British Gypsum Case Study

“Our shift leaders and supervisors are now empowered to make the strategic decisions that are so crucial for our success. The training has brought a new clarity to their roles and, thanks to significantly improved delegation, conflict resolution and people management skills, our manufacturing and warehouse teams are operating at higher levels of quality and efficiency.” - THALES TRAINING EQUIPS BRITISH GYPSUM FOR GROWTH

A Heritage of Leadership

British Gypsum is one of the UK's most successful manufacturing companies. For over 100 years, it has delivered lining solutions for many of the world's most prestigious buildings - from London’s Royal Opera House to the imposing Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. And being the best demands a world beating product porfolio, continuous innovation, truly exceptional delivery and, in the case of Britsh Gypsum, an efficient and fully optimised manufacturing process.

Yet here the company was facing critical challenges. While its people were of a high calibre, a lack of strategic focus and a level of naivety from middle managers when dealing with personnel issues threatened to undermine the success of the business.

Enter Thales Training and Consultancy…

A clear training need was identified and, five months on, a comprehensive programme has been delivered - maximising the potential of British Gypsum’s personnel and proving measurable business value right across the organisation.

The Thales Value’

According to Mike Emson, Operations Manager at British Gypsum: “Our shift leaders and supervisors are now empowered to make the strategic decisions that are so crucial our success. The training has brought a new clarity to their roles and, thanks to significantly improved delegation, conflict resolution and people management skills, our manufacturing and warehouse teams are operating at higher levels of quality and efficiency.”

The Challenge Explained

An in-depth analysis of British Gypsum’s training requirements highlighted key issues to be addressed: shift leaders and supervisors were too involved in time consuming tactical activities to the detriment of forward planning; and a lack of formal training in team and people management skills was leading to issues of conflict on the shop floor. In addition, the training analysis uncovered areas where communication between the manufacturing and warehousing functions could be improved.

However, perhaps the most pressing concern for management was the lack of personnel development strategies and limited succession planning within the factory.

Following this analysis of training requirements, and working closely with Mike Emson, Thales devised an intensive bespoke training programme for British Gypsum. The result was a defined series of full-day sessions, complemented by review exercises, work-based action plans, role-play and follow-up inter-modular coaching to cement learning.

The aim was to provide a structured learning environment for these key individuals across the business who had learned their skills ‘on-the-job’, and while were very capable, had no formal training in these areas.

According to Mike Emson, who works at the firm’s Robertsbridge plant in East Sussex: “There is no substitute for experience. However, experience alone does not ensure the right decisions are made when managers are faced with challenging issues. Formal training is invaluable. By being given an understanding of how to deconstruct the challenge – be it commercial or personnel related – and having the full weight of best practise guidelines to fall back on, our managers now have knowledge needed to get it right first time.”

The Thales Programme

In all, a group of around 20 people were entered onto the development programme – made up of section leaders, shift supervisors and a number of employees who had been identified as potential managers of the future. It was also decided to combine supervisors from the manufacturing plant and the warehouse operations to improve communication between the two business areas. This allowed delegates to share experiences, raise issues and discuss best practises, which were then dealt with in the programme.

After each session delegates were given action points to take back to the shop floor. These were followed up by the L&D consultant – via phone or e-mail – so progress could be monitored. At the end of the programme, the consultant returned to accompany each delegate in the workplace for a day – providing vital on-the-ground coaching support.

“It was absolutely vital that our people continued to gain maximum value from the training and to use it in their daily activities. Thales provided on-going support in the workplace, keeping the learning alive and maximising the practical impact of the theoretical ‘class-room’ training they had received,” said Emson, who also points to the tutor, Ian McKenzie, as being a vital factor in the success of the programme.

“Ian’s approach was just right. His knowledge comes from years of experience – not just the textbook. My team respected that. He was also very approachable and incredibly insightful when feeding back ideas and suggestions. Crucially, because he took the time to really understand our industry, each suggestion was directly relevant to the environment in which our supervisors work.” added Emerson.

Catalyst for Growth

Six months on from the end of the formal programme and Emson reports a tangible improvement in business performance that can be directly attributable to Thales’ involvement – for example, greater clarity of the roles and responsibilities of British Gypsum managers has resulted in much improved team performance and morale.

Through their people management and assertiveness training, supervisors now interact more effectively with teams, are able to spot potential areas of concern and provide swift resolution well before they can escalate. Teams are now more stable, which should reduce staff turnover in the medium and long-term. This has also significantly reduced recruitment and training costs.

Thanks to the Thales programme supervisors are now empowering their own staff members. Managers are delegating effectively– offering colleagues more responsibility, more opportunities to learn new skills and progress, and fostering a greater feeling of value within the business. Critically, managers also have more time to take a strategic view of their business units, a strong factor in contributing to the firm’s growth in 2007-2008.

Emson says succession planning within the company is also much more defined and already, with two shift managers seconded to a key IT project, a number of participants in the programme have stepped in to cover their roles. This has given individual employees much greater ‘mobility’ – utilising new skills and confidence to test their potential and expertise in other parts of the business.

“Our training programme has become a powerful catalyst for company growth. We’ve solved a number of very key business challenges – both in terms of driving down the cost of recruitment and training, integrating previously siloed business units and creating a much more cooperative and dynamic atmosphere throughout the building.

“There is little doubt of the incredible value Thales has brought to British Gypsum. So much so, that the company’s other four plants are considering adopting a similar programmes from Thales and we are looking at introducing a similar initiative for senior management in the not-to-distant future.”

About British Gypsum

British Gypsum is the UK's leading supplier of internal wall and ceiling systems, with a century long history and a proven record of providing effective lining solutions for many of the world's most prestigious buildings. It is headquartered at East Leake in Leicestershire, and currently has five major manufacturing plants in the UK.

It provides the industry's foremost technical support and training through its market leading Drywall Academy support function, and, via its East Leake based Building Test Centre, has access to Europe's leading suite of fire, acoustics and structural test laboratories.