Testimonials

What our clients say

Richard Miller, CEO

“I bought into the business as I could see the potential that lay ahead.  I knew that the business needed to be re-focused right at the top end of the market, to maximise the value of Halstock’s undoubted talents, and I also recognised that this would require a marketing and organisational shift of thinking.

I made a number of market positioning, structural and process changes but I always knew that the biggest determinant of success would be changing mind-set and raising performance and I was well aware of the potential for resistance to change and knew it needed to be handled well.

I had heard of TDA’s work in this area and made contact with Chris Dunn, the CEO.  This was one of the best decisions I made.

The golden thread throughout was the use of Chris’ behaviour assessment and measurement techniques that put the spotlight on behaviour. There is no doubt in my mind that to improve performance you must be able to identify what actions (behaviours) generate what performance (results). Chris’ techniques helped us to do just this and also took us to the next stage which was to identify those specific actions that would improve the results and performance we were looking to achieve.

Not only did we have the behavioural measurement tools (from Behavioural Science Systems) but Chris was able to ‘tune into’ the team at Halstock and get them deeply committed to the individual and team changes in behaviour that were required.”

Roger Evans, Operations Director

“Looking back I can see that whilst we had made great strides in making some key structural and process changes, things were not gelling and we needed to define behaviours more accurately.  We needed everyone to recognise that their personal contribution really made a difference to the end result.

It was this clarity that Chris brought to the party and the change in some people was dramatic.  For me, above all else, it highlighted the operational need to be very clear about the behaviours I wanted to encourage and those that I wanted to discourage. Chris’ ‘Best’ approach which links behaviour to our process steps – the Halstock Way – is not only powerful but simple to understand and everybody got it!

There is no doubt in my mind that this process has been a ‘game changer’ – the team is now different and much more is possible.”

Halstock Cabinet Makerswww.halstock.com

Neil Hayward – HR Director

“SThree is a leading global recruitment business with a unique portfolio of renowned Brands working across: IT, Banking, Engineering and Energy, Life Sciences, and Accountancy and Finance.

A key strategic capability has been that of the setting up and running of branded New Ventures around the world.

We asked Chris to work with our New Ventures Team as we could see the growing significance of their work, given our global expansion plans, and felt we needed a stronger process in place to handle the scale of planned growth.

Chris worked closely with the team in a highly “collaborative” style and together they streamlined the complete delivery process which brought much greater clarity to the complex set of actions involved in establishing a “new country” venture.

The team also generated a number of important improvement suggestions. Another benefit was that, at the outset, two of the team were very new into their role and the Being The Best approach proved to be a great induction and integration experience, definitely accelerating their effectiveness as a unit, specifically with regards their understanding of each other’s roles and the behaviours required for success.

The “Journey Map” way of thinking coupled with the “Templating of Success” method really got everyone involved and it definitely put the spotlight on what “Best” performance actually looks like. As a result, the team’s conversations with stakeholders, in particular with the Board, went up several levels i.e. the greater clarity meant that we got much better at both anticipating potential risks and opportunities and it definitely reduced risk.

Being The Best greatly assisted us to achieve our New Venture Plan targets and the team empowerment principles really enabled the team to grow in confidence and in their ability to both enjoy their work and to achieve high performance levels. The legacy left is therefore a solid one, which I am sure will produce even bigger benefits over the years ahead.”

SThreewww.sthree.com

Marc Richards, CEO

“When Chris started working with us, we recognised that we needed to improve the touch points our clients experienced through our collaborative design process. In a highly competitive globalised industry, Being the Best for us meant our clients needed to value and enjoy working with us.

By working with Chris we identified the 7 steps from starting relationships with the right prospective clients through extracting a brief, through to designing and developing a sofa ready for production. This allowed everyone in our team to understand what information was required to deliver, what experience the client should have and how we should work together to achieve it. We built new processes and a more cohesive way of working that we continue to use for all our clients.

What did it achieve for the business?

Our business has become focused on the right clients and business with these clients has grown substantially. We are always striving to improve but our client relationships are much stronger and more enjoyable than ever before. Our business is growing and our opportunity for new business and growth has never been higher.

How we found the experience

Bringing in external people to facilitate change carries risks but Chris is a professional in how he integrates and engages with people. Our team welcomed him and we enjoyed his time with us immensely. We now consider him part of the team.”

Nick Lewis, Creative Director

“Putting together the Business Journey Map for both the Pre-Production and Production teams really brought home to Marc and I the absolute essentials that we must all get right to meet our customer’s demanding requirements. This in itself was useful to share and created useful conversations about the best ways to organise ourselves and how best to communicate.

From this starting point we worked through each of the 7 RL steps and this, apart from being a great way to talk about and to “template” the business, was great fun too! The big value by far was the clarity it brought to us all, “clearly nobody can be an island as everything needs to fit together so spotting what each person needs to be successful was invaluable”. A number of business improvements were made straight away but the most important thing that we kicked off was the whole notion that if anyone has an improvement idea, Marc and I want to know about it!

What did it achieve for the business?

Our sessions started us on the “team empowerment journey”.  Everyone clearly felt more involved, and as a management team we learnt much. Above all we realised just how much talent and passion there is. We have been working hard over the last few years to keep this up and to enable everyone to engage with their colleagues no matter what role they have. Definitely customers notice the team spirit when they visit us. “Customer focus” is all part of this and the team now talk/behave differently.

How we found the experience

One Team, One Vision takes time and commitment to achieve but Being the Best really helped to create the foundations that we have been building on since. Chris’s passion to help the team achieve as much as they could was obvious to all and this really played an important role in the results achieved.”

Roger Lewis Furniturewww.rogerlewis.uk

Erik van Nieuwenhuizen, Training and Development Manager Europe Regions

“Chris Dunn designed and ran a programme for us which we called Develop Your Potential. Building on programmes for senior executives and senior-middle managers, its goal was to provide individuals at lower-middle management levels with objective behavioural data about their performance and their relationships with colleagues. It gave them a road map to “Being the Best”. We wanted to raise levels of personal accountability and confidence, and to support individuals to find practical ways to develop and to maximise their potential. The programme got people thinking “What can I do to improve my performance and add value to the team”.

The significance of the valid and objective data provided cannot be underestimated as this immediately raised self-awareness and also made it practically possible to put meaningful action plans in place. This, together with a better understanding of effective team behaviour, significantly enhanced both personal and team performance levels.

The Being The Best road map approach also proved to be very helpful in assisting managers in applying for and getting new jobs after a merger, which took place about one year later.”

Rothmans InternationalTobacco company