DriveSpeed Group provide tailored vehicle solutions to clients across a range of industries from a base in North Yorkshire. The business has grown significantly since its incorporation in 2011, and has doubled in size in the last three years, with over 20 staff at their office on Fishergate in York.
In 2020 the dental industry was shut down for a couple of months, but Swallow Dental Supplies adapted its PPE product range and are now growing rapidly through their sales of bone regeneration material and other surgical dental supplies.
“Working with Pro-Development on our employment engagement over the last few years has been brilliant! We have transformed the way we interact with our staff, improved on so many areas year on year. The benefits to the company have been huge; employee retention, fully engaged in our vision, work to our values, reduced sick days etc…all of this can only improve your business! Our latest score of 96% is fantastic and we couldn’t have done this without the help of Pro-Development”.
“Pro-Development helped two members of the Two Ridings team think through their longer term career options. We had all done team development but through our annual appraisal process these two staff members agreed there was a need for one to one time with a development professional to help them think through their longer term career options and plan their future development needs. Pro-Development staff were very responsive to this and offered to help them with a structured interview. This offered a confidential safe space for staff members to consider their strengths. Pro-Development also acted as a critical friend to support them to be positive about their future choices. Both members of staff commented very positively on your approach and found you easy to work with. We can already see the difference in the team members as they are more confident and questioning and clearer about their place in the team”.
“Pro Development took time to understand the issues from YSP team feedback and carefully considered what work I could do myself with the team and what should be facilitated by Pro Development. Janette was very intuitive and drew together a project plan to deliver a number of workshops which had to be very short bursts. Janette was well received by the YSP team and there were some good learnings and understanding. Her communication style was very clear and concise, warm and friendly. We made good progress in dealing with the issues raised and work continued after the sessions with team members keen to put their learnings into practice. The experience working with Pro Development felt very bespoke to fit our business requirements, nothing was too much trouble and I would recommend for team development.”
“The coaching provided by Suzanne, at Pro-Development, helped me explore challenges and opportunities from different perspectives which has resulted in tangible strategic business improvement as well as personal development.”
“I needed a 360 feedback for a newly formed leadership group and found Pro-Development very good, helpful and full of imaginative ideas. What I have particularly valued about working with Pro-Development was the helpful, friendly relationship and keenness to really help; the personal touch. The individuals have all really benefited from the one to one sessions with Pro-Development to really understand the detail of the feedback and where to focus on their development. The Line managers of those that took the profile also greatly benefitted from a greater understanding of how a 360 profile works. A much better approach than I have previously experienced with other organisations, thank you”.
“If you’re a business owner/MD and are frustrated with unmotivated staff who seem to operate in slow motion, rather than align with your business goals, I’d recommend you speak with Michelle. I’ve seen Michelle speak twice now on employee engagement. Firstly, what a lovely person, second Michelle comes across as a passionate expert in here field. She offers insights, and most importantly solutions into creating highly engaged people at work. Many of the challenges Michelle solves, really resonate with me from my experience of running large, fast moving teams. She helps businesses both large and small, to create highly driven cultures of people who want to feel part of something, to care about their colleagues, customers, and the bottom line”
We have been working with Pro-Development now for a few years in helping to support the development of our talent through Development Centres and tailored coaching. I worked with Michelle for 6 months on some areas that I was keen to develop and found her coaching approach really worked for me, always encouraging me to reflect, review and take action. Her style was warm and open, patient, always listening, reflecting back and offering feedback to help me move forward. The coaching has been immensely useful for me.
Alex really enjoyed the programme and I watched her grow as she attended each of the sessions. Overall, the result has been an increase in her self-awareness, confidence and assertiveness. She has now taken on more of a management role in our small team as the business continues to develop. I feel that what she has learnt will give her a solid platform for leadership in the future.
We had a team building event off site and Michelle successfully led and facilitated the sessions. She has the ability to put you at ease straight away with her warm, engaging personality and is great at delivering the agenda and expectations for the sessions ahead. She has a genuine caring personality, is a lot of fun to work and has a ability to coach, question how you engage with people including your team and tease out the answers to questions or challenges that will really make you pause and reflect. She really makes you question things, your personal approach and to the team and surrounding work environment you’re operating in. I came away from the team building sessions feeling more knowledgeable, energized and motivated to apply my learnings to both my role and personal life. Michelle made me feel valued throughout the team building sessions and I still use some of the techniques to this day. I value Michelle’s opinion and I would highly recommend sourcing Michelle’s company and expertise again – it’s always a pleasure to work together!
Thank you for facilitating a day that engaged all team members at various points and levels throughout the day. There was a great mix of activity, reflection and opportunity for the team to take on different roles. A day to remember.
