CLIENTS

The Challenge

Outsauce is a leading specialist provider of outsourced financial solutions and business services to recruitment agencies and SMEs. It is made up of four divisions:

• Collections – a debt collection agency
• Contractors – an umbrella company provider
• Support – a business support agency including payroll services
• Accounting -  an accounting services business

Outsauce had traditionally operated as four relatively separate businesses, each with a specific focus and way of working. The Board recognised that a more cohesive, group wide approach would enable best practice to be developed, shared and applied, would improve communication and team working, as well as enabling efficiencies. Outsauce had enjoyed significant growth and success in the last decade through innovative systems and solutions for its markets, and the Board decided continued success would only happen, particularly in a tough market, if the management team was developed both individually and as a group.

In the economic climate, it was recognised that staff engagement was becoming more challenging and important and as such Innergy were asked to help the Board develop the leadership skills and engagement within the Group.

The Solution

Innergy designed a staff conference format to launch a new initiative, called “Find your voice”, aimed at getting feedback from the staff, and providing a development platform for the senior managers to fill the management gap between the Board and the wider staff.

The conference was highly interactive and engaging with the staff breaking into groups to look at elements of how great companies work.

Innergy then carried out an employee engagement survey to get under the skin of some of the engagement issues, and produced a detailed report with recommendations as to how to encourage positive change throughout the group.

Finally, the senior management team were taken through a six session leadership development programme over three months, which allowed the delegates to learn a wide range of proven tools and management techniques. Each delegate had a 1:1 interview at the beginning of the programme to establish their individual objectives, and at the end to review their achievements and to set out their on-going development plan.

The Outcome

The senior management team developed a very strong bond as a team, with certain long standing tensions eased through the course of the programme. Over half of the delegates marked the programme 10 out of 10, with a total average of 9.5.

There were very clear developments in confidence, and the approach, including the business improvement projects, delivered results to the business that made a tangible difference, including;

• A clear focus on business development for the Accounting business, with several new clients introduced during the course of the programme.
• A structured operational training programme developed and delivered for all managers and team leaders within the Collections business.
• The development of a HR policy handbook for all staff
• Successful implementation of a new Payroll system on time and on budget
• The design of an internal communication portal to share and train processes and procedures.
• A change in working location for HR to better engage with the staff on different floors.
• A change in meeting structures whereby regular meetings were now taking half as long and delivering much greater impact.
• Introduction of an innovation session for half a day once a month for the IT team to push creative solutions and help keep the competitive advantage of the business.

The delegates said;

“We now understand each other and will work better as a team.”

“We are a lot more organised as a department, and I am a lot more confident as a manager.”

“Confidence is the big factor. This will feed through to the team to build their confidence, feel that they can make a difference.”

“I have really enjoyed the Innergy training and appreciate the clear focus on rapidly improving management techniques that has made the course better than the Ashridge training I received previously.”

Hugh Fell, Managing Director of Support commented: “The benefits of the Leadership Development Programme began to appear from the very first session: managers sought solutions with and from each other, working to their strengths and making allowances for each other where necessary. Best of all, they became confident that they could make things happen. So they did!”

Of working with Innergy, Steve Wortley, Managing Director for Contractors said “Having worked with Innergy before I was extremely confident that their approach would deliver results however the impact has exceeded my expectation. After only a relatively short development programme our managers are already working as a more cohesive unit and sharing ideas and experiences. Confidence amongst the team is clear to see and we are already seeing positive results. We will certainly be looking to build on this for the future.”

What they said

"Innergy tackled our issues from their very roots, taking time to understand the requirements from the very people at the heart of the programme. From here the detailed guidance and structured direction provided has significantly enhanced the value and contribution of our senior management team."

Adrian Stalley - Managing Director of Collections