profile 13
Henley Accelerator provides the fast track to business success
'This course was absolutely fundamental in getting us to the next stage of developing the business more quickly.' As any business person knows, positive testimonials are worth their weight in gold and when it comes to the Henley Accelerator, John Davies, finance director at Pacer International, is clearly a supporter
The Henley Accelerator is a partnership that brings together a team of experienced, hands-on business experts from VitalSix and the Henley Business School Centre for Entrepreneurship. The academic integrity of Henley complements the VitalSix team, who have created, managed, grown and sold both large and small businesses. Aimed at the leaders and top teams in high potential and fast growth businesses, the course is designed to develop the skills and specialist knowledge that are essential to achieve fast track success.
Originally introduced to VitalSix via a taster workshop in 2012, Davies was so impressed that he persuaded Pacer’s 10-strong senior management team to sign up earlier this year.
Pacer, a specialist supplier of optoelectronic, display and laser solutions, employs around 40 people and has offices in Newbury, Pangbourne, Crawley and Weymouth, as well as the US, together with a worldwide network of manufacturing partners.
This established business turns over £20 million a year and, having completed a management buyout just over three years ago, the management team has been keen to improve on its current “steady” growth of 3-6% per annum over the past five years.
“There are four divisions and we had identified significant opportunities in all of those areas over the next three years,” said Davies. “We believe there is potential for growth of at least 10-15% and possibly as high as 20-30% if we get it absolutely right.”
As he explains, it was to help realise those ambitious targets that he turned to the Henley Accelerator programme.
“We started the process a couple of years ago, but found we weren’t reaching our potential,” he said. “We realised we probably needed a better framework to set the strategy for the business and to assess potential growth against. Secondly, we needed to give the management team the tools to be able to do the necessary work and actually implement the strategy.”
An added benefit was the fact that VitalSix THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – SEPTEMBER 2013
Sunlight readable displays, which Pacer supply, use clever techniques (such as additonal backlighting or transflective polarizers) to enhance the image when in sunlight. The newest models perform well even in bright sunlight, and are extremely rugged too, making them ideal for outdoor applications
was able to help Pacer access a grant of 50% towards the cost of this leadership and management training, something Davies says made the decision to include the wider management team “far easier”.
The four-day course at Henley Business School is split into two bite-size chunks to avoid taking senior team members away from a business for too long.
It
mixes practical tools, techniques and methodologies with first-hand business expertise and knowledge.
VitalSix co-founder Susan Elliott says the programme is about giving senior managers in ambitious growing businesses the chance to concentrate on what they need to do to make a difference.
“It’s about helping them become more informed about the choices they need to make, which areas need more focus and where the business is going in the future,” she said.
“The programme provides nuggets of relevant and practical information and a
www.businessmag.co.uk
handful of really sharp business tools that can make things happen quickly and deliver long-term benefits too.”
Also covering areas such as sales, marketing, finance, leadership and planning, breakout sessions allow individuals and teams to work on their own business plans rather than simply theoretical companies.
Davies says the benefits have been outstanding: “We found it highly motivational. Having the right tools has been key in allowing us to be more critical in our assessments of the business, and it’s given us a firm and rigorous framework to set our business plan against.
“All our managers are now starting to think in a slightly different way, it’s provided a fresh perspective and given everyone a good understanding of all the different aspects of the business.
“It’s also enabled the team to implement and pursue detailed strategies for their own areas. They are developing their own three year plans, after which we can adjust our overall business plan, so we have one coherent strategy for the business.
“Having a common framework is much more effective, when we have weekly management calls it is much easier because everyone understands the structure. We can see how the plan links together throughout the different divisions and it provides us with much better results.”
Davies emphasises that it hasn’t just been about business planning and says the fact the course also covered areas such as leadership, people management, business processes and operational issues, has also been of major benefit.
The Henley Accelerator is open to individual senior managers as well as management teams and can also be delivered in-house by the VitalSix team. For future course dates and details about leadership and management training grants, contact VitalSix.
Details: Susan Elliott 0118-9357318
susan.elliott@vitalsix.co.uk www.vitalsix.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88