60 businesses plot growth with university
A business growth programme at the University of Nottingham came to a close this week.
Across the groups of Unlocking Growth Potential, 60 local businesses have benefitted from a free programme of training and coaching.
The last group included a producer of alcoholic ice cream, a property management business, and a nursery. The group studied a range of business growth topics, such as team dynamics, coaching, and time management. Experienced business coaches assisted them in applying their learning to plan their strategic growth.
Tamsin Millns, director of Step Recruitment, was on the last course.
She said: “As a smaller growing business, the programme really helped me to think differently about my business and gave me some fantastic tips and tools to take forward as we move on to the next chapter. The coaching sessions have been invaluable in giving me the confidence to execute my plans. I’ve met some really inspirational leaders from such diverse backgrounds and had a lot of fun in the process.”
Mike Lloyd, managing director of CEM Solutions (UK), completed the programme in autumn 2017.
He said: “UGP gave me time to reflect on my new found role as a manager, and helped me to think about how best to utilise our key personnel and what roles we needed to progress. After UGP, we made a much more detailed plan for the year ahead as the roadmap for our activities.
“Every decision we make as a business is assessed against the plan! We are on course to double last year’s turnover, and have developed a brand new product. We have taken on two new members of staff and are recruiting two more.”
The programme was managed by Dave Tuer, who said: “UGP has been a delight to work on, collaborating with such a diverse range of businesses across all three cohorts. It has been a privilege to witness the often profound changes in the business owners’ thinking as they have gone through the programme. I have no doubt that they and their businesses will see lasting benefits as a result.”
