Redsky Learning celebrates 10th birthday after hitting £1m milestone

Despite facing significant challenges through recent recessions, Redsky Learning is on track to grow by 50 per cent to £1.5m this year.

The company, which provides tailored leadership development courses, has long-standing relationships with companies including Betty’s, Pets at Home, Saviles, World Pay, William Hill, Arcadia, s, Selfridges and Harrods.

Managing director Dianne Coolican said it has survived through tough times as businesses recognise the “bottom-line difference” its bespoke training provides.

She said: “We develop management in line with what they’re trying to achieve as a business. It’s about equipping them with the skills to meet expectations and to exceed them and go further.

“Engaged teams are 40 per cent more productive than disengaged teams, those who feel they’re not listened to and not supported by their management.”

Redsky Learning’s training programmes last between four to 18 months and include a mixture of workshops, masterclasses, workplace-based projects and psychometic testing, customised to the company’s needs.

Ms Coolican said: “We really get under the skin of the industries we work with. We go onto the shop floor, whatever it takes.

“That is very unique, a lot of training is very off-the-shelf.”

Organisations often have a range of motivations in offering training. “Some companies are very much focused on growing their own talent and retention, while others want to create a certain culture and boost engagement,” Ms Coolican said.

“Organisations are much more savvy about what they get out of it than they had been previously.”

Many businesses that made redundancies in the recession are now looking to rebuild talent pools, she added.

During the financial crisis, training became “one of the easiest things to cut”, Ms Coolican said.

“A lot of training companies didn’t survive,” she said. “We focused on building on the clients we already had and winning bigger projects based on our reputation.”

Redsky Learning is now looking to build its international clients as it continues to grow its UK business.