Michael Taylor reports on Preston based Advance Performance, a business training company with a strong sporting pedigree
Smells like team spiritMichael Taylor reports on Preston based Advance Performance, a business training company with a strong sporting pedigree
Fans of the England cricket team might want to look away now. The formidable performances of the South African team in the recent test matches against England may well have been inspired by their tie-up with a motivational training company based in Preston, Advance Performance.
And while the South Africans have been lauded for their team spirit, dedication and self-belief, much of what they are taught has a crossover with the inspiring programmes that Advance also brings to its business customers. Michael Finnigan, founder and director of Advance, worked closely with the South Africans, who haven't been slow to heap praise on him.
With the kind of testimonial businesses couldn't make up if they tried, Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain endorsed Advance publicly, notably to BBC News after the first test match at Lord's: "Mike Finnigan helped us to learn how to handle pressure situations, and how to win from losing positions. It's about controlling the pressure, and we now know the tools that provide us with a positive mind set and self belief, both as a team and as individuals. Advance has been an integral part of our preparations prior to each test match and they've been a vital part of our team".
But this story isn't just about a local training company doing some high profile coaching. Many of the techniques used in business are similar to those used in sport.
Indeed, one of Advance's corporate clients is retail group Littlewoods, whose chief executive, Alistair McGeorge, found common ground with the South Africans: "Advance has a style of delivery which I witnessed first hand with my senior managers. My observation to them was that they created a tremendous bond with my team, which I felt obligated all of them to deliver what they had promised and what they now knew themselves to be capable of," he says.
"My personal experience was exactly the same, they have a way of inspiring you to raise your sights in terms of what you consider to be achievable, and then somehow make you feel compelled to do it. They have something very special. I was fortunate to spend some time with the South African cricket coach, Eric Simons, who was of the same opinion, and I found this fascinating given the two very different environments in which we operate. Their techniques appear to work in all situations," he says.
The company takes the view that unlocking an individual's potential, be it at work or on a personal level lies at the heart of motivational training.
Much of its approach centres on the power of positive thinking. The company's Peak Performance programme aims to make managers more focused, to make them cope under pressure and to increase their self-confidence.
In an industry characterised by American style tub-thumping the business claims to understand the temperament of British managers better than most. Indeed, there's even something distinctively northern about the business too leading to the observation that Advance are to motivational training what Peter Kay is to stand up comedy.
As co-founder Andrew O'Donohue, says it: "We're not happy-clappy, there are no group hugs. It's about individuals being the best versions of themselves."
That approach is particularly important in winning over the cynicism of hardened British business executives as Chris Oglesby, the managing director of Manchester-based property giant Bruntwood Estates witnessed.
"I first came across Michael Finnigan of Advance when he did a half-day session for a peer group of mine.
"On the back of this and recommendations from two other people I respect, we asked them to pitch for a self-awareness and motivation programme at Bruntwood against two multinational companies. They quite simply blew the competition away and we subsequently put all 200 employees through a very successful three day program with a total investment of £3100,000.
"Many training companies just take American training modules and meet resistance from delegates when they try to use them in the UK. Advance speak the same language as our people, they have bags of energy and their sporting anecdotes really helped to get the message across. For many of our people, the three days they spent with Michael and his team really changed their lives," he says.
Stirring stuff. But the question remains that some people just can't be motivated, they just like turning up for work and picking up their pay cheques. So when Advance started working with Preston-based Liquid Plastics, the brief was to take part in a wholesale transformation of the culture of the company.
Jeremy Gorick, the managing director, described his company's personnel policy as "adequate, but not exemplary."
He established a "people action team" drawn from all levels in the company. He wanted to find out what employees needed in order to be more effective.
That team identified three key elements: firstly, that employees should know what their job is; second, know the objectives of their individual department and third, understand how this fits into the overall company goals.
"We then started to look at an appraisal process, which we called a "performance review system", to help us drive training requirements. The need for motivational training was the result," says Gorick.
Gorick's brother Jonathan enrolled on the Peak Performance open course, often used by companies as a "test drive" to see if people like the Advance approach. Liquid Plastics did, and put all its management team through the programme to start the process of disseminating the message to their individual departments.
Liquid Plastics was locked in straight after the first morning session. This was the behavioural module of the programme that looks at the origins of behaviour. Based on a drawing of a tree it explains how people's conditioning is deep rooted, and how from an early age individuals are conditioned. "Looking at this module we knew that we needed to look at the conditioning process in order to understand individual employees and their behaviour at work," says Gorick.
The Peak Performance programme started 12 months ago. Since then, the company philosophy has changed considerably. Gorick says: "We see it as our responsibility to put the right people in the right jobs and to make sure they have the right tools and the proper training."
So massive is the realisation within the business that Gorick says he now believes there is no such thing as a bad employee. "There are only people who are probably not properly trained or who are in the wrong job, and that it is the management's responsibility to rectify the situation," he says. "People don't make mistakes on purpose, chances are mistakes happen because something wasn't right and it is up to us to put it right. We are realising a 'no blame' culture and making sure that people are happy and comfortable in the job they are doing."
He firmly believes that there has to be a fair exchange between individuals in the business and that the business should not ask too much, nor should it expect too little. "A good day's work for a good day's pay is probably not a bad starting point," he says. "However, if people have to stay until eight o'clock every night, then something is wrong. This will more than likely impact on their home and family life, which in turn will affect their ability to perform at work, creating a downward spiral. We now realise that you can't split the private and the public person," he says.
"People go into these sorts of positive-thinking sessions with different attitudes. Some will be very open to the challenges and will want to understand the concepts, while others will be more sceptical. Luckily the majority of our managers fitted in the former category so they looked for what they could get out of the training."
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