Styles & Wood Ltd
Case Study
Sector: Retail property services
Employees: 370
Location: Cheshire
The big idea :- setting up an Academy of Learning.
What they do
Styles & Wood provides a range of property services to major UK retailers such as Waitrose, Tesco and B&Q. These services include store design, fit-out, refurbishment, data management, store maintenance, merchandising and financing.
The challenge
… was to drive continuous improvement throughout the business. The company is already accredited to ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 14001 for environmental management , ISO 18001 for Health & Safety. It has achieved Investors in People and uses the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model to measure and evaluate business performance. But the company recognised that to fully achieve its targets it needed to bring staff skills up to the levels essential to run a world-class business. Particularly in the areas of customer service and the performance of individual projects.
The solution
Working in partnership with Manchester Business School, who help design the course and module content around the company's needs, the business has established the Styles & Wood's Academy as a centre of learning excellence. It is attended annually, at the Manchester Business School, by all staff, who each receive three full days learning throughout the year.
The main aim of the Academy is to provide employees with a broad set of management and business skills, focusing on quality and excellence. Students undertake a number of learning modules such as 'Becoming world-class' which covers some of the key ingredients for future business success, including what differentiates excellent companies from others. It also looks at each employee's specific role in achieving excellence within the company.
Neil Davies, CEO adds: 'Another module develops and enhances our employees' understanding of our Customer for Life philosophy. Our customers are large retail organisations and retaining them is of key importance. The Academy addresses various aspects of service excellence, examining clients' wants and needs and their various service experiences.'
Issues arising
One of the main issues for the company is the amount of time it takes to implement quality systems across the business. 'It is time-consuming filling in the self-assessment forms, but these processes are vital to our success and so we make it really clear to all our employees why they are necessary and the extent of the benefits that follow on.'
The outcome
The very strong focus on customer service enables the company to measure everything it does for its customers, starting from the overall customer relationship to the performance of individual projects.
The company's results show this approach works, with 86% of turnover being repeat business - up from 80% in 1999. Market share has also risen from 5.8% to 7.3% in the same period.
This has led to a dramatic improvement in the overall financial performance, with turnover increasing from £20 million to £265 million in twelve years. In addition, on the 7th November 2006, it floated on the London Stock Exchange.
Neil is a strong advocate of a quality- and customer-focused business: 'The use of quality management systems helps us to create the disciplines and standards that develop a culture of excellence. This applies to simple things that might otherwise be overlooked and where the benefits of change can be considerable, as well as to the more complex business challenges.'
What could you do?
Smaller companies may not have the resources to set up internal Academies but might work together in partnership with a local Further Education College or University to address such issues. Alternatively, companies should contact their local Sector Skills Agency. This may be found by going to: http://www.ssda.org.uk
Styles & Wood website: www.stylesandwood.co.uk
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