Brothers Set Up Innovative Business Training Service


Two local brothers have set up an innovative new business training service, which uses improvisation to help business owners, entrepreneurs, managers and staff members to help increase employee engagement.

Anthony Sutton, who runs Litchfield HR and Employee Engagement company, Cream HR, and his brother, Jerry Sutton, have started using their unique training techniques, which include immersive role-play and ‘power-point free’ sessions, for businesses across the country. The pair have already held sessions for entrepreneurs at The Royal Academy of Engineers and are in talks with other large corporations up and down the UK.

With over 45 years of training experience between them, Anthony and Jerry saw a gap in the market for a more energised and emotive approach to management training to overcome issues and challenges within a workplace. Through Cream HR ‘Portable Training Solutions’, Anthony and Jerry ensure each session runs on an ad hoc basis and is always participant-led to engage every person in the room.

Anthony, Consultant and MD of Cream HR, said: “Emotion plays a huge part in business and through past experience, we found that business training often excludes this. So many of us have sat through day-long ‘death by power-point’ training sessions, and we wanted to move away from that as much as possible to get the very best engagement and results from the businesses we work with.

“We often start by looking at the real-life job descriptions of people the room – are employees living up to what is expected of them? And importantly, is the role of living up to what they expected from it? If not, we assess there and then what scenarios we need to play out to unlock the real issues going on. Improvisation often seems daunting, but if we have seen some phenomenal results because it helps people to get down to the real cause of any issues or problems at work in a safe and confidential space.”

Cream HR Portable Training Solutions is currently available for all types of businesses, catering for all groups, from top-level management teams to lower-level employees. Anthony and Jerry take group sizes from three up to fifteen people and offer a bespoke, tailored package of notes, guidance and information for each person involved after each session based on what methods and techniques were used.

Jerry, Lead Trainer, said: “After working in sales and management training for over 25 years, I know how important it was to keep things fresh and exciting for participants who partake in courses and development days multiple times per year. Together with Anthony’s expertise and knowledge of employee engagement and HR, we felt that by combining our approaches, we could create a bespoke product.

“The most important thing is that we want participants to feel as though the day is completely theirs – so we don’t take any preorganised or generic information. Our confidential, tailored and individual approach has helped us, so far, to get the best out of the people we are working with. Creating an open and judgement-free environment to discuss their challenges, that many people may not experience day-to-day, definitely seems to help to unlock their potential as managers and employees.”

A participant at a recent training session said: “I thought it was an excellent day and exactly the kind of immersive workshop I’d been requesting as part of my development at work.

“As well as learning some really useful new skills, the session with Anthony and Jerry helped to reinforce my confidence in my own skills, just at the time I needed it the most.”

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