Case Study: Brayborne Services
Brayborne Cleaning Services, Wokingham, Berkshire
Key Talent Partners services: Executive Coaching and Leadership Development
Key Talent Partners facilitates company growth
Brayborne Cleaning Services Ltd is a privately owned company, which since its inception in 1986 has rapidly grown and established itself in the contract cleaning industry. Brayborne currently employs over one thousand cleaners across the UK . Clients include councils, schools, colleges and businesses.
The company was set up by Simon Berryman who was joined by Lorraine Gibson fifteen years ago. Together they have over 65 years experience in the cleaning industry.
Key successes to date include year on year growth, a very low turnover of management staff, strong financial performance and high customer retention.
Why Key Talent executive coaching?
Through investing in this project Brayborne were looking to achieve the following wins’.
- Ability to accomplish goals more quickly.
- Develop new ways to problem solve.
- Develop influencing and rapport building skills.
- Improved methods of handling potential conflict.
- Improved communication and understanding of how to build rapport more quickly and effortlessly.
- Building on an already effect team that’s productive, helpful and motivated.
- Aligning individual and team values with business values.
- Adding more value to customers as individual managers and the team find even more ways of promoting and building the business.
Although both Simon and Lorraine had over thirty years experience each in the business, they had little experience of coaching or formal training. The commercial cleaning market is extremely competitive and to achieve their ambitious growth plans, they felt they really had to get the best out of themselves and their management team.
Lorraine comments: ‘We had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve and where we wanted to take the company but felt we needed an independent view point to help us get there.
‘I had been on a few off the shelf’ training courses but hadn’t really benefitted from them greatly. The group had been too large and the training too generic. It didn’t focus on our specific company needs and goals and this is something I was really keen to do. So we looked down the route of bespoke training and that’s when we got in touch with Key Talent Partners.
‘We sat down with Eleanor Yearwood and specified what we wanted to achieve and the areas we wanted to focus on. Eleanor then came back with a training strategy that fitted those needs with clear company and personal objectives outlined.’
Key Talent Partners recommended a combination of regular one to one coaching for Lorraine and Simon and a series of bespoke group training sessions for the senior management team. Since working with Brayborne, an additional two managers have started one to one coaching with Key Talent Partners.
Personal benefits
Simon says: ‘Having worked with Key Talent Partners, my knowledge and ability of how to present has greatly improved. I’ve also learnt to manage my time better and to delegate more. I’m able to give feedback and comment on things that I’d like changed and to give more praise and general feedback to people about what’s working /not working. I now know how to set SMART objectives and use a SWOT analysis to review the business strategy so as to ensure that we are on course to continue building our business.’
Lorraine adds: ‘Although I had done a lot of presenting before, I knew I talked much too fast and really had to slow down my approach. Simon was very nervous about presenting but we are both so much better now as a result of our training with Key Talent Partners.
‘We also focussed on our relationship building both internally and externally. Key Talent Partners helped us to be aware of how we were making first impressions’ and ensuring we were using positive body language to build rapport with clients. This has been especially helpful when meeting new people.
‘Another area I needed help with was planning and goal setting. I was easily distracted and would rarely achieve what I needed to on a day to day basis. I also lacked assertiveness and would take on additional tasks to help colleagues just because I was used to saying yes’. This made my workload even worse. I now have a clear strategy for planning my days and weeks and my time management is much better. I can also identify when I need to say no’ to people. The tasks can be shared elsewhere and I can focus on my own activities which add much more value to the company.
‘On a more personal note, Eleanor has made me feel much more confident in my own abilities. I am more aware of myself and my behaviour and how these impact on my colleagues. I have learnt that my way isn’t necessarily the right way and by listening to others we have benefited from some really good ideas and a more motivated workforce.’
Company benefits
‘I would say that, as a result of the training we have done with Key Talent Partners, everybody in the senior management team is much more aware of how we communicate with customers and employees.
‘Because we have so many cleaners working with us, it is inevitable that things don’t run as smoothly as we would like all of the time. As a result, we have had some tailored conflict management training which has taught us to stand back and think more about the situation. It has resulted in more productive outcomes for the member of staff, the company and most importantly our customers. It’s really important that we get the best out of our staff and the training has really helped us achieve that.
‘We have also developed a bespoke planning model for the company which has improved our productivity across all areas.’
The future
Simon and Lorraine have a clear strategy for growth over the next few years and the two keys areas they are going to be investing in to achieve that growth is marketing and training.
‘We can’t get complacent and sit still in this market. We have to continually seek more customers and develop our people. Working with Key Talent Partners is a very motivating and positive experience for us and our managers. Eleanor has transformed our perception of training and personal development and we will definitely be doing more with Eleanor and her team in the future.’
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