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Brakes and Lane4 recognised for Best Leadership Development Programme at Training Journal Awards 2016
The UK’s biggest food distributor, Brakes, and performance consultancy, Lane4, are delighted to have been recognised in the 2016 TJ Awards. They were awarded Bronze in the category of Best Leadership Development programme at a Gala Dinner on 6th December in central London. The winners are listed and can be found here.
This recognition celebrates the critical role which the Accelerated Leadership Programme “Making Brakes Great Again” played in a 5-year plan to transform and re-establish growth in the business.
In December 2012, newly appointed CEO, Ken McMeikan, announced a £250m investment in a 5-year plan to transform the business. He recognised what a McKinsey survey had also highlighted – that people were critical to achieving this change and there was a need to shift the leadership style from one of command and control to being more supportive.
The ALP (Accelerated Leadership Programme) was specifically designed to create a new mindset amongst the top 500 leaders of the business. In close partnership with Lane4, they designed a highly immersive, experiential programme to embed new values and leadership skills which would equip the leaders to successfully drive the transformation of the business.
“Together with Lane4, we built the strong partnership essential to delivering this programme for over 500 leaders over an 18 month period. The core of the programme was an immersive residential event which quite controversially (at first) took place in a caravan park. It proved transformational and our managers still talk about it today. It certainly took them outside their comfort zone and we could see mindsets changing, as they were challenged to look at situations from a new angle.
This programme has made a huge impact on the mindset and leadership style within Brakes. The results speak for themselves with 94% of people on the programme saying they have ‘significantly changed their thinking’ and 92% saying they are ‘doing things differently’.” Alison Townson, Talent and Leadership Development Director, Brakes
“I am enormously proud of all that we have achieved at Brakes over the past 5 years. The scale of the transformation programme we have been able to deliver has been immense and only made possible through the investment we have made in our people. The Accelerated Leadership Programme has been an incredible success and we are delighted with the recognition this has received.” Ken McMeikan, Group CEO, Brakes
“We’re delighted that Brakes ALP has received this recognition. It has been a real partnership and it’s always very satisfying to see the powerful impact that people and leadership can have on tangible business results.” Austin Swain, Client Services Director, Lane4
Find out more on this story and watch the video here.
About Brakes
The Brakes Group is a leading supplier to the foodservice sector in the UK, Ireland, France and Sweden. The Group is committed to providing its customers with outstanding service, products and foodservice solutions, its people with a ‘great place to work’ and its suppliers with a great company to partner. The Brakes Group comprises a family of specialist businesses which are able to deliver everything the caterer needs. It provides a professional, friendly regional service supported by a national network of depots, which ensures it offers an exceptional and individual service to each and every one of its customers. Brakes Group is committed to reducing the environmental impact the business has on both the communities it serves and the countries it operates in. It has ISO 14001 accreditation – an internationally recognised standard for environmental performance.
About Lane4 Management Group
Co-founded in 1995 by Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer, Adrian Moorhouse MBE, Lane4 is a leading HR consultancy specialising in the field of human performance. Our team of experts have an outstanding track record of achievement in the areas of business, psychology and elite sport. Based in the UK, we work globally with a wide range of organisations, individuals and teams to reach their potential and build sustainable competitive advantage. There are four broad areas in which we specialise:
- Talent Management and Assessment,
- Leadership and Team Development,
- Employee Engagement and Communications
- Managing large scale organisational change
