One of the region’s leading business support organisations, GM Business Growth Hub is encouraging Greater Manchester workers to strengthen their skills position and take control of free skills solutions to overcome their barriers to learning, solve workplace pain points to achieve skills success and ‘Reimagine Learning’ as part of this year’s Learning at Work Week.   

“We all know someone who has limited themselves to learning and inevitably career progression because they didn’t know where to start, couldn’t allocate the time or just never really enjoyed learning so have avoided it at all costs. But this means they’ve limited themselves, and we want to help people overcome that.  

“Things are different now and Greater Manchester is leading the way once again by supporting employed individuals, organisations and even volunteers, to access free training which suits their needs. And with our ongoing success delivering skills development solutions, our skills coaches and workforce advisors will be there to assist every step of the way.”- Janine Richardson, Programme Manager at GM Business Growth Hub 

By focusing on reimagining learning, GM Business Growth Hub’s support will tap into the life and workplace scenarios that prevent success, such as fear of public speaking, avoidance of tasks relating to numbers and maths or lack of confidence with embracing Digital and Social Media. 

Complimenting Greater Manchester’s strategy and building solid foundations for a "Greener, Fairer and Prosperous City", developing workforce skills supports individuals to have better and more fulfulling jobs and enables businesses to play their part in connecting and investing in a talent pipeline that is diverse and resilient.   

 
They’ll be sharing some real life skills success stories and signposting to the free training and dedicated support available from GM Business Growth Hub. They hope that this support will open up people’s minds to what developing your skills as an adult can mean.      

Delivering the support is a team of dedicated skills coaches, this includes Shaz Nazeer. As a Skills Coach, Shaz is part of a team working across every borough in Greater Manchester, everywhere, from the voluntary sector to private businesses and the public sector to understand skills needs and match them to the fully funded opportunities available for them to upskill and develop. 

“Whether it’s the daily activities of connecting to Teams and attaching documents to emails, to the more demanding projects like creating standout reports and composing tender submissions, strengthening skills in English, Maths, Digital Literacy and ESOL is fundamental to all. 

“You’re never too old to learn these things, and you shouldn’t be embarrassed about learning them either. We hope this support is a safe place for people to come and say ‘yes, I want to start that journey’.”   

Background 

Recent GMCA Skills expansion in skills development is focusing on skills in the broadest sense, helping businesses shape the training they need to future-proof their workforce. 

Website: GM Business Growth Hub | Skills Development 

GMCA Announcement GM Business Growth Hub | £4.5M boost empowering Greater Manchester businesses with essential skills support