“We’ve been in business for over 40 years and I’ve always known what we’re good at. What I didn’t have was the structure, the strategy or the processes to take the business to the next level. Mark helped us get all of that in place in a remarkably short time.”
The story so far
With support from its fractional People Director, Mark Waine, House of Harmony has built:
A clear strategy and growth roadmap to take the business from £1.6m to £7m
A redesigned structure built around two new senior roles, easing reliance on the MD for every decision
A consistent management rhythm and communication framework across the leadership team
“The Harmony Way”: values and behaviours defined and embedded across the business
Engagement, appraisal and workforce planning processes in place for the first time
All of it delivered over five months and around 15 on-site days
The challenge they had to overcome
House of Harmony is one of Suffolk’s leading independent kitchen and bathroom specialists, trading in Bury St Edmunds since 1981 and owner-managed by MD Chris Beale. The business has built an exceptional reputation for design, quality installation and outstanding customer service, alongside a strong family culture. With plans to expand geographically, open new showrooms and develop routes to market, Chris had ambitious plans to grow turnover from £1.6m to £7m by 2030.
But almost every operational decision still ran through Chris; fine for a small team, not for the growth he had planned. Reporting lines and accountability were unclear, communication relied on ad hoc conversations rather than any real rhythm, and there was no visible strategy or set of business metrics to steer by. The business had real strengths to build on: reputation, a loyal team, financial stability, a passionate founder with a clear vision, but the structure underneath hadn’t caught up with the ambition.
Understanding the need to bring in expert skill to address this and bring the business structure in line with its ambitions, Chris Beale brought in fractional People Director Mark Waine from People Puzzles.
How People Puzzles helped
Building a strategy the whole business could see
Mark worked with House of Harmony over five months, with around 15 focused on-site days in total rather than one long block of time. An in-depth Discovery process for the first two days included interviews across the organisation to get a clear picture of what was going on. The real pace of change came from what happened between visits: with only three people in the room, Chris and two senior leads, decisions got agreed and acted on fast, often before Mark’s next visit. Together they built a Strategy on a Page and a growth roadmap to £7m that the whole business could see and understand.
Redesigning the structure
Mark redesigned the structure around two new senior roles, defining reporting lines and accountability so decisions no longer needed to run through Chris alone, freeing up leadership time and empowering the wider team to step up.
Building a management rhythm
A structured meeting rhythm and leadership communication framework replaced the ad hoc, corridor conversations that had been the norm, giving the business a consistent discipline for planning and decision-making.
Increasing engagement
New feedback, recognition and development processes gave the team a way to be heard and grow, including the rollout of People Puzzles’ own Power90 leadership development programme which enables tailored development to be deployed as needed within the context of the business, rather than as a one-off intervention.
Defining the “Harmony Way”
Mark worked with the leadership team to define the values and behaviours that would carry House of Harmony’s culture through growth, codified as “the Harmony Way”, so the family feel that built the business wouldn’t get lost as it scaled.
Fixing the operational detail
Beyond the strategic work, Mark tackled the detail that rarely gets a headline but which makes all the difference in reputation, performance and customer satisfaction, including customer triage, health and safety processes, and the management information the business leaders needed to enable the business to run effectively without their constant input.
The impact
A fully defined business strategy and growth roadmap to £7m
Clear organisational structure and leadership accountability, with two new senior roles embedded
Company values and culture framework defined and embedded: “the Harmony Way”
A leadership development programme launched and underway
Improved communication rhythm and management discipline
Employee engagement, appraisal and workforce planning processes established
Foundations in place to support growth from £1.6m to £7m, built in just 5 months, with the momentum between visits doing as much of the work as the visits themselves
Client feedback
“When you’re running a growing business, it’s easy to become the bottleneck without even realising it. We knew we had ambitious plans for House of Harmony, but we needed more structure, accountability and clarity if we were going to achieve them. In just 15 days, Mark helped us take a step back and look at the business properly. Together we developed a clear strategy, defined our values, improved our structure, clarified roles and responsibilities and created a roadmap for growth. What impressed me most was how quickly he understood our business, our people and our culture. This wasn’t about introducing HR for the sake of it. It was about building a stronger business. The work has given us the foundations and confidence to move forward with our growth plans whilst protecting the family culture and customer focus that make House of Harmony special.” – Chris Beale, Managing Director, House of Harmony
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