Capitalising on change

Our client was building a state of the art distribution centre with the technology to match. They realised that this would require the distribution managers to work in an entirely different way; they would have to move from a hands-on supervisory role to become managers and leaders of teams. To maximise the benefit of the new distribution centre, they needed to improve how they planned, solved problems, motivated staff, made decisions, and communicated at all levels.

When we realised the scale of what the managers were being asked to take on, we suggested a tailor-made, modular programme. The managers attended as a team so that they could support each other as they went through the programme.

We designed a programme that involved:

An Introductory day which introduced the managers to the programme, assessed their development needs using 360° feedback, discussed learning styles, and prepared the ground for what was to follow.

Then three 2-day modules followed, at six week intervals:

Module one covered managing teams, leadership styles, problem solving.

Module two covered dealing with individuals, giving and receiving feedback, managing performance.

Module three covered managing change, personally and as a manager.

The last module prepared the managers to undertake a ten-week project on change within the business which they presented to senior management.

For each of the modules, we used a mix of approaches including outdoor exercises, actor based role play and 360° feedback to measure the effectiveness of the programme.

  • The supervisors were transformed into managers and leaders.
  • As a group, they developed far more effective working relationships with each other.
  • They were able to coach their team members more successfully and help them accept the inevitable changes.
  • The recommendations of the change project they worked on were accepted by senior management and implemented successfully.
  • Return on investment in the distribution centre was considerable.

Email Lucy Neale or phone 0117 934 9738