their sites and their neighbours, safe
Alex Slater, Head of Business Operations, Cogent Skills Courses and Consultancy
Lessons Learned
As the leading voice for industrial science skills, Cogent Skills recognise the importance of sharing lessons learned, so here are some of our key online lessons from 2020:
- Be adaptable to offering different online platforms that work best for the customer, not just the one that you normally use within your business
- Be flexible in delivery times. Be mindful of the fact that some participants may be located in different countries or be single representatives from remote or multi sited organisations
- Adapt online learning to include more learner engagement
- Include interactive polls, voting mechanisms and other technology apps that help to keep the audience engaged and listened to
- Provide regular breaks from the screen
- Include online break out rooms for discussions and peer networking
List of all courses
Use this link to see a list of all courses coming up in Q2-Q3 2021
 Upcoming face to face ‘open’ courses in Q2-Q3 2021:
- Process Safety Leadership for Senior Executives. North East
- Process Safety Management Foundations. Leeds
- NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Process Safety Management. North West
- Process Safety Management for Operations – Train the Trainer. North West
- Workplace Competency Assessor. Various locations
- IOSH Working and Managing Safely. North East and North West
