Background
Donaldson Timber Engineering is one of three companies in the James Donaldson & Sons Group, a family owned business with group head office in Scotland. DTE manufactures roof trusses and engineered floor joists for the house building industry and has several manufacturing sites spread across the UK. Some years ago, whilst studying for the Graduate Diploma in Applied Management at Warwick Business School, Jonathan Fellingham, Managing Director, met tutor Mark Procter. Mark then trained DTE’s Directors and General Managers in management and leadership skills.
Challenge 1
A few years ago Jonathan had planned a Strategy Awayday with the DTE Board and wanted to ensure that this important time was used effectively. Jonathan thought that external facilitation would keep the team focused, on-track and help them to develop as a team.
How We Helped
During a two day workshop, Mark shared his thoughts on both Strategic Thinking and Team Building and led the team through a structured, strategic thinking, process, looking at a whole range of threats and opportunities to the business. During the process, the team reviewed how they were working together and discussed improvements. Myers Briggs (MBTI) was used to help the team understand the team’s interpersonal dynamics.
Outcome
This workshop led to a coherent strategic plan for the company that provided focus and direction. The rest of the management population was later engaged via workshops that also included management skills training. The strategic plan was followed for nearly two years, during which time a new site was opened in Warrington, new products and services were introduced and new IT systems were implemented. Revenue and profitability increased.
Jonathan Fellingham commented “Over the past five years Mark has worked with our executive and leadership teams. The result has been a greater focus on the direction of our business, increased capability of our managers and enhanced team working.”
Challenge 2
More recently it became apparent that the house building market was changing, potentially moving more towards complete offsite solutions.
How We Helped
Mark facilitated a further strategic planning workshop in the light of changes to the business environment. A similar process was followed to that two years previously but, of course, the threats and opportunities had changed. Scott Cairns, the Group Managing Director, participated in this second workshop to see what DTE were doing and how their strategic thinking process worked.
Outcome
A revised strategy evolved, including forging partnerships with customers and other suppliers and bringing the manufacture of a, previously outsourced, product in-house. The management team have committed to more regular reviews of their strategic plan to keep ahead of the changing business environment.
As a result of what he saw, Scott was instrumental in enabling Mark to then follow a similar process with both of the other group companies, James Donaldson Timber (JDT) and MGM Timber (photo). All three companies are now implementing their agreed strategies.
Scott Cairns said “Having seen the success that DTE had from working with Mark on their strategic plan, I asked Mark to work with the other two companies in our group. The approach he uses definitely helps to focus the senior management teams on where they are going and how they will get there.”