About Lightning Training

Lightning Training – it’s in the name

The English Electric Lightning – the RAF’s most advanced supersonic jet fighter of the Cold War era. Capable of reaching Mach 2, the Lightning was at the cutting edge of aviation and led the way in terms of performance. Its proud service from 1960-1988 meant our pilots could fly higher and faster than anyone else.

Despite the military background of our Managing Director, we can’t train you to become a fast jet pilot. But we can give your teams the skills they need to keep you ahead of your competition – flying faster.

Where next?

As technology advances and training methods become more advanced, we continue to look for new and innovative ways of challenging and exciting learners through our courses.

This means many of our courses are available online, giving our clients the flexibility and convenience of a more flexible approach to learning.

Change should be exciting and empowering, not daunting and frightening. It should be seen as an opportunity to grow and develop beyond your comfort zone.

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With this in mind, we’re constantly adding to our training programmes and making sure our expert trainers throughout the UK are accredited leaders in their field.

We’re continually adding to our courses and looking for new was to engage and excite the people we train.

We want your staff to feel like they, too, are saddled to a sky rocket.

To find out more about Lightning Training and our training courses please call 08444 148 092. We’d love to hear from you and find out more about how we can help your business grow.

Our aims – a fresh approach

Pilots used to describe the experience of flying the Lightning as “like being saddled to a sky rocket.” And this is what inspires us in our training – we want your teams to feel like they’re learning something new, exciting and purposeful.

All too often companies deliver training courses with a lack of imagination and energy. They fail to engage their learners and engage them in learning new skills.

We aim to provide an active and fresh approach to every training programme we offer, energising your teams and accelerating the development of their skills in a practical and innovative way.

We want your teams to feel excited by the new skills they have developed and be able to put them straight into action.

Winning Awards

In recent years we’re proud to have won some prestigious awards for our training programmes. In 2011 we won Gold at the IT Training Awards for our work in the training industry. This was followed in 2012 by winning Silver Award for the Trainer of the Year.

We’re also proud to have won the Breast Cancer Care Blog Award for our blogging work to help raise awareness and training around breast cancer.

Partners

TAP

The TAP Learning System won a Queen”s Award for Innovation for its unique best-practice assessment models for training roles. More than 1,700 organisations now employ some 20,000 TAP-certified practitioners. Ensuring that their service quality is aligned to this Award-winning standard is proving attractive to many Heads of L&D. We have designed a Programme to recognise their commitment.

Lightning Training are very proud to have become part of The Training Foundation’s TAP Partner’s Programme. The Silver Queen’s Award Emblem demonstrates our commitment to a policy of all training being delivered by personnel holding a TAP certificate in Training Delivery or Facilitation Skills.

MERIC

MERIC: Training, Development and Consulting is the Exclusive Official Representative for Lightning Training in the Middle East and North African (MENA) Region.

As the Middle East’s leading managed learning service provider, we have accumulated over a decade years’ experience improving the performance of learning for dozens of organizations across multiple industry sectors. MERIC’s core commitment to social and economic development of the MENA region has driven us to consolidate forces with the world’s leading publishing houses, learning and training institutes to address human development challenges within the region. Our goal is to arm individuals, within the MENA region, with the skills and knowledge that activate development efforts and drive positive change. Accordingly, MERIC is dedicated in effectively providing world-class blended learning solutions that equip delegates with the tools and techniques that ignite new thinking, better problem solving and rapid growth within a globally competitive world.

4Networking – the social business network

4N is 50% social, 50% business and it works. Relaxed Networking, with no stuffiness, no cufflinks, just a lot of networking, both online and in real life.

Our recipe for great networking is simple – we make it easy for people to network by letting them choose when, where and how to do it. Add in a relaxed friendly vibe and you’ve got social business networking. Do business with people you meet, like, know & trust.

Sheena is actively involved by being Regional Leader for 4N in Lincolnshire. Why not join her at a meeting?

Microsoft

Lightning Training are also a member of the Microsoft Partners Network, currently holding Registered partner status, and actively working towards Certified Partner status for Information Workers and Learning Solutions.

Awards

Gold Award Winner – Freelance Trainer of the Year Award 2011

Not only are Lightning Training accredited by the Institute of IT Training as a Gold Standard Training Provider, but Sheena is also Freelance Trainer of the Year 2011.

‘Freelance trainers are in a position in which, unless they meet (or even exceed) their client’s expectations, their prospects are very weak indeed. All of this year’s entries demonstrated an extremely high level of professionalism and an ability to turn their clients’ aspirations into reality.

Sheena has adapted her approach and the value-add that she represents to the currently demanding business and economic circumstances, and the judges noted that she is making an outstanding contribution to the community. The metrics that demonstrated she really had made a difference to her clients were truly impressive.’

The Institute of IT Training, The IT Training Awards 2011.

Silver Award Winner – Trainer of the Year Award 2012

Lightning Training Limited are a fabulous training company with extensive experience in managing training projects, training programmes, trainers, training needs analysis projects, training delivery, and courseware development projects gathered over the last 15 years, specialising in Microsoft Applications, Business Skills and Project Planning & Management Training.

We are accredited by the Learning & Performance Institute as a Training Consultant, are a member of the Microsoft Partner Network, working towards Information Worker competencies, and are a member of the TAP Partners Programme.

Our industry knowledge allows us to recommend the most appropriate solutions to our clients needs. By offering a blended, modular solution to learning, a wide range of training needs can be covered by our Managing Director and her nation wide team.

Managing Director, Sheena Whyatt says “Whether our clients engage with us for specific training dates to meet specific needs, have a rolling programme of training in response to a detailed Training Needs Analysis, or take up one of our membership packages, our training helps to make our clients’ staff more efficient in their day to day roles, more confident when performing less routine tasks, and able to help themselves and others solve non-technical problems when using software applications. We can actively help our clients improve their bottom line by improving the skills of their workforce.”

Following on from her success in the 2011 Learning Awards, Sheena went gone head-to-head with some of the leading providers in her field to scoop another major industry award.

Sheena Whyatt of Lightning Training was awarded Silver Trainer of the Year in the 2012 Learning Awards run by the Learning & Performance Institute (LPI).

Sheena said: “I was absolutely thrilled to win Silver – it’s a major achievement for a small independent training provider when you’re up against industry leaders like QA and Happy Computers.

“This follows on from my success last year when I won Freelance Trainer of the Year. It shows that the LPI recognises quality training provision from all areas of their membership, large or small.”

Success has tasted especially sweet for Sheena as she continues her fight against the breast cancer which affected her for much of 2010 and 2011.

“I’ve been determined not to let it consume my life. Keeping the business going while I was ill was tough, especially with having to undergo chemotherapy, so it’s extra special to have done so well,” she said.

In their deliberations, the panel said: “Sheena has added business management to her extensive training skills by setting up her own company which the LPI recognises as an accredited training provider. In addition to providing excellent training, she is an active member of a number of relevant communities and, as such, has been able to give back as well as deliver in a world where she is a shining example to us all.”

Blog Award

In October 2010, the Breast Cancer Care forums, twitter, facebook and all manner of online communities were buzzing with activity for the Breast Cancer Care Blog Awards.
With signed Gok Wan autobiographies up for grabs, our followers took to the bandwidth and produced some fantastic posts.
With dozens of entries, it was tricky to single any of them out, but we finally whittled it down to nine award winners.
There’s a real range of subject matter, including personal tales of treatment for breast cancer, reflections on the long term impact of having had a diagnosis of breast cancer, as well as discussions about the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month and what it really means to people who have experienced breast cancer.
Below are our ten winning blog entries (in no particular order):

Feisty Blue Gecko Fights Back – ‘A letter to cancer for my cancerversary’

Feisty Blue Gecko Fights Back – ‘Rose-coloured spectacles or the breast cancer lens?’

Alright Tit – ‘Plan-B

iPilates blog – ‘My Cancer Story by Tracey Corcoran’

Lojajo – ‘October with a hint of pink’

Living it, Learning it, Loving it – ‘Mastectomy: the sequel’

Support for Women – ‘I’m a breast cancer survivor!’

One Year On – ‘Breast cancer awareness month’

60 going on 16 – ‘Result!’

Chemobabe – ‘What is awareness?’