Action Coach helped us Reach our Full Potential
Matrix is a Birmingham based creative services agency. They provide design and production services to businesses and other marketing agencies around the UK. It was started in 1991 by Carl Prosser and Simon Sharman and currently employs 27 people. Although they had performed consistently over the years Carl felt they could do more. “We had always done OK but had reached a plateau. We’d exhausted our internal knowledge and I knew we weren’t reaching our full potential.”
Then they came across a business coach from ActionCOACH, and realised they had met someone who could unlock their potential. Carl hadn’t heard of business coaching before. “I thought coaching was just for sports.” But he liked what the coach was saying and the ActionCOACH approach. So they began having meetings every week to discuss business performance and set clear action plans.
One of the first areas that they worked on was to understand each of the four directors. The directors led the company as a committee and their coach asked them all to clarify what they wanted from the business. This led to a needed structural change. As Carl said “The directors are all quite different and comfortable in the roles they have. But coaching made us realise we needed to have an MD to provide clear leadership.” So, Carl was appointed Managing Director and the coaching focused on enabling him to drive the business forwards.
For Carl, as the leader of the business, having his coach’s support has been invaluable. “It’s great to have an external and objective sounding board. My coach will challenge and push me for answers. He makes you realise that, by not doing what you’ve set out to do, the only person you are fooling is yourself.”
There have been other structural changes in the agency which have increased efficiency and created a stronger team. Their coach introduced them to DISC personality profiling and encouraged them to clarify what was required from specific roles. “We were able to identify the ‘square pegs in round holes’ and put people into the right roles. We realised that just because you were good at the job it didn’t mean you are a good manager.”
They have now restructured many areas and created departments with clear management structures. This is supported with comprehensive sets of systems covering everything from health and safety to a process for servicing each client.
This has streamlined the business and importantly allowed Carl more time “To work on the business rather than just in it.”
The development of the team has been a major area of focus for them. Their coach helped them to not only clarify the structure they needed but also the culture required to grow.
They developed written ‘rules of the game’ and communicated this to all staff. In fact they communicate much more effectively with all employees now, as Carl remarked. “We are much more inclusive and listen to our staff. We have monthly meetings and are very transparent about the business. We share the financial numbers with them and it’s an open conversation. It creates a really positive atmosphere.”
The ability to confidently share the key numbers in the business is due to his coach pushing Carl to define and monitor the most importance indicators in the business. For example “Measuring time spent on jobs is vital and although we did it before coaching we are now much more granular. Crucially we now measure actual resource hours which means we know exactly what the profit is per job. Coaching has made us incredibly thorough and focused.”
Over the course of coaching they have developed a comprehensive ‘dashboard’ featuring all the key performance indicators in the business. This means that Carl, his coach and the other directors can see how they are doing at any time. This gives Carl control and confidence. “I know exactly how our business is doing on a daily basis. We couldn’t do that before coaching. It allows us to react earlier and has given us the confidence to push for growth.”
A key driver for growth has been more effective marketing. ActionCOACH has helped them to clarify their products and define target audiences. As Carl said
“We weren’t very targeted before. Our coach has helped us realise we have seven separate services with different audiences. So we now work on a very targeted campaign basis. Plus we test and measure everything so we know what works”
The results of the changes have been clear. During coaching the company has grown from 15 to 27 employees. Carl wouldn’t have done this without his coach’s help. “He encouraged and supported the growth. It’s given me the confidence to grow.”
Carl has found that the most important aspect of having an ActionCOACH is the focus he brings. “Working with ActionCOACH has helped massively. We would have just continued drifting. We now set targets and focus on achieving them. It’s driven a 50% growth in revenues and we can now go after the jobs we know are the most profitable. I’d recommend coaching to anyone. It’s well worth the investment.”
