Developing Leadership Skills in Experienced Managers

“If I was to estimate the ROI of the training, it has delivered improvements of over £250,000 over the years.” Dave Westbury, Head of Operations

“The results have been phenomenal across the whole business.With a new leadership culture now embedded, we can expect these improvements and initiatives to continue in future years. Our managers are more confident in themselves and their teams which has improved their relationships. They delegate more and are more engaging. They’re constantly looking to improve and problem-solving has become a team effort. They’re bringing value to the business without even thinking about it.”

The SMC Story

As a global leader in the pneumatics industry, SMC is recognised amongst its peers for representing constant growth and innovation across its vast array of products. Its prosperity is based on the excellent performance of the people that it employs.

In order to secure the long-term success of the business, SMC UK, decided to invest in the development of their management team, recognising that they needed to tear down their personal barriers to achieve their personal and departmental goals.

“The majority of our leadership team have been with us a long time, high performers in their fields, with exceptional technical skills who became effective managers,  but without the leadership skills to empower their teams and lead the next phase of SMC’S growth. But excelling in one area doesn’t mean you will in another and we knew we needed to develop this key group so that they could develop the talent in their teams, which in turn would improve engagement, communication, culture and ultimately the bottom line.” Dave Westbury

The Challenge

The organisation wanted to:

  • Improve managers leadership skills
  • Improve communication
  • Foster greater collaboration and eliminate ‘silo’ thinking
  • Create a culture of innovation and change
  • Increase engagement across the business

How we did it

Change doesn’t happen overnight so working together, Dale Carnegie and SMC UK developed a 10 day leadership programme delivered over a 12-month period, to embed change into the behaviours of the leadership team. This spaced learning environment enabled the participants to practice the strategiesand skills they developed, feedback and share experiences. The format not only grew individualconfidence but as a leadership team they began to work together as one unit, solving problems and removing departmental silos.

Over the past 5 years the courses have been rolled out internally, starting with the Senior Leadership Team, then to other senior managers, Heads of Department and supervisors. Engagement is now so high that there is a ‘waiting list’ of team members who have asked to attend for their own development.

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