An ambitious transformation strategy fuels record growth – Today Team

People Puzzles HR Director Jayne Chadwick was brought into Today Team, a fast-growing courier company, to help realise its strategy to continue growing, as well as being a great place to work. With three new senior appointments, a newly drafted set of company values and a record turnover, Today Team looks set to achieve its goals.

The Client, Today Team

Today Team is a trusted same-day courier based in the North West of England. Founded by Managing Director Jamie Boyd in 2005, the business has grown into an organisation with a global reach that provides transport solutions for some of the best-known companies in the UK. It has just seen a record year of growth and turnover.

The Challenge

For Jamie, the business had grown so much that it needed to develop its organisational framework. ‘Last July, we were in the throes of another record month for the business when it suddenly struck me… I was working in the business rather than on it,’ Jamie recalls.

‘If we wanted to maintain our exceptional standards – as well as to continue to expand – I realised something needed to change, so I reached out to People Puzzles.’

The Solution

Jayne Chadwick of People Puzzles was brought in as a part-time on-site HR Director, working one day a week at their headquarters in Risley. One of her first tasks was to go on a fact-finding mission – having one-to-one confidential chats with existing Today Team employees to better understand the strengths and challenges in the business.

The areas for improvement were presented back to Jamie, who had separately devised five key business objectives; then together, they created an action plan.

‘Jayne quickly identified that I needed to appoint a dedicated senior management team to lead on day-to-day operational matters – freeing me up to focus on strategy, growth and sales,’ says Jamie.

As a result, Today Team made three new key appointments: a dedicated Business and Finance Manager, a Business Development Manager and a Logistics Controller are poised to join the team as part of the company’s ambitious transformation strategy.

‘Jayne fully supported us throughout the recruitment and interviewing process,’ Jamie says. ‘I’m really excited to start working with the successful candidates!’

Another key task was revisiting job descriptions for every employee – aligning roles with responsibilities and accountabilities. ‘The job descriptions needed to be more reflective of what people actually do on a day-to-day basis,’ says Jayne. ‘I discovered that, as Managing Director, Jamie did not have a job description at all, which is not uncommon among entrepreneurs.

But now he is very clear on what is expected of him at a strategic level – and I provide healthy challenge whenever he is tempted to go back into the office to provide cover!’

A set of company values was devised with the full input of the workforce and they have now been committed to a prominent wall, available for all staff to see. Today Team intend to recruit to these values in future – ensuring candidates not only have the experience and technical expertise for the role, but also that they demonstrate the required attitudes and behaviours.

‘They represent how we do things around here,’ says Jamie, who rewarded every staff member for their contribution to this important exercise. ‘We’re still comparing them with how we operate to make sure they are exactly right; the idea of having values is twofold: to raise our high standards even higher, and to make sure that Today Team is a great place to work.’

The Conclusion

Jayne has already witnessed how the new values are firing up the team. ‘I recently attended the stand-up meeting in operations,’ she says. ‘The energy was fantastic, as they’d smashed their target before month-end, and were on track to make it yet another record month when compared with the last financial year.’

The next phase of work is to embed the values into every aspect of Today Team’s people plan – as well as to continually review the action plan – so that it is delivered sequentially and lands properly. With three new exciting appointments now confirmed, the financials are already stacking up for yet another record year of both turnover and profit.

‘I love being able to influence how organisations can improve, as well as having a to-do list,’ says Jayne. ‘In a year’s time, we will feel very proud and pleased with what has been achieved by a business which has successfully grown – and that is thriving and going places!’

Jamie is pleased with the impact that People Puzzles has had so far. ‘Jayne has proven to be an extremely professional and positive person to work with, and I am delighted with our progress,’ he says.

Interested to hear more about Today Team’s journey? Find out how they are doing twelve months on.

To find out more about People Puzzles’ UK-wide team of highly experienced HR Directors – who specialise in providing part-time on-site HR support – contact us or telephone 0808 164 5826.

 

Jayne Chadwick, HR Director.