CASE STUDY
Support Programme: LEAD
Company Assisted: Kingston Building Supplies
Support Activity: Leadership Development
Tahir Satia – co-founder of the Blackburn-based Kingston Building Supplies – has expressed his wholehearted support for the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s highly acclaimed business leadership development programme, LEAD.
Background:
Tahir founded the company in 2007 with fellow director Yasin Patel. In the following years, the company grew steadily and developed effective strategies for entering new markets withi the North West. However, business growth presents its own challenges and Tahir decided it would be helpful to take advantage of the support provided by the LEAD programme.
Support Provided:
Through thr programme, Taghir participated in a variety of events including interactive workshops, management exchanges and masterclasses in both leadership and business practice.
LEAD took me on a very different journey from the one I was expecting,” explains Tahir. “It allowed me to step outside of my usual role and to look at the company – and my own personal development – in a completely new way.
“One of the biggest benefits was the ability to discuss practical issues with businesses from different backgrounds. We sat together on a regular basis to share ideas and to help one another to address the sort of difficulties that, to a large extent, we all have to face. You can relate other managers’ problems and ideas to your own circumstances and, with this mutual support network behind you, you feel that you can find a solution to just about anything.”
Results:
Since embarking on the LEAD programme, which combined coaching, peer support and leadership masterclasses, Tahir has introduced new strategies for maximising customer retention, for allocating roles to key staff and for building a brand that is clearly differentiated from the company’s competitors. The result has been steady but controlled growth – and all of this during a period of sharp recession.
“With our improved efficiency, a clearer focus on customer care and a better understanding of what keeps our clients happy, we’ve won a number of important new contracts,” notes Tahir. “In addition to our work with developers and contractors, we are winning an increasing amount of business with North West colleges and mosques, and we’re making inroads into the corporate market, too. As a result of LEAD, we have improved our customer focus and our internal communications, we have found new motivation and we are working much better as a team.
“We’re still working on some areas, including the way we’re structuring our sales operations, but it’s definitely all moving in the right direction. Sales are up, staff performance has improved and the whole team is looking forward to the challenges ahead.”