A net:gain centre plans diversification
Appleby Magna is a unique net:gain centre being located in the grounds of a Grade 1 listed building. The centre has been restored to create a high-tech environment to deliver IT training, provide access to the community and generate income from the rental of its facilities. By working with its local community and developing a skilled employee base, the centre has seen strong growth in recent years.
However, Appleby Magna Training Manager, Marilyn Dunkelman, was looking for a new direction for the centre; one which could fit in with and add value to their successful portfolio of training products.
However, Marilyn lacked a strategic development framework to support and sustain this planning. While training to become a net:gainfacilitator, she quickly realised that the net:gain development programme which her centre had applied to run also contained the tools her own centre needed: a participative planning and implementation method that provided the perfect approach to create develop and deliver her centre’s future. The best test of any development programme is when those who deliver it, actually use it; this is exactly what has happened here.
“Instead of lurching from one step to another, I knew that we needed a structured process to planning our strategic direction for the future. We are good at IT, we know how to plan, but we just needed a motivator to do it. I knew we needed a model to keep focused, and by going through the net:gain programme ourselves, this will support our financial planning and sustainability, whilst helping us to understand net:gain process in practice. We’ll be speaking from experience when we deliver the net:gain programme to other VCOs through the Appleby Magna Centre.”
Marilyn is now using the net:gain method to develop a business plan through a structured open and inclusive process.The net:gain programme will help the Appleby Magna Centre focus on providing a fit between the skills they can offer, the resources they have at their disposal and meeting the needs of their users in the local rural community; a win-win for both centre and delegates.
