Grants Electrical Services Ltd. (GES Group), recently received a national award in recognition of their commitment to staff, innovation, and skills development, outperforming organisations many times their size.

Competing against heavyweights like Transport for London, Dell Global Support, and BT Openreach, GES Group won the Bronze Award in the Training Journal Awards ‘Best Change Management’ category, and was the only company from Northern Ireland, as well as the only SME, nominated at the awards night.

Category Judge, Richard Smith, commented:

“Although by some way the smallest organisation among the finalists in the Training Journal Awards, GES fully deserved their high award for a really well-run change initiative, which has transformed creativity and teamwork across their business.”

Employing more than 80 people across our County Antrim facilities, we service a range of industrial, manufacturing, and power generation sectors across Northern Ireland, and beyond. Currently participating in a Growth Programme supported by Invest NI, we extended our Mallusk premises in 2015, achieved 23% growth in 2016, and will shortly celebrate 45 years in business. To support our growth objectives, we have participated in a number of Council-run business support programmes.

GES Group Managing Director, David Moore, said:

“We have worked very hard to grow the business, investing in our infrastructure, our technology, and our people. We spend approximately £150,000 on training annually, covering everything from Apprenticeship Development, to Senior Management Leadership Training.”

To support our growth aims, we’ve participated in Council-run business support programmes, such as Sales Growth 2, resulting in us developing our own in-house Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Ingenuity. The programme supported the development, implementation, and review, of annual Improvement and Innovation Programmes, which have had a massive impact on our business.”

Innovation is defined as “change that adds value”, and the Company undertook a significant training and development programme to introduce creativity and innovation into the Management Team, Company strategy, and culture. The programme included 360 Feedback, Psychometric Profiling, One-to-One Mentoring, Training Workshops delivered over Residential Weekends, and use of LaSalle’s Innovation Matrix to develop Business Improvement Projects chosen based on their likelihood of success, and their potential impact on the organisation. These were used as the vehicle for implementing change and embedding a culture of innovation.

The Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Councillor John Scott, and the Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Councillor Audrey Wales MBE, visited the Mallusk premises to congratulate the Group on our considerable achievement, and to reiterate the need for companies to continue to invest in training to ensure competitiveness.

Cllr Audrey Wales MBE said:

“Council was pleased to hear that Ballymena-based GES Group had won this prestigious national award. GES has been in Ballymena for several decades and it is great to see them achieving such success. I offer them my good wishes for the future, valuing the economic contribution they make to both the local and Northern Ireland economy, and I assure them of Council’s full support.”

Cllr Scott noted that:

“The Council was delighted to learn of GES Group’s national award and we hope that our business support programmes have contributed to their ongoing success. To see a local company doing so well on a national stage is welcomed by Council, and through such programmes, we are keen to help other local companies fulfil their potential.”

Invest NI has supported the company’s investment in marketing, job creation, and skills development in recent years, culminating in the national recognition.