Mid-sized businesses in Swindon can now call on a new, free scheme to help them ease their growing pains, thanks to the launch of a team of highly-experienced advisors by Business Link.
Called the Bridge Process, the scheme gives managers in businesses turning over between £3m and £25m the chance to step back from the day-to-day tasks and look at the strategic planning needed to achieve their business goals. The process has been operating successfully in Gloucestershire for several months helping mid-sized business accelerate their growth with the aim of building annual profits by around 20 per cent.
Construction firm Beard is the first Swindon company to take part in the Bridge Process and, for managing director Mark Beard, it is already proving valuable.
The firm may be one of the Wiltshire town’s oldest – it was formed in 1892 – but it boasts a strong commitment to continuous business modernisation, as well as staff development and customer service.
As a result, many of the ideas behind the Bridge Process were already being addressed by Beard’s senior management team and embedded in the firm’s culture.
But what Beard has gained most from the process, according to Mark, is higher level of team development – extremely useful as the business enjoys a period of sustained growth.
Group turnover has shot up from £40m in 2007 to £55m this year and, defying the gloom in the construction sector, it is about to open its third office, in Guildford. It is its first venture into the South East where it has won a large number of contracts in recent years.
Beard expanded into Oxford 40 years ago and its office there is now about twice the size of its Swindon base.
Some 85 per cent of the work across the group, which now employs 175 staff, comes from repeat business – proof that its commitment to customer service and continuous improvement is paying off.
The expansion, much of which is on the back of public sector construction contracts, has brought challenges for ambitious Beard.
That made the company’s Swindon office, which this year turned over £18m, an ideal candidate for the Bridge Process.
Mark explained: “We already have strategic development processes at board level so we looked at it as a chance to work with our middle managers and bring them on.
“It’s a part of the jigsaw. It’s proved useful in looking in a new way at how we do things and getting these values into our DNA. It’s taken our own processes to another level.”
Ten managers were involved in process, mainly from the senior management team although some were also drawn from middle management.
The process lasted about three months with managers taking part in eight half-day sessions as well as completing ‘homework’ – background reading and tasks they had to complete in their own time.
Mark believes the process fitted in with Beard’s existing approach to team work, management development and strong commitment to its customers.
The company has achieved Investors in People and joined the Construction Best Practice programme in 2000, piloting a number of initiatives in areas such customer service.
In 2003 it received a Construction Best Practice Award from the Constructing Excellence organisation in recognition of its contribution to the development and delivery of best practice throughout the industry.
It is also committed to supporting the local economy and sponsors the sustainability category in the Wiltshire Business of the Year Awards, having won the Training & Development Award in 2005.
Mark has no hesitation in recommending the Bridge Process to other businesses.
“It brings a fresh perspective to strategic planning and is delivered by some very experienced individuals who will really challenge the way you run your business,” he said.
