NG Bailey prepares operations directors for strategic role

Citation

(2006), "NG Bailey prepares operations directors for strategic role", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 38 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2006.03738fab.006

NG Bailey prepares operations directors for strategic role

Bradford University School of Management is training operations directors at NG Bailey in business strategy and leadership.

NG Bailey is a provider of mechanical and electrical design, installation and maintenance, telecommunication, electrical-manufacturing and systems-integration services. With headquarters in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, the company employs more than 4,200 people and has a £400 million turnover. Its largest business unit, known simply as Bailey, is a mechanical and electrical sub-contractor to the construction industry and has worked on projects including Morrison’s supermarkets, Doncaster Education City, the South Bank Centre in London and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff. It boasts 17 branches in the UK, each headed by a director. These highly regarded senior personnel are in their mid-30s and 40s and have traditionally worked their way through the ranks, having completed their apprenticeships.

“We were looking at developing our operations directors in the area of business strategy and leadership,” said David Wolstenholme, head of management development at the Bailey Leadership Academy, based at Denton Hall, Ilkley. “We wrote a development brief and meetings were held with Bradford University School of Management so it could gain a feel for Bailey and what we meant by leadership.

“The subsequent presentation given by the school about its proposed programme was ideally suited for our operations directors because it was a unique mixture of making the theoretical pragmatic. One of the things we look for in developing a partnership with a business school is that ability to take the conceptual and apply it in a practical way to business,” Mr Wolstenholme continued.

The result was the operations-director development programme, made up of three modules, each of three days’ duration. All were residential, with two taking place at the school’s Heaton Mount and one at Denton Hall.

“The residential element was an essential part to develop the camaraderie and the dynamic of working in a group,” Mr Wolstenholme commented.

Delivered over 12 months, the programme was followed by around 15 Bailey managers, who were tutored by the school’s staff and associates. A steering group made up of representatives from both the school and Bailey was also set up to meet both before and after the modules to keep Bailey’s executive team informed.

“We were in partnership with the school rather than just asking it to develop a course. We like to form relationships – it is part of our method of working together. The programme was very tailored and the process was extremely dynamic. We were completely involved in that process,” Mr Wolstenholme added.

Comments from participants included:

The programme gave me the ability to act on, and base decisions on, well-thought-out analysis and strategy with a shared collective goal.

It enabled me to understand customers and their changing needs and respond accordingly.

The course enabled me to create an action plan that can be applied to the Bailey business.

A key learning objective for me was to establish a way of thinking and to explore some means of viewing our business from different perspectives – both individually and collectively.