Case Study:
When we first started working with this client, a long established family business of timber merchants, the major proportion of the company’s sales related to the supply of sheet and cut material and they were finding it extremely difficult to compete with the DIY warehouses.
Two of the 3 directors were brothers and major shareholders and were approaching retirement. They were very concerned about the business having the capability to provide sufficient retirement income in the future for themselves and income for the other director, the son of one of the retiring directors.
Unsurprisingly, there was no exit strategy in place for these retiring directors. They felt it futile establishing one until they could foresee increased margins.
The company did however, have a small facility for matching and manufacturing the kind of wooden panelling and skirting sought after by restoration projects. Our analysis revealed that the staff involved with these products, had the necessary skill-set required for a manufacturing joinery facility. A market survey further indicated that their trade customers were very receptive to the idea.
With our support, the Directors made the decision to diversify and focus on the manufacture of this bespoke window frames, doors, and staircases for the construction sector, in addition to attacking the restoration market more vigorously.
The manufacturing process and the utilisation of storage capacity at the current site were mapped out. Through improved utilisation of space on their current site, it was possible to provide the necessary manufacturing facilities without the need to relocate.
Working alongside the Directors, we agreed their new manufacturing process, defined new roles and responsibilities and set up key performance indicators.
Unsurprisingly there were a number of organisational issues that emerged, relating primarily to those of communication, but these were always dealt with on the spot.
Customer service was key to maintaining the company’s success, which required improved awareness of the marketplace, and of the future needs of customers to ensure their satisfaction. This demanded some rethinking regarding logistics, resulting in them rising to the challenge and supplying their customers with a “just in time” on site distribution service.
Over a relatively short period, margins improved to such an extent, that the senior directors were able to not only confirm but implement their retirement plans.
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The People Dimension:Staff all appreciated the innovative way in which change of business focus was being introduced. From the outset the Directors worked with us to take everyone along with the switch in market focus. Failure was never an option.
Although it was agreed at the outset that the junior Director should succeed his father as Managing Director, effecting this change proved to be more difficult in practice, than it had been anticipated in earlier discussions. The difficulty didn’t stem from the father’s lack of support and confidence in his son, but rather from the son’s own “mind set”.
Having worked in the business for some 18 years in a junior capacity, he found this change difficult to accommodate.
We were able to help the son make a paradigm shift in his self-belief, and to a large extent achieved this by facilitating an employee survey. We included a number of questions to determine how staff perceived the role of the (former!) junior Director. Unequivocally, they all “saw” him as the company’s current Managing Director. The realisation of this plus some additional one-on-one support enabled us to help bring about the necessary change of “mindset”. Although it did take 12 months before he was comfortable using his father’s old office!
Our Credentials:With regard to manufacturing processes, John was able to call upon his original engineering background. He commenced his career in the UK, as a graduate trainee, with what was then the British Steel Corporation and was awarded a postgraduate fellowship that enabled him to identify and report on best practice in production scheduling, across Europe and Japan. Subsequent to this, John fulfilled a role at Ash Horn Hill, the steel industry management college, as a lecturer in the management of change.
Having been trained some 15 years ago in neurolinguistic programming (N L P), mentoring and solutions focused coaching, whilst employed by one of the U.K.’s business support agencies, John was able to assist this client and challenge some long held beliefs, by getting Directors and staff to embrace the change necessary for the company’s survival and subsequent growth.
