Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 39 | Page 18

18 | Aycliffe Today Business
Think Eleven managing director Darren Race
launched his Aycliffe-based consultancy
more than 12 years ago and now works with
firms around the world.
BLUE SKY
THINKING
Aycliffe Today editor
Martin Walker
discovers how
Aycliffe-based staff
competency experts
Think Eleven can
boost productivity
for employers…
D
arren Race is an experienced
engineer who has devised user
-friendly cloud-based software which
enables employers to ultimately boost their
productivity.
And he’s now delivering his unique
approach to companies around the world
from his base on Aycliffe Business Park.
Since 2006, Race has been leading
Think Eleven, a firm dedicated to helping
organisations optimise and maximise the
value of their most important asset, their
people.
Experts in competency management,
Think Eleven use their extensive knowledge
to help organisations firstly move from
what’s typically a transactional approach,
based on training and records or training,
to an approach focused on learning and
development, with evidence and records of
training, competence and compliance.
It might sound complicated – but it isn’t.
During a fascinating workshop delivered
by Think Eleven, to a dozen other companies
at South West Durham Training, Race
demonstrated how staff utilisation can be
boosted by as much as 30%, which will
result in improved productivity and operating
efficiency.
Typical staff/workforce utilisation stands at
around 55% – and can be as low as 24%.
But Darren and the team at Think Eleven
have devised a unique system, which he’s
already delivering in more than 40 countries
around the world, which can boost Staff/
workforce utilisation to 85% – what he dubs
‘world class levels’.
“It was primarily focused around
competency, and the fact most organisations
have records of training, but not
competence,” explains Race.
“What we’ve seen is a trend for
organisations and auditors to move towards
a competency-based management approach
– which provides evidence that they’ve not
only been trained, but they’re competent to
do the job they’re employed to do.
“With that we can take workforce
utilisation, which is typically 55%, to 85%,
which is world class.
“We’ve proven there’s an opportunity to
maximise the capability and effectiveness
of the UK workforce, and companies that
attended this workshop, in helping them
become world-class in a very competitive
market place.”
Despite running his own successful
business for more than 12 years, Race is no
stranger to the workplace.
Having trained as an engineering
maintenance apprentice with the NHS, he
went on to work for Nissan at Sunderland as