AiE Ltd

Board Facilitation

We started working with the Executive Director team of this design and fabric house some 10 years ago. Our initial brief was to put in place a clear strategic business plan within a stated time frame; a target which we achieved to budget and on time.
Following this, David Pride facilitated executive board meetings for a 12 month period to enable the change agenda in the business to be formulated and delivered. Training for managers and away-days were a continuing part of the relationship, and today David still coaches managers as well as facilitates away-days.

During this relationship we have carried out 360 degree feedback, personality questionnaires and other diagnostic processes to enable the various departments in the business to improve joined-up working. One project of note was to develop the interpersonal skills of the supervisors in the warehouse; our aim was to enable them to work more effectively together, as well as to get the best out of their teams.
In addition we introduced, with significant effect, Executive Assessment as one of the tools to support the development of key senior managers. We support this company with facilitated awaydays looking at key business issues and opportunities, for example, the response to the downturn in business and impact on the company’s strategy for the next 3 years.

Link: http://www.aieltd.co.uk/facilitation.html

Performance Management

The company is one of the leading domestic insurance companies in the UK. We developed, in conjunction with the Director of HR, a new Performance Management system. We were then commissioned to train all their managers and supervisors in its implementation.
With the performance management process we took the ‘Balanced Score Card’ approach. The training took the form of a two-day workshop, where we placed particular emphasis on two discrete areas. Firstly, how to write compelling goals and performance indicators which related to identified business objectives. And secondly, how to manage the one-to-one interviews with colleagues.

This was the first time this company had put such a process in place; we found it intensely satisfying that the management team left the workshops re-energised, and fully committed to its successful implementation.

Link: http://www.aieltd.co.uk/analysis.html

Culture and Organisation Change

We worked with the Director of Housing, Community Safety and Supported Living to prepare colleagues for a significant change programme. This included the recruitment of a new executive team; a new group of senior managers (some 35 people); and recruitment of new Team Leaders.
We set up several Assessment Centres for the recruitment of managers and team leaders, and we designed and ran the senior manager assessments. We then trained the senior managers to run the team leader assessments, with us acting as designer and quality control.

We also co-designed an innovative method for selecting Foster Carers based on the Assessment Centre method; this dramatically cut the waiting time for appointments.
During the programme we chose to introduce outdoor learning with some teams; we based ourselves at the National Mountain Centre in North Wales for this. We developed a flexible programme with Plas-y-Brenin that combined indoor and outdoor learning; participant feedback confirmed that this approach worked very effectively.
Two project teams were established to restructure Children’s and Adults’ Services; we trained both teams in Project Management skills, and acted as coach to all the team members.

Link: http://www.aieltd.co.uk/change_management/html

Organisation Review

The organisation recognised that, in the changing times, new business opportunities were emerging. We facilitated an Organisational Review to assess the strengths and weaknesses in the structure of the Society and to determine what, if anything should be changed to take maximum advantage of these opportunities.
The Society decided to involve all its managers; we designed and facilitated workshops where they analysed the organisation and then identified opportunities for change or improvement.
At the same time, we worked with the Executive Team and presented a draft report for discussion. As a result, changes were agreed and a new senior appointment was made.
In addition, it was decided to open up the hierarchy even further to provide more development opportunities for managers; this was one of our major recommendations, and we were pleased to see a process put in place to implement this.

Link: http://www.aieltd.co.uk/change_management/html

Director Development

The experience with the institution is a typical example of how our commitment to the client partnership can lead from a single project to a long term relationship.

The Chief Executive of the institution commissioned us to design a development programme to enable the Director team to tackle key issues facing the organisation. These included the major challenges coming from a controversial central office move; restructuring Directorate responsibilities; and managing the organisation within an increasingly constrained budget.
We designed an 18-month development programme for the Directors which included facilitated business sessions as well as training and development sessions. During this time we also facilitated networking opportunities with other organisations to share best practice ideas.

Additionally we worked with the Directors on a multi-faceted organisational change programme to engage colleagues from across the organisation in the key issues and options facing it, and to build commitment to the ongoing changes.
We also created the development programme for the next tier of managers, some 80 people. Working in partnership with the institution’s Training & Development Department and with the Directors, we launched a series of Development Centres.

The key to the success here was that each Director signed up as a coach on several centres – and thus the Directors coached their colleagues. This was most desirable as it brought colleagues together and focused them on the agreed capabilities for effective leadership in the institution of the future. We supported this programme by producing full Capability profiles for each participant.

Link: http://www.aieltd.co.uk/skills_training

Organisational Development:

North Sea Offshore Supply and Safety Vessel company

This safety, supply and survey vessel company called us in to help them change the culture of the organisation; they were moving away from command and control to a more team-based approach. This was seen as essential if the company was to be able to compete for the tough contracts being awarded principally in the North Sea.

As part of this major cultural shift, we worked with Masters and Ships Engineers, helping them identify how they would take more accountability for decisions surrounding the maintenance and operation of their vessels.

At the same time, the work of the support office needed to be realigned to act more in “support” mode and much less in “direct” mode. To this end, we redesigned the roles within the support office.

During the change process we conducted a customer satisfaction survey and recommended improvement strategies to the owners – ahead of a buy-out deal agreed with an international shipping company.

The success of the changes we introduced contributed to the company’s profitability and its subsequent sale to an internationally acquisitive shipping company seeking to get into the North Sea.

Facilitation

New Team Development under financial pressure: International Pharmaceuticals

A major change in purchasing philosophy and working practices worldwide led to the formation of a new corporate purchasing team.  Its role was to lead, influence, train, coach and advise purchasing professionals, purchasing agents and line managers in the organisation around the world.

We carried out a ‘culture mapping’ exercise to determine the readiness of the current team of purchasing colleagues in the UK to cope with and implement effectively the proposed ‘change strategies’.  We then worked with the Senior Vice-President and his team, whether they reported directly or indirectly. We coached them in the personal and cross-cultural skills they would need, in turn, to coach, train and influence their colleagues around the world in the skills necessary to produce the savings.

We chose one-to-one coaching as the main learning method since the team was already heavily committed to organising, presenting and training in the new approach. We also ran workshops to establish team goals, standards – and, crucially, commitment to them.

We used self-awareness and team feedback inventories to support this programme.  These gave people a framework within which to analyse their current effectiveness; how they were perceived by their peers; and in some cases, how they were perceived by their internal customers.

As a multinational organisation, the planned improvements had cross-cultural implications.  We used our wide experience of working with other cultures to bring a valuable multi-cultural dimension to the coaching relationship.

We worked in Europe and North America as part of our support to the managers involved.

Link: http://www.aieltd.co.uk/facilitation.html