Case Studies

Background
Distington Surgery is a rural dispensing practice with 4000 patients who are cared for by a team of 4 partner GP’s and one employed GP. They are supported by a District Nurse team, Health Visitor and Practice Manager. Further colleagues visit the practice to run clinics. This is also a training practice and has 2 GPs in training. 

The Project

Problems & Challenges
Practice Manager Kerri Hunter recognised that for the practice to move forward it needed to address some key challenges.  One of the main issues was communication across the practice. With a mix of working styles and personalities it was clear that the practice needed help to develop a more open communication process. It was also evident that developing an understanding of how each team member worked and what made them tick, was crucial in helping to overcome issues that could otherwise deepen over time, if left unaddressed.

Training Objectives
The training objectives covered a number of areas;
1) To understand behavioural styles and use this knowledge to develop the best possible working relationships. 
2) To implement a more effective management structure within the practice and to facilitate a better and faster decision making process.
3) To develop greater self-awareness of own behaviour and how it affects others.
4) To improve communication within the practice 
5) To enable the development of high performing teams in an environment where autonomous decision making was prevalent.

Solution
Julie Bell Consulting recognised that these problems are not unique to this practice and are fairly common within this type of organisation.

After close consultation with the Practice a 4 session training programme was specifically developed. The first session focused on developing awareness of different behavioural styles; self awareness and identifying the behavioural style of each team member. The second session looked at teamwork, the third involved a business simulation game to examine communication styles and the final session looked at strengths and weaknesses and how to move the practice forward.

Impact Of The Training
Kerri Hunter, Practice Manager
"There is a huge difference in the atmosphere within the practice; it is now a lot more open. The training has given us the language we need to communicate effectively and also enabled us to provide a forum to do this. We are able to debate issues more openly and not take things personally; there is a much greater sense of trust between team members."

"Through the training we have all developed a much greater self awareness of what are our individual strengths and weaknesses are and how our behaviour affects others. This knowledge then enables us to adapt our behaviour to work better with other practice members."

"Decision making has now been speeded up considerably. We are no longer just looking at day to day practical issues but through regular meetings we are now also focusing on wider managerial issues, undertaking a SWOT analysis and concentrating on how to move the practice forward longer term."

"I chose Julie Bell Consulting as I had previously attended several management courses run by her and from that I realised that she would be able to engage the different personalities across the team in developing our practice further." After just one session we were able to start implementing what we had learnt and the atmosphere within the practice became much more relaxed. We have seen a huge difference in behaviour between the first session and the last. There was even a change in attitude in how participants viewed the training, even the most sceptical became enthusiastic and made sure they attended!"

Background

In 1999 ICare was a relatively small organisation with big ideas based in the North West. They had a vision to grow UK wide over the next 20 years. Steady growth followed until 2008 when despite the economic slow down, this company bucked the trend and in the last two years, has now doubled employee numbers from 350 to 700.

The company has a number of different divisions covering community care and community meals, residential homes, commercial property development and mature living properties.

The company has 15 sites throughout the North West and the Midlands and is continuing to develop into new market sectors.

The Project

Problems & Challenges
Whilst rapid growth, particularly in tough economic times, is admirable it also brings with it a host of challenges; in particular the creation of a managerial skills gap.

Whilst it was recognised that the existing management team were very loyal, there was a need within the business for them to grow into new positions and take on new responsibilities very quickly. Having been used to working in a small business for up to ten years, this rapid growth presented them with a real challenge and a lot of changes to cope with.

The growth meant that areas of the business that had previously worked independently were now overlapping with other areas and therefore needed to work more closely together. Likewise, where each area had previously been used to developing their own procedures, these required standardisation across the business to ensure best practice procedures were adopted.

With the majority of the Company’s business now coming from social service tenders it was important that managers realised how competitive this market is and how important it is for the business to be able to maintain high standards whilst looking to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. In order to do this, managers needed to develop the ability to take a broader strategic overview of the business. 

Training Objectives
To equip the managers to be able to not only cope with change, but to lead this change within the organisation.

To develop managers into better leaders by developing their knowledge and confidence and encouraging them to take a more strategic view of the business.

To prepare the management team for future challenges and enable them to work more effectively as teams.

Solution
The leadership team trained for their ILM Level 3 and ILM Level 5 in management. 

Impact Of The Training
Natalie Gregory, Head of Group Finance

“In order to meet our challenges we contacted Business Link and explained our vision and the issues we were facing. Business Link suggested that we needed to introduce ILM qualifications for our management team and suggested providers.”

“From all of the presentations that we looked at from different providers Julie Bell Consulting stood out; as they were the most professional, developed the best rapport and our management team felt that they could work best with them.”

“As a result of the training the confidence of our managers has definitely increased. They are now able to help more with the tendering process and even volunteer to do this. Their contribution is leading to us having a greater success with tenders, which is a great step forward.”

“The training has helped with motivation levels and confidence. All of the managers are now able to present with confidence and are better able to deal with both staff and public. They are now better focused on customer service and also in organising teams and this has had a ripple effect throughout the organisation.” 

“Time management has improved as has communication, team work and financial awareness.”

“During the course of the training the managers always came away with new ideas which they put into practice immediately. They were always keen to take on new projects which would not only help them gain their qualification but would be of immense benefit to ICare too.”

“Julie and her team are extremely professional and patient and are able to create an excellent rapport. We appreciated that throughout the training process we have had easy access to Julie and her team to get additional assistance where required. We know we would not have got this level of support from many other training organisations.”

Background

The Lakes Free Range Egg Co was founded in 1988 by David and Helen Brass who started off by supplying the eggs produced by her 200 hens to local people. The company has since grown and flourished and now supplies several million free range and organic eggs per week.

The business is still owned and run by Helen and David Brass and is based in Stainton, near Penrith. The Lakes Free Range Egg Co have an impressive client list which includes McDonald’s who they have supplied for 8 years, alongside a host of other multiples.

The business employs 50 staff and have contracted farmer egg suppliers in and around the Lakes.

The Project

Problems & Challenges

One of the key challenges for Lakes Free Range Eggs was to find high quality supervisors for the rapidly growing business. External recruitment failed to unearth the correct calibre of candidate. Internally, although staff excelled in day to day production there was a lack of formal management expertise and knowledge of how to effectively work as part of a management team.

It was clear that in order for the management team to reach their full potential additional management development and team work training was required.

The aim in commissioning Julie Bell Consulting was to give supervisors the confidence and knowledge that they needed in order to supervise effectively and also to help them overcome and breakdown barriers.

It was also important for them to gain an understanding of the legal implications of their responsibilities.

Solution

A training programme was developed for supervisors from 3 areas of the business which involved 5 days training in total, over a period of 10 weeks. At the end of the programme each supervisor had attained a nationally recognised Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) Level 3 qualification in first line management

What The Client Said - Jonathan Lodge , Operations Manager

“We were initially put in touch with Julie Bell Consulting through North West Development Agency. We were looking for a training organisation who would be able to give us real support. At our first meeting we felt confident that Julie Bell Consulting were able to immediately get to grips with the issues and problems that we were facing and that they were able to demonstrate they had the real business experience required to solve our problems, rather than just using academic theory.”

“Being an independent training organisation they are able to bring a personal touch. It was clear to us that they knew exactly what they were talking about and that they were able to draw on real business experience, no-one else came near to them.”

“We had real confidence that we would get the outcomes that we wanted and this was proven straight away in the first ½ day course. We were already seeing differences in the business before we had even started on the first full day course!”

“Although the supervisors were apprehensive to start with they soon realised that they were gaining valuable new skills from the training and were soon looking forward to their next session.”

“We have seen a significant improvement in communication, teamwork and overall levels of confidence in the way they now deal with staff. In addition to this our supervisors are able to make a greater input at management level as they are now able to look at the bigger picture.”

“The training programme has definitely achieved visible results in terms of improved productivity and efficiency savings. These improvements have far outweighed the cost of training.”

Maddie Wilson – ILM Level 3

Melville & Co are chartered accountants based in Barrow, who employ 10 staff and 2 partners. As part of a recent re-organisation Maddie Wilson was delighted to find herself promoted to the position of Practice Manager. Whilst Maddie was very enthusiastic to take up her role she recognised that it would also be a real challenge; as the role was much more diverse than her previous secretarial role and would require her to develop a whole new skill set and outlook.

Maddie had previously attended a management course at Furness Enterprise centre run by Julie Bell Consulting and had been impressed by both the course content and how well the course was delivered. So Julie Bell Consulting was a natural choice to help further develop her managerial skills. The ILM level 3 programme offered her the broad mix of skills development that she was looking for, including people management, time management and communication skills.

For Maddie, one of the key areas that she was keen to focus on was time management. Her previous role had been very task based, whereas her new role was less structured and more reliant on her being able to effectively plan and manage her own time and her team.

As this was the first time that Maddie  had responsibility for managing others it was important to her to gain the knowledge and skills to effectively manage and motivate her new team members and to ensure that she was able to effectively communicate.

The Results

“I was amazed at just how quickly I was able to put my training into practice. As soon as I returned to the office after my first session I immediately re-organised the way I worked which made an immediate impact on my personal effectiveness. More importantly, I have stuck to my new structure so the benefits are on-going,” commented Maddie.

“As a result of the training my confidence has grown and I am now really enjoying my new role. I have a toolkit that I can draw upon to help me in a wide range of different circumstances, allowing me to take on new challenges and responsibilities with ease. I have a framework to work within which enables me to approach and handle difficult situations.”

“I feel that things now run much more smoothly and that I am able to do the job to the best of my ability. I am able to clearly analyse business problems and have the tools to plan out an effective solution.”

“The training has enabled me to understand different learning styles and the way that different people work, which really helps me to better manage each member of my team."

“Throughout the training The Julie Bell Consulting team were able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the topics that they covered and conveyed it in a way that was very easy to put into practice. They have the ability to communicate clearly to different people and because they understand different learning styles are able to tailor the training to suit individuals, rather than use a blanket approach. They make the training relevant and interesting while helping you to develop your confidence, feel important and show a genuine interest in helping you develop to your full potential”