• The History of our Company;
• Recognised as an Investor In People;
• Our Mission, Values and Purpose;
• About our Virtual Learning Environment;
• Why we chose the Moodle VLE;
• How can your Company benefit from using our VLE?;

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"
Erin Majors

The History of Our Company

The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd was founded as Gill Payne Training and Development back in December 1992. The company was orginally founded to provide management development and NVQ support to industries across the UK.

The company quickly became a recognised name within a number of industries in particular the Electricity Supply Industry.

Over the years the company grew in its footprint and stature. In 1996, the year the company was first recognised as an Investor In People and have since been re-recognised twice more. 

We also move into our current premises in 1996, three floors of administration and training materials preparation rooms, reception rooms, two training/meeting rooms and recently, a Video Production Room for our Online eLearning Management System at www.123skilled.com.

In 1997 the first IT Training Suite was introduced. This was updated in 2001 to a complete mobile IT suite consisting of 6 full-sized PCs plus a Server that provides a real IT Learning Environment that can be set-up anywhere in Europe. This gives us the ability to provide a fully interacting Microsoft Office environment covering Emailing, cross-product intergration (word into excel, etc.) anywhere a client wants us to take it.

1997 saw the first overseas contract working with Trainers from Tenaga Nascional Berhad, Malaysia. The contract was to get them all through a National Vocational Qualification at Level 3 in Training and Development so that they could go back to Malaysia and deliver training to Overhead Lines people within their company to a competent standard.

We delivered this contract in 16 weeks with the UK's National Grid Company providing the technical skills delivery in overhead lines. Another example of our ability to work in partnership with clients and suppliers.

2002 saw us delivering management skills development to 60 plus delegate from 16 nationalities, to a bespoke standard create by us and accredited by the ILM, to an American owned company at sites across the UK and also in Geneva and Stockhom.

We are still classed as a 'small company' but with a BIG footprint and we command huge respect from our clients where ever they are.

Over the years the company's name has evolved from Gill Payne Training and Development (1992) to Gill Payne Partnership (1996) and since 2002, incorporated as The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd.

Although we have our own employed trainers and facilitators, we have a number of contract trainers with specific skills who have now been working with us for years. They each have unique attributes that add to the strength and ability of our organisation.

Back in 1997 we first crossed paths with AZTEC Technical Services Ltd. AZTEC are a training organisation that specialises in Technical and Craft Skills whereas we specialise in Soft Skills.

Both our organisations are recognised brands and on many occassions now, we have come together to jointly manage and deliver very large contracts across the UK and Europe. When AZTEC and ourselves combine, a clients does not have to look anywhere else for skills development, it can all be supplied through our unique 'partnership'.

The future, well let us just look into our crystal ball, ah yes, exciting times ahead, new challenges in the shape of delivering our services across the internet - and we are already there.

Recognised as an Investor In People

The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd has been and still is, a recognised Investor In People since 1996.

We have always involved our staff and committed ourselves to the growth of our people not just for the commercial benefits, but also at the individual and personal level.

We have received significant benefits to our organisation and inline with our policy of "preaching what we practice", we also support other companies towards achieving the standard.

Our Values, Mission and Purpose

"Welcome to The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd, our company is not just committed to improving peoples knowledge and skills, our primary concern is with the application of that new knowledge or skill. In short, can they do something that they could not do before, or do something better as a result?"
Gill Payne, Director

Our Values are Honesty, Loyalty and Integrity...

..towards Clients and Suppliers:

RELIABLE In that the very least we deliver is what we promised, on time and on budget. Also, that we pay all suppliers within their terms. HONEST In that we never attempt to fulfil any work which we do not have the competence to do. COST EFFECTIVE In that we provide realistic proposals based on needs, and any deviation from the costs, for whatever reason, is discussed with the client as early as possible. INNOVATIVE In that we keep up to date with changes in our areas of expertise and deliver material that is relevant, interesting and can make changes or enhance performance. TRUSTWORTHY In that any information we learn about the client's business remains confidential.

...towards Staff and each other:

RELIABLE In that we perform the duties that we have and that we keep the promises that we make to one another. HONEST In that we communicate with one another and can give and receive feedback. SUPPORTIVE In that we treat one another with respect and treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves. CARING In that we genuinely care about each other and the problems that we face individually or as a group. UP TO DATE In that we individually and collectively take responsibility for our own development.

Our Mission

Our goal is to empower, motivate and inspire our clients. Our aim is always to be associated with success. We are dedicated to maintaining the quality of development and committed to our Values of Honesty, Integrity and Loyalty to our clients and ourselves.

About our Virtual Learning Environment

Why we chose the Moodle VLE

Since the foundation of The Gill Payne Partnership Ltd back in 1992, we have always sought to make effective use of technology to support and enhance the learning experience of our clients and delegates.

In our business planning session of 2001, we first started to explore the possibility of delivering learning over the Internet using a bespoke VLE (Virtual Learning Environment).

As we are very successful at delivering learning and development programmes Face-to-Face across Europe and the United Kingdom, we wanted to ensure that any system we developed or used, would allow us to provide an experience as close to our Face-to-Face model as could be permitted by the technology.

Initial investigations of the VLE systems available found that those up and running were resource and systems heavy, very expensive and unlikely to be fully effective in the development of delegates.

We then started to look at building our own VLE combining our love of Open Source and PHP Programming. The challenge was going to be considerable and would prove to be cost-effective. This would permit us to invest more finances in the content, we believe that content is King.

Whilst building our first test VLE, we came across a group of PHP Programmers who were developing an Open Source VLE called Moodle. As we looked more closely at this VLE model, we began to realise that it matched the criteria we had set for the development of our own VLE.

Ultimately, we have chosen to implement the Moodle VLE System and this has now given us the opportunity and released capital for the development of the content and course modules.

We continue to develop generic courses and programmes for our VLE and the system is used effectively as a side-by-side and post-course support system with News Rooms, Resources Libraries, Discussion Rooms, Assignments and Work Based Activities and Workshops.

How can your Company benefit from using our VLE?

Apart from the obvious statement about “simply doing your company training online!” there are many ways our VLE and setup will benefit you and your organisation.

You may not be inclined to implement your own VLE, so you can ‘rent’ space on ours, per user, and commission us to develop the course material for you. We can also remotely facilitate the course.

We can also design and deliver a programme that is mixed in face-to-face delivery, online activities including CHAT, Discussions, Work Based Activities and Online Workshops. Basically, we can tailor the delivery to suit your need, staff availability and budget.

Why not let us come out and demonstrate how we can help your organisation? Use our Contact Form to get in touch.