Situation

The challenges that faced Allied Vehicles & why ChangingPoint was approached

Allied Vehicles Group is the UK’s leading vehicle conversion specialist.
Allied Vehicles supply purpose-built vehicles to a wide range of customers including individuals and families, construction and facilities management companies, fleet operators, local authorities, taxi operators, ambulance services, care homes, hospitals, hospices, and community transport Groups.

They also offer automotive after-sales services – mechanical maintenance and repair, parts distribution, and accident repair, plus a wide range of assistive products for older and disabled customers, both online and in-store.

Allied Vehicles were about to undergo a period of significant change. A new Operations Board consisting of 8 Directors was being formed with the aim of generating more consistent leadership across the whole organisation. In turn, this would deliver enhanced organisational performance in the short term and into the future, while also cultivating a more empowering Allied Vehicles culture to address the unacceptably high 30%+ annual staff turnover.

The Allied Vehicles Core Purpose (We Move People and Make A Difference To Their Lives) and Core Values (Respect – Collaboration – Courage – Passion – Ambition) also needed to be brought to life, through the Operations Board living, breathing and role modelling them to their teams.

Allied Vehicles approached ChangingPoint to support and challenge their new Operations Board to turn this intent into reality. ChangingPoint’s role was to facilitate the Board’s creation of a new, clearly defined strategy for Allied Vehicles, to explore then agree on how the Board would individually and collectively lead and implement the changes needed to deliver this strategy and also help to transform the Allied Vehicles culture.

Action

The Allied Vehicles Evolution Programme delivered by ChangingPoint

Ahead of our Allied Vehicles evolution programme, a Universal Change Leadership survey was completed by each member of the Board, to identify individual and collective change leadership development needs. The Board also acknowledged some key themes from the Allied Vehicles’ most recent staff engagement survey that needed to be addressed during our programme.

ChangingPoint’s – Universal Change Leadership

Examples from Board members’ survey feedback (2019) highlighting current challenges:

Phase 1 Evolution Programme:  2020 – 2021

1. Identify how the Board individually and collectively currently saw things currently, what they believed must not be lost and also what needed to change at Allied Vehicles, in relation to Vision, Innovation, Climate and Momentum.
2. Facilitate the creation of a more clearly defined One Page Strategy for Allied Vehicles and explore, then agree on how the new Operations Board would need to individually and collectively change behaviourally to deliver this strategy.
3. Review the Allied Vehicles Core Purpose (We Move People and Make A Difference To Their Lives) and Core Values (Respect – Collaboration – Courage – Passion – Ambition) to ensure they remained fit for purpose and were aligned with the new Allied Vehicles strategy implementation needs.

Phase 2 Evolution Programme: 2021 – 2022

One of the most important elements of any change programme after the initial launch phase is this follow-through phase.  This is required to ensure that enough time is invested in breaking old habits and embedding the various individual and collective behavioural changes needed to deliver the desired business impact.

In Phase 2 the focus became more on the Operations Board’s Implementation of Strategy to realise the new Allied Vehicles aspirational objective & goals through:

Change Leadership: individually and collectively leading and implementing the changes needed to deliver the new strategy, with emphasise on engaging, aligning and inspiring people, navigating change at 3 levels (Self, Others & Organisation)

Cultivating Culture: individually and collectively living and breathing the Allied Vehicles Values daily and encouraging the same within their teams; defining, evolving and aligning the culture to the business imperatives, helping to build a sustainable culture aligned to new strategy implementation

Process Simplification/ Structural Change: individually and collectively review current processes and organisational structures to identify then address any that are no longer fit for purpose for successful implementation of the new Allied Vehicles strategy

Results

Measures of Allied Vehicles Evolution Programme Success

During Phase 1 a new One Page strategy was created and the resultant changes required for successful strategy implementation were considered, and then planned.

Examples from the re-run Board members’ survey feedback (2021) highlighting positive progress:

During Phase 2 there was growing evidence of the culture moving from a previously strong Management Culture to a much more empowering Leadership Culture, through the Board’s increased focus on their change leadership behaviours and leadership emotional intelligence.

Staff turnover has almost halved from over 30% to ~16% per annum which in financial terms amounted to £ hundreds of thousands saved per year on recruitment, induction & training.

Board members also collectively moved physically from their previously dispersed offices to sit together in an open-plan area which helped build greater Board togetherness and also increased their visibility and accessibility to staff.

To find out how ChangingPoint can help your organisation navigate complex change, check out our Universal Change Leadership Programme and book a free Discovery Call.