1.     Executive Summary

This case study outlines how Rover European used the Red Belt Engage and Grow Employee Engagement programme to triple their levels of full engagement in just twelve weeks.  The case study discusses the background and issues of the company and the challenges and outcomes of the programme.

2.     Background

Rover European are a second generation Coach Operator with family at the heart of what they do.  David, the MD has worked in the coach industry his entire working life and took the reins of the business from his father in 1968.  In the early years Rover’s focus was on a Taxi service and factory contracts for local workers.  The business grew naturally and in the 1980’s shortly after David married Carole they ventured into their own programme of UK and European Holidays.

Here the company has gone from strength to strength and the holiday programme remains a strong focus for the company.  That said there are many strings to Rover’s bow these days.  Day to day they safely and courteously transport hundreds of school children to their schools around Gloucestershire.   They continue to provide luxury coach hire for many social groups and schools on outings in Gloucestershire and beyond.  They have also developed a programme of days out to numerous events, city destinations, attractions.

3.     Problem Definition

STATUS AT THE START OF THE PROGRAMME

The directors at Rover have a clear vision on what they want to do to drive the business forward and have been struggling to make any big impact.  They often receive a lot of resistance from the team when implementing new ideas.  The team do not communicate together to resolve issues and complain to the directors instead of sorting it out between them.  Some of the team show signs of frustration in their role.  The operations manager is not working well with one of the directors and this is causing a lot of tension and stress for the other director.

Rover’s Employee Engagement survey before the program revealed a score of just 13% overall full engagement.

Rover’s Employee Engagement survey before the program revealed a score of just 13% overall full engagement.

4.     Project Overview

4.1.   Goals and Objectives

The core function of the team is in receiving and handling of enquires, taking bookings and administering the sales process.  The goals Rover European wanted to achieve through the 12 week programme were:

1. Increase participation in team meetings and promote a climate of positivity
2. Improve the teamwork and active problem solving within the team
3. Engage the team with the sales and marketing process to focus on improved lead generation, enquiry and conversion

4.2.   Challenges

1. The programme was scheduled to run over the company’s busiest time of year with one or two people away most weeks. We incorporated two short breaks in the programme to help with attendance and workload and so extended the elapsed time from start to finish.
2. Three out of eight people did not want to participate in the programme at the outset, without understanding what it was all about.
3. One person threatened to quit at an early stage
4. As the Engage & Grow coach I was unavoidably away for one week and so facilitated the group session over Skype

4.3.   Milestones

• Week 3, Two of the three who did not want to participate are now onboard with the programme
• Week 4, One of the three who did not want to participate nominated me for leader of the week for the time I have taken to talk to her about the programme and what we are trying to achieve. This shows the huge turnaround she has made.
• Week 7. Everyone is now onboard with the programme, the whole team got green for leadership acts for the 1^st I received an email from the owner to thank me for the change in the operations manager as he is a different person.
• Week 8, The operations manager chaired the meeting with great success, the team loved it and responded well to his more engaged attitude.
• Week 9, The team engaged with the rest of the company about what they are doing with E&G and what they hope to achieve led by the operations manager.
• Week 12, Celebration of success. Individual plaudits and awards made

4.4.   Timeframe

90 minute sessions delivered weekly over 17 weeks with a two and three week break.

5.     Outcomes

COMMUNICATIONS

There has been a huge improvement in communication between the team and the directors.  The directors have made changes in terms of what information they share and how they promote discussion as a direct result of the feedback they received from the team.  Everyone is already seeing the benefits.  The team members are now asking each other for help and supporting each other over busy periods.  Colleagues are listening to each other’s ideas and seeing things from each other’s perspective.  They are no longer afraid to voice their opinions and to ask questions of the directors. The communication throughout is more open and direct.  The operations manager and director are working together more effectively.

SELF CONFIDENCE

Colleagues are feeling more confident in their roles and have a better understanding on where the company is heading and the part they need to play.  They are more informed about how the business affects their individual roles.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

The sales process has been completely re-written and improved with everyone having some input.  It is now being used by the whole team to help drive the business forward.  Issues are being surfaced, problems constructively addressed and solutions implemented.

WORK CLIMATE

The team has spent some time getting to know each other better as well as the drivers and working improve their relationships.  They have organized a night out to continue to develop this.  The work climate is noticeably more positive – there’s a real buzz in the air!

BEHAVIORAL

The team members are working hard on their Roadmaps created from their feedback to improve themselves and they are all supporting each other to achieve this.

 

Through the 12-week Engage & Grow programme the employee engagement score increased from 13% to 38% fully engaged.