Case Study
Tarmac Northern, Cairneyhill Quarry
Objective
To turn around a key operating unit within the region
from a loss making position to one of significant profit for the business.
Background
“The change programme developed by APG, was
the catalyst that allowed both managers and the workforce to radically
change attitudes in a number of key areas, establish a self-motivating
approach, and substantial financial turnaround.”
David Baxter – former MD, Tarmac Northern
David Baxter, then MD of Tarmac Northern, recognised
a need to address the performance of one of its key operating units,
Cairneyhill Quarry, located in the Central Belt of Scotland. This business
unit had been a perennial under-achiever over recent years and had been
making losses. The quarry had seen substantial capital investment, but
many of the operational, engineering and marketing concepts were ill
conceived.
In addition to addressing the processing plant shortcomings,
and repositioning the business commercially, they need to create ‘ownership’
of the new strategy. The quarry management workforce need to be involved
early in the process to make sure further operational investment would
be successful.
APG’s intervention
Our starting point was data gathering to establish
the key issues impacting the performance of the business unit. This
stage involved a diagnostic measurement using the Organisational Transitions
tool (OTI), site visits and in-depth interviews. The analysis gave David
a clear understanding of the performance issues that needed addressing
as well as the recommended actions to deliver improved performance.
We identified five issues impacting the business unit’s
performance: poorly communicated vision; lack of clear goal setting;
inconsistent leadership; little evidence of teams or team working; inappropriate
reward and recognition.
The client agreed to a facilitated scene setting workshop with senior
regional management. We wanted to explore the five issues with them
in more depth and to identify the performance requirement for the unit.
The workshop helped to refine the thinking and highlighted three areas
of focus: leadership development; performance management and self-directed
teams.
In stage one we laid the foundation for the programme
by developing the leadership skills of the business unit management
team. It established them as role models. Each manager underwent a 360
degree assessment feedback to specifically target the programme to the
organisation’s needs.
In stage two we built on the leadership programme
to develop a consistent approach to managing the performance of individuals
and teams.
Stage three focused on the business unit workforce.
We trained teams to work self-directed. We empowered them with clear
measurable goals, and individual and collective ways of working to achieve
performance targets.
Result
The unit’s results have consistently improved.
Year one saw a profit of £128,000 with year two at £1.1
million. The estimated year three figure is £2 million.
The practical tools from the leadership programme
have proved to be extremely successful. The client commissioned a further
series of programmes, tailored to the wider management community working
in this and other product sectors within the region. The learning from
the project also led David to look at the capability of his top team.
This is another initiative that was progressed as a result of the project.
Working with APG.
"Ashtead Performance
Group was very tuned in to what we wanted to achieve and has been very
good to work with,” says David. “They also introduced us
to some innovative thinking that helped drive the change programme to
such an effect throughout the workforce.
"We attribute a lot of our current success to the change in attitudes
and sense of ownership that followed our people change programme".