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.
“Our team had six online sessions with Pro-Development. I must admit to being a little apprehensive to begin with, but Michelle soon put us at our ease, and I began to look forward to the sessions. We learned a lot about each other, and this has helped us communicate more effectively amongst ourselves, and there has also been a lot that we have been able to use with our respective teams. Copies of all the course materials were sent to us, which helped us prepare for the subsequent sessions, but are also useful in rolling out some of these ideas amongst the wider company. As a result, we are all a lot more comfortable in asking for, and receiving feedback on our own performance.”
Doing a ‘Yorkshire Peak’ with the Intandem Communications team has been on my bucket list for a while. Thank you Pro-Development for throwing yourself in wholeheartedly to the challenge and for making it such fun! Your thorough planning, thoughtful preparation and amazing insights meant we absolutely got the most possible out of our day. We LOVED every minute and we’ll remember it and what we’ve learned forever!
We identified through the Employee Engagement process done with Pro-Development that we had a very dated performance management process. After going through some training with Sue, we literally turned this process into what was very time consuming in preparing and delivering from my perspective, into a very interactive process which put most of the ownership onto the employee which resulted in AMAZING results… I had never known staff talk so much and be so engaged in their performance review process. They came prepared with what they felt their objectives should be, what was working well for them and what they had achieved…the conversations were just mind blowing. Michelle and her team have taught us how to do succession planning based on the feedback from the performance reviews, which has enabled us to plan for the long term, create a clearer structure for movement within the business, and highlighting our high-risk areas. Having been involved in performance management for over 22 years, this has been one of the best learning experiences I have had the fortune of encountering. If I speak to people now who say ‘performance management is a thing of the past, I don’t bother with them now’….I have to say I don’t agree!
The whole event from coordination to execution and completion was brilliant. We were well prepared, and the day was very clearly focused on our objectives. Organised so we could stay overnight in Horton in Ribblesdale and climb Pen-y-gent as a team, (which was a challenge in itself) and as a result of the preparation and the way Michelle facilitated discussions, we got more out of the day than I could ever have dreamt of.
Everything was very focused and clearly articulated. Michelle gave us the tools, the insights and the language to open up with each other and have both honest and sometimes vulnerable conversations. As a result, of this shared learning and insights, it already feels like we are a more closely bonded team. We have implemented a number of the actions from the day, and it feels like we are communicating and working more effectively together. It feels like the people in the team are more closely connected as a result and are able to perform at their very best.
Michelle is very talented and experienced in this area and her insights and the way she facilitates these sessions is extraordinary. I cannot recommend her and Pro-Development highly enough.
Michelle is truly an inspiration for me in these challenging times. I have loved listening to this again today and feel so much more prepared to support our managers and leaders.
In the difficult Covid-19 times, Michelle has started to pivot her business and provide a free training online via conference calls. She covered how to manage teams remotely and the information and timing was perfect. She is an expert in people management and engagement. Very much appreciated at these difficult times.
