Eve Trakway
"I am delighted that the goals we set out to achieve when we embarked on this development programme have been exceeded. The programme was extremely well received and enjoyed by the group and has certainly brought about team bonding. It has given a great introduction and exposure to subjects they wouldn't normally be exposed to and in all of them has broadened their individual skill set and approach to issues.
"It has given a good grounding for development and sharpened their interest in the future strategy and development of the businesses and the roles and opportunities that exist for themselves within it. We hope they will continue to use what they have learnt to develop and grow."
Eve Trakway's Managing Director, Rick Barnett
Challenge
Eve Trakway is Europe's leading privately owned supplier of temporary access solutions to the industrial and outdoor events sectors. The company operates out of three regional UK depots and bases in Germany, Ireland and France. The challenges created by this geographical spread of expertise prompted Eve Trakway to consult us about how an effective management leadership programme could be maximised across the company.
Our challenge was to create a training programme for Eve Trakway that would develop the management and leadership capacity of senior managers across a number of sites in the UK,and would also address gaps within the company's management development and succession planning initiatives. Eve Trakway's geographically diverse structure had resulted in clear business issues that challenged company cohesion. Our task was made more challenging by the fact that the managers were not only based in different locations but also came from diverse educational backgrounds and had varying levels of work experience. This had led to a number of specific challenges, including:
- Difficulties in the development of a companywide team culture
- Loss of best practice opportunities, which would have been afforded by effective cross-company learning
- Loss of cross-company understanding of the opportunities and threats posed by the commercial environment within which the company operated
The Bradford Solution
Our Executive Education team met with Rick Barnett (Managing Director) and Chris Lowton (Finance Director) at the Heaton Mount Executive Education Centre and at Eve Trakway's head office in Chesterfield and formulated a programme tailored to the company's needs. We adopted a three-pronged approach to meeting the Eve Trakway challenge. Specifically we strove to encourage:
- The development of the management capacity of Eve Trakway Depot Managers and those in charge of specific functions, for example, Marketing, Finance, Operations and Logistics, so that managers would be fully equipped to take the business forward
- The development of stronger managers, leaders and strategists, in order to ensure the future success of Eve Trakway in an increasingly competitive environment
- The development of a cohesively stronger management team that would work together to achieve more effective, sustainable outcomes
We determined that it was essential to Eve Trakway that its senior managers engage together in a shared-experience leadership development programme. So, a suitable programme was organized which gave managers the opportunity to learn together and to focus on a shared vision - the future health of the business. The following two day modules were developed for the team. Six key managers completed the programme:
Part One
- Essential Marketing
- Finance for Non-Financial Managers
- Strategic Account Management
- Service Operations
Part Two
- The Company and The Management Team
- Managing Teams
- Influencing, Personal Impact and Stakeholder Management
- The Strategy Process
- Tackling Key Strategic Issues
The Eve Trakway Leadership Development Programme was designed as an intensive 18 month programme to be completed in March 2010. The two day sessions every six weeks at Heaton Mount Executive Education Centre ensured that geographically dispersed managers regularly came together to learn, interact and engage with each other. Part One looked at developing the knowledge and skills of managers in variety of functional management topics while Part Two focused on essential behavioural modules needed to build an effective senior management team. Each course concluded with individual action plans which were then discussed the next time the managers came together. This ensured that classroom learning had a tangible impact on the business from the very first course. Learning together also resulted in a noticeable change in approach and attitude with managers showing a greater appreciation of the differing pressures, priorities and work styles of individuals. This resulted in more effective working practices with improved business outcomes.