Highest and Best. How business leaders have transformed their leadership approach by applying Newton Place Glasgow G3 7PY

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1 Highest and Best How business leaders have transformed their leadership approach by applying Highest and Best 25 Newton Place Glasgow G3 7PY David McKeran: ( +44 (0) * dmckeran@matrixuk.com

2 How business leaders have transformed their leadership approach by applying Highest and Best At Matrix we ve been working with the leaders of growing companies to help them achieve Highest and Best Leadership for the past 5 years. Highest and Best offers a powerful, joined up approach to help business leaders (and their teams) step back from the day to day operations and focus more time, energy and resources on delivering business growth So what exactly is Highest & Best? The people most able to answer this question are the business leaders who have applied the concept to their business. We asked a number of business leaders who have applied Highest and Best, what it has meant to them and the benefits which they have achieved. Here s their thoughts: Stuart Campbell Managing Director BDL Hotel Management For me personally the immediate benefit from the Highest and Best concept is its simplicity. It is very clearly articulated and easy to refer back to without having to refer back to the theory. This makes it easy to put into practice and enhances the benefits as they WILL happen quickly. Immediately I was able to identify tasks I was doing that could be done by other with very little coaching. Focusing on regular tasks meant the benefit of freeing up time was multiplied many times over. Benefits are achieved by clearing the tasks from the TO DO list has meant more time to: Think of new opportunities Focus on winning new business Achieve improved work life balance For the business the benefits have been multiplied into all senior management by the fact it is an easy concept to share and demonstrate how it can be put into action. Furthermore by its nature it does identify development opportunities for junior employees as they get exposure to new areas by taking on the tasks from senior personnel.

3 Ian White, Managing Director, Run4it. Quite simple the quote (Highest and Best) and thinking behind it can be used across all levels of the organisation from director level to shop assistant. Explain it once and you can use it time and again. Great for selfcheck and leadership alike. It is an easy to understand and direct message used every day in Run4It not just by me. We use the Highest and Best concept in our performance appraisal process, formal shop visit notes and across other more informal coaching and leadership principles. It is at the core of our organisation and will remain there. It is an unwritten KPI! Gerry Hilferty, Managing Director, Brodie Engineering Highest and best has helped change my personal business activities from short term immediate focus to longer term strategic thinking. This has allowed the business development to be more structured and planned. The senior management roles are better defined and understood, developing a more co-ordinated organisation. As a result of Highest and best the management team has been reorganised, management reporting has improved, roles are being redefined and the concept of internal coaching has been introduced. Caroline Stretton Director Ocutec Highest and Best has allowed the management team to develop a more strategic focus on longer term business development activities thus enabling growth through product innovation Delegation and an improved performance management system has enabled management to restructure ways of working, concentrate on value added activities and ultimately move away from direct control of day to day activities, which has greatly improved employee contribution and confidence. From a personal perspective, creation of my Personal Action Plan has helped me identify my career vision and what steps must be taken to achieve it.

4 Jeremy Miles Managing Director - Edinburgh Bicycle The key benefit for our business has been a change in my own thinking as the leader of the organisation. I took a very strong message from the 'highest & best' model and that was to re-evaluate my time management in terms of where my focus must be. I was doing what most people in my position do and that was to spend a large amount of my time on operations and day-today problems. As a result of the highest and best thinking I have focused my attentions on the future of the business and have made some fairly significant changes. I have restructured my senior management team to ensure that I have a director and division that is dedicated to business development.. I have also pushed through some major developments with human resources, creating an HR department and structuring a staff development programme featuring performance reviews, training and development and incentives and rewards. This came about from the desire to build for future success through investment in people as well as to ensure that a more focused and motivated work force would tackle more immediate challenges that were drawing my attention away from looking long term. Callum Kegg Managing Director, Toolstop This process has shown me that by concentrating on strategic issues we have become more efficient and productivity has increased. I now delegate all areas of the business and it can run very effectively without me being here. I am now spending more time looking for new opportunities and ways to grow the business rather than dealing with day to day issues. By introducing KPI s in all areas I can very quickly identify problem areas and find solutions rather than make do with cumbersome or dated procedures which are not working. The results have been fast, we are now handling almost double the amount of orders than this time last year and this is with almost the same number of staff. By using the Highest + Best mentality we now have a much stronger business model and I have more confidence in myself as a leader. I now firmly believe the sky is the limit. I spend more time thinking strategically and now fully understand the importance of forward planning, developing and employing a strategy. Most of my time was spend dealing with short term issues which should have been delegated to capable members of staff and now that they have been I have more time to think ahead.

5 Alan Picken Managing Director, BCF Technology Highest and Best a very simple objective but with very significant effect, by striving for highest AND best, a manager is stepping on the journey towards being a true leader. It is the unique balance between the two and recognising that this is dynamic; best may not always be strategic, but when tackling operational this should be done in highest method possible. Today we strive to ensure every one in the business is able to achieve highest and best within their given role. Where people apply this successfully it generally results in their roles changing to accommodate yet higher and best! In BCF I am no longer involved operationally and have been developing a middle management team that lead our teams on an operational basis, additionally I have two co directors now who essentially run the two business units in BCF. My co directors also seek highest and best, and I work closely with them on developing strategic projects and coaching / mentoring /supporting our managers. The comments suggest that these leaders see Highest and Best in a number of ways - a slogan, an idea, a model or a framework. Most importantly, applying the Highest and Best approach has helped these business leaders to achieve a combination of better strategic thinking, more effective time utilisation and a focus on management and organisation development. The result is the development of a more capable organisation, pursuing a more effective strategy, with much less dependence on the leader to achieve short-term results. In summary; helping them to become leaders who are more strategic and adding greater value to their business.