World-leading manufacturer chooses True North to boost team-leader skills

For Westwind Air Bearings, being ahead of the game is just part of 'business as usual'. At the forefront of air bearing technology, Westwind's technologies are used in the manufacture of computer hard disks, printed circuit boards and even contact lenses.

It's a precision business: air bearings can run between 180,000 and a staggering 300,000 revolutions per minute. Unlike traditional bearings, air bearings use a thin layer of pressurised air to eliminate contact between surfaces - thus avoiding problems such as heat, friction, wear, and lubrication.

But staying ahead of the game isn't just about technology: it's also about people's management skills & techniques, empowerment, interaction, innovation and commercial awareness.

When Steve Webb, managing director of Westwind Air Bearings, wanted to boost the skills of his team, he called in learning and development company True North. "To take the business to the next level," says Webb, "I decided to start with my people."

Webb and True North decided that the initial step to drive cultural change would be from Westwind's team leaders and supervisors.

True North felt it essential to benchmark the skills of the team leaders before rolling out the programme, so that the proposed approach could be validated. True North's managing director, Andy Parker, recalls: "Westwind didn't have a competency framework in place to use as an assessment benchmark, so we worked with the team to help them develop one. We also helped them conduct a series of three-hundred-and-sixty-degree reviews - all of which helped us to understand which skills were in need of development."

This consultative process proved to be an important step - helping to focus the team leader programme - which included modules on organisation skills, communication, delegation, self-improvement - along with meeting & presentation skills. Delegates also undertook an 'Insights' personality profile - which helped people better understand themselves and how they communicate and interact with others.

The modularised nature of True North's programme enabled the first step of the solution to be deployed quickly - within just a couple of weeks.

This initial programme was very positively received by all those who attended. Steve Webb himself attended many of the sessions, as did other members of the management team, to demonstrate that this wasn't 'training for its own sake' but something that was supported by the entire management team.

As first programme drew to a close, True North was pleased to receive encouraging feedback - that even the initial programme was having a real effect on the team leaders' working lives. They became considerably more effective in many aspects of their roles, such as personal organisation, time management, prioritisation and delegation. Communication was improved, with people communicating far better up and down the chain - which translated into improved delivery timescales and quality. Team leaders became more involved, working more on the shop floor with their colleagues - and this, in turn, improved morale. Confidence was also boosted - some team leaders who had not previously felt especially confident now felt much more able to handle difficult situations. The knock-on effect was that this also increased others' confidence in their team leaders' abilities.

More encouragingly, a couple of the team leaders who, prior to the programme, had felt that they wouldn't be comfortable with their 'reshaped roles' found that they were re-energised and really wanted to rise to the challenge of a newer way of working.

Although this is just the first stage of a larger process, Steve Webb is convinced that True North has already made a strong contribution to Westwind's business: "True North responded to our needs in a very timely fashion. The team were adaptable all of the time - even during delivery of this initial programme. Gil Sewell, who delivered the programme, impressed everyone - even turning around those people who had very ingrained opinions. Gil and True North really have started the process of helping our people on the path of reaching their potential. It's a strong foundation for the larger process which we are now implementing."

About Westwind Air Bearings
Westwind Air Bearings is the world's leading manufacturer of air bearing spindles. Westwind's technology is used across a broad spectrum of industries throughout the world - for applications which include printed circuit board (PCB) manufacture, hard disk manufacture and laser scanning. In today's PCB industry there are more Westwind drilling spindles in use than any other brand.

Westwind is part of GSI Lumonics, a world leader in the manufacture of precision motion components, lasers, and laser-based advanced manufacturing systems to the global medical, semiconductor, electronics, and industrial markets.

http://www.westwind-airbearings.com