Case Study
Aegon UK Sales & Marketing Division
Objective
“Simon Alldridge has a great ability to
make people feel they have 100% of his attention. He makes them feel
everything they are saying is being listened to and he helps them distil
their thoughts. It’s a rare quality.”
Simon Bailey Head of Marketing for Aegon
UK employee benefits business unit.
To create a unified team from two different factions
that was ready to drive the business forward with a very clear vision.
Background
Aegon UK’s business performance has been poor
with severe servicing and operational problems. Once these problems
have been resolved, the focus will be on sales and marketing to drive
the business forward.
The challenge was to create a unified team from two
different factions that would achieve the business drive needed. Both
teams had undergone significant changes; sales more so than marketing.
Both were therefore fairly new and because of what would be expected
of them in the future, Simon Bailey, head of marketing for employee
benefits and Stewart Ireland, head of sales for employee benefits, knew
that better integration was needed.
They decided to hold a conference in January 2007
to bring the teams together and to define the goals for the coming year.
The aim was to let the teams know the exact position of the business.
However, they would be asked to put this knowledge aside to focus on
sales and marketing working more effectively together.
Simon and Stewart needed to create the right environment
so when the business gets to a more stable position the team will be
ready to take it to the next level. They need a team that knows who
does what and how they can work together for the good of the company.
At the conference they also wanted to establish some
ground rules. For instance, what people can expect from each other and
what sort of values they should try to adhere to as a team.
It was important, too, that Stewart and Simon began
to develop the culture and vision for the team.
APG's Intervention
The initial session was about the teams getting to
know each other. The focus was on communication and the problems that
can occur when it breaks down. An exercise in the afternoon with Spy
Masters put this into context in a fun way.
We took them though the benefits of working together
as a unified team. We made sure that everyone understood the role of
each of the teams within the larger group and how they could help each
other.
Simon and Stewart set out their goal to lead the business
by driving direction and development.
Follow-up
After this first workshop, we held a review session
with Simon and Stewart. We looked at how they could could implement
what had come out of the session in the workplace.
We posed some tough questions. We asked them exactly
what they were doing to make things happen.
The leadership element is crucial to the success of
this work because people have had their expectations raised. We’ve
acted as a sounding board and have kept the pressure on Simon and Stewart
to make sure promises are delivered. This then filters down to the team.
One of the things they committed to was a monthly
newsletter. This is now in place.
It was clear from the review that the exercise would
need to be revisited in six months time to see how many steps they had
taken. It would also allow them to further develop the team and their
vision, and to give it more impetus.
“APG got us really focussed in the lead-up to
the second workshop,” says Simon. “They made sure we had
given people enough information to get their heads around it.
“It’s a costly exercise to take people
out of the business for two days. You need to make sure they get most
out of it and don’t just sit there thinking ‘yeah another
workshop but nothing’s going to come out of it.’
“APG led us through a structured approach to
the build-up & preparation. The workshops were very focussed with
a chunk of time at the end to talk about what was going to be taken
out. That aspect was always spot on.
“By the end of the second workshop we noticed
that people were really seeing the benefits of cross-working.”
Result
There is now a lot more interaction between sales
and marketing. Communication has improved and there is less mystery
about what each section does.
Several teams within marketing have developed significantly
and are now very aware of how they can link in with other aspects of
the larger team.
The level of communication has developed considerably
between the first and second workshop and they are now looking at ways
to take this further. The team members understand the opportunities
they have and are beginning to take advantage of them.
Says Simon: “Previously our marketing communications
were issued to everyone we dealt with. They are now more strategic.
We are recognising that different groups of people need different things
and are producing more targeted communications.
“There can be a lot of rivalry between sales
and marketing teams which prevents them from working well together.
Because of the work we’ve done we’ve got a much more positive
situation here.
“We have a very effective team that will be
capable of driving the business when the focus comes on us in the near
future. This ground work will put us in good stead. Giving people a
wider context of what is expected of them has really helped.”
Working with Ashtead Performance Group
“APG got us to identify one core value
instead of a multitude" says Simon. "This was very important.
Having one core value as a team means you can put identifiable behaviours
around it. That helps to keep the momentum of team development going.
“Our core value is customer focus. One
of most the useful exercises we did was on how we were going to demonstrate
this.
“One of great things APG showed us was,
that if you can get people to demonstrate values through behaviour,
it doesn’t rely on formal communication: it just starts to happen.
“I immediately got a good feeling about
Simon Alldridge from his manner and body language. Those mannerisms
have come through very well in the workshops where he’s ensured
everyone gets their say. He listens to people and you can tell it’s
all being consumed.
“He picks up on everything that gets said
and makes sure we go back and address all the questions. Exactly what
you want.
“When I’ve worked with consultants
before, they’ve worked through the agenda and while they facilitate
some things they don’t necessarily draw the best out of everyone
in the group.
“APG have done very well on that score,
especially considering this is a sales and marketing group. Everyone
is fairly vociferous with lots of people talking over each other.
“Simon made them pause and deal with one
issue at a time. The level of contribution in the workshop was therefore
much higher.
“APG have been really good at making sure
we deliver some very specific things and continue some of those actions
we discussed in the workshops.”