With top brands such as Clover, Utterly Butterly and Cathedral City, Dairy Crest the UK's leading chilled dairy foods company. It provides dairy spreads and butters, cheeses, milk and milkshake products for the retail grocery trade and major food manufacturers. Founded in 1981, it employs around 7,000 people and has a turnover of £ 1.3 billion.
Following a period of substantial growth and capital investment - which included the strategic acquisitions of Unigate in 2000 and the St Ivel spread brands in 2002 - Dairy Crest turned its attention to the development of its key personnel.
'We went through a huge amount of change,' said Gareth Hopkins, Group HR Director. ' People's roles expanded or became more complex. We felt we needed to provide more support to managers in the individual businesses and functional areas, so we decided to commission a management and leadership skills development programme.'
Initially the company planned to develop a programme that would be appropriate for all managers but research revealed that there were different needs at different levels.
'It was clear that a single programme wouldn't suffice,' said Judith Bufton, the company's Management Development Manager. 'We decided instead to develop two programmes: a leaders' programme for senior managers and a managers' programme for middle managers.'
Roffey Park was appointed after Dairy Crest had discussed the two potential programmes with five development providers.
'We chose Roffey Park because we felt that they would be best not only at providing the underlying learning but also in helping individuals to transfer the learning to the workplace,' said Judith Bufton. 'They have excellent facilities at their residential centre and their tutors are very professional and committed. They worked with us to develop the content and structure of the programmes.'
Leaders' programme
Aimed at senior managers across the company, the Leaders' Programme aims to raise leadership capability and to encourage participants to take a long-term view of the business. Twelve senior managers are now undertaking the ten-day programme, which is delivered in four modules, at Roffey Park, over a period of 15 months.
'In the fresh food industry, there's precious little time to sit back and think about where the business is going,' said Gareth Hopkins. ' We wanted to make time to provide strategic leadership skills training for our senior managers.'
Dairy Crest has around 60 senior managers. The participants are selected for each cohort of the programme by the company's Trading Board, which comprises the managing directors of the various business units.
Before the programme begins, Roffey Park runs a mentoring workshop for the participants and for members of the Trading Board, who act as their personal mentors. The participants themselves then provide one-to-one mentoring and coaching for those on the managers' programme.
The Leaders' Programme starts with a two-day Development Centre, which involves exercises based on Dairy Crest's management competency framework, 360 degree feedback and a personality questionnaire. Each participant uses this information to review their own leadership style and behaviour and to create their Personal Development Plan.
'We were very keen to start the programme with a Development Centre because this enables the participants to think through their strengths and development needs at the outset,' said Judith Bufton. 'This information provides a base which they can use to guide their learning throughout the programme.'
The four modules, each lasting two days, are then delivered approximately three months apart. The modules, designed specifically for Dairy Crest, cover leadership, strategy, managing change and business finance. Some of the sessions are presented by Dairy Crest's senior executives, which not only focuses the learning on the practical business needs but also demonstrates the company's commitment to the programme.
The senior managers meet periodically in two Learning Sets - small groups in which the individuals challenge and support each other - to share their learning and to work on a business project. Facilitated by Roffey Park tutors, these meetings help to reinforce the more formal learning on the modules.
The programme ends with a closing event where the Learning Set groups present their project recommendations - and their learning from the programme - to senior executives.
Managers' programme
'We were very keen to provide skills development for our line managers because we see them as a vital link for unlocking people's potential across the business,' said Judith Bufton.
Dairy Crest has around 400 managers at the target level. Its Managers' Programme aims to raise management capability by improving core management and coaching skills. The first group of 16 middle managers is now undertaking the six-day programme. These participants were nominated by their managing directors but for future cohorts, the managers will be able to nominate themselves.
Delivered at Roffey Park, the programme is based on Dairy Crest's management competency framework, which covers ten competencies in four clusters: thinking skills, working with people, providing direction and delivering results.
It begins with a three-day Development Centre where participants assess their development needs and review their preferred management style and behaviours. They then compile their own Personal Development Plan.
A few months later, the participants meet again for three days of management skills training and group work on a business project. The sessions on this workshop are tailored according to the development needs identified on the first workshop.
Benefits
Gareth Hopkins says that one of the key benefits is that the two programmes bring people together from across the organisation.
'We have 15 manufacturing sites throughout the UK, a national distribution centre in the Midlands, a home delivery service based in Aldershot, Hampshire, and a head office in Esher, Surrey,' he said. 'The programmes enable cross-functional groups to network on a personal level and to work together on business issues. We're already seeing tangible benefits from that. We will continue to allocate places across the different functions and businesses, so that each area gets the chance to be involved.'
Judith Bufton adds that the mentoring process has been well received.
'Our one-to-one mentoring process has had a very positive impact as it encourages people actively to pursue their personal development plans,' she said. 'It has also helped to further develop and strengthen relationships between managers at different levels.'
Maximising talent
Dairy Crest plans to use its presence in the UK dairy sector to build leadership positions in branded and added-value markets.
'This is a growing company with a substantial number of very talented people,' said Gareth Hopkins. 'The leaders' and managers' programmes support the business by helping us to get the best out of that talent. The programmes therefore fulfil a strategic need as they have a direct influence on our ability to sustain our success.'