Crossing the Bridge

Why Organisational Development?

I’m fortunate that my career to date has been so focused on People. My first ‘proper job’ was in recruitment and I quickly progressed in to the Learning & Development world, mastering induction training before broadening my skills and experience, notably in management development as a Learning & Development Consultant. The lure to then manage a recruitment & training department with a young and upcoming insurance broker was too good to refuse! This was a great experience in many ways. However to develop myself in my field I felt that I craved a manager with the expertise to learn from, within a forward-thinking organisation.

All About Kura

Kura’s Vision to be ‘Unrivalled in Developing People’ demonstrates exactly this. Why Organisational Development? It’s an opportunity to be at the forefront of driving a Vision that I can connect to, improving the organisations’ effectiveness through People and making a difference to their working lives. I get a kick out of inspiring our managers – whether they are our upcoming leaders of the future or our experienced managers – providing them with a different way of thinking or new skills to help them create productive, engaged, high-performing and happy teams.

My Own Kura Journey

I joined Kura in December 2017 and it’s been a quick 7 months! My first milestone was to get up to speed with our Grow with Kura framework for development which focuses on delivering a first-class suite of management development workshops to existing managers and our Career Programmes. Understanding the culture across each of our four sites, we believe in instilling our Crossing The Bridge mind-set, focussing on ‘People and Behaviour’. For me, this approach to leadership and engagement aligns with my values, so naturally I have quickly jumped on the Kura bus!

Supporting Your Professional Progression

I love that the Kura Values are more than just words on a wall. Our people are expected to provide an account of how well they have demonstrated the values on a monthly basis, as part of a one-to-one meeting with their manager. The overall purpose is to drive performance improvement and development – everyone has access to create their own personal development plan. For me, it’s so important that everyone is working towards a greater goal that is personal to them – whether that is to reach their potential in their role or to aspire for promotion. The Organisational Development Team support people development through various programmes and workshops, therefore options are available for those that want it. Personally, Kura has provided me with the opportunity to achieve my Insights Self Discovery accreditation, increasing my scope and capability to develop our management population.

What’s Next?

Talent succession is of massive importance and the Organisational Development Team is looking to expand our offering, giving our People more ways to progress and develop. The huge success of our Future Managers programme across our sites in Glasgow, Forres and Liverpool has meant we are now on to our next round of nurturing further talent. Having a direct impact on developing our managers of the future is highly rewarding and reinforces the important contribution of our team.

David Turpie.
Organisational Development Business Partner and People Enthusiast.