The Brief
“We just want people to be happier in their work . . .” was the plea of the new Manufacturing Director. The factory had just experienced a turbulent three years, with a number of key posts ‘changing hands’ rapidly. Staff turnover was higher than ever before, even loyal team members were starting to develop a deeply cynical attitude.

The Solution
Initially, at Communicate, we were rather concerned that the Director simply wanted a happy workforce with no focus upon an improved bottom line. However, we were reassured that this was not the case. He had a clear vision of how he believed we could help ‘heal’ the current negative trend and create an environment where people could flourish. It would be a truly joint project with ‘champions’ based both within the factory and at Communicate to guide and encourage the teams as they explored the new ways of working.

We worked at every level introducing a coaching culture: the teams on the shop floor, Team Leaders, Middle Managers and the Senior Team. A high priority was placed upon realigning values and living them on a daily basis, with emphasis upon behaviour as opposed to verbalising. As time has moved on, so have the results. Not only do people smile more, production has hit record levels. There is now a factory wide ‘together we can do it’ spirit and we are gradually withdrawing our services, as the team ‘do it themselves’.