News

In August staff from the Institute held a breakfast meeting at the Studio in Birmingham with a small number of our Professional Development Partnership (PDP) partners, including representatives from WJ, TMP, Milestone, ITS UK, Nal Ltd, 3M, Water Aspen Ltd, Gaist and Tensar.

The input from these representatives was appreciated and contributed to an energetic and useful discussion over a bacon roll and a cup of coffee.

The purpose of the event – the first of regular meetings planned with our PDP partners – was to help strengthen the collaboration between our collective organisations. The aim is to explore how we can better support each other and meet the collective goals and aims of the PDP initiative.

It was very productive and all of those present supported an increasing focus on the shared benefits of the partnerships and how the PDP scheme can better serve the needs of individual organisations. This in turn can contribute to the IHE’s aim of increasing professional registration levels in the highways sector.

Key outcomes

The session drew important insights into why people joined the PDP scheme. Those attending were honest in highlighting their reasons such as the chance to share industry knowledge between partners and the benefits of attending and presenting at Lunch and Learn sessions for their staff, particularly in support of the next generation of engineers.

It was also identified that belonging to the scheme provided the opportunity to network with peers across the many different specialisms. It was identified that access to IHE’s resources for staff development and brand association were also seen as a real advantage to the organisations present.

Another key motivator was an enhancement of their corporate credibility, boosted in part by using the IHE logo on a company website, while the potential discounts available on course costs were also seen as highly beneficial.

Those present highlighted a variety of ways they believed they can contribute to the IHE and these included bringing global expertise to Lunch and Learn events, providing speakers for such events, offering meeting spaces for the Institute to use, and supporting the advocacy efforts of the IHE.

Attendees also emphasized their potential to help amplify the IHE’s voice in political and industry discussions and events.

Among of those attending there was a feeling that ongoing support for the scheme was necessary, which in turn would ensure that staff within partner organisations are continually exposed to professional development opportunities.

The breakfast event explored ways to provide more membership information and engagement on these opportunities to help ensure that they align with the changing needs of the industry.

All of those at the meeting highlighted that they all considered the initiative a real success so far and there was a clear desire to see the joint working initiatives continue.

The session helped establish a need for more regular contact throughout the year in addition to the current annual phone call and monthly PDP bulletin delivered by the IHE. Suggestions included organising more networking events such as this and collaborating on course content and political topics to support the IHE’s work.

Looking forward

The breakfast meeting was deemed a success and strengthened convictions that having sessions like this can aid in greater collaboration between the IHE and its PDP partners as well as others working across the highways sector.

The Institute aims to work on implementing the ideas shared during this meeting to help its partnerships continue to thrive and deliver joint benefits.