Building Teams

As the economy continues its recovery, recruiting and retaining good people is vital to accelerating business growth. This is certainly true for merchants, where detailed product knowledge and excellent customer service are key factors both in winning new customers and maintaining them long term.

One of the Builders Merchants Federation's (BMF) six strategic goals is to be the leading body in helping to attract and develop new recruits to our industry. Another related goal is to make the merchant industry a great place to work, by promoting industry standards for customer service, health and safety and, of course, employee learning and training.

The BMF offers continuous learning personal development starting with Apprenticeships leading on by turn to our Diploma in Merchanting, followed by a Foundation degree, our new post graduate degree course and an eventual Masters degree. Each of these courses is designed specifically for our industry, with content that directly relates to merchants' business.

The BMF Diploma in Merchanting is a real success story. Interest in the course has grown steadily, and there are now over 100 students studying for the qualification. Howarth Timber & Building Supplies alone has enrolled 24 of its staff this academic year and is using formal training to develop the professionalism of their staff linked to a clear career path. In recognition of this commitment, the company was the winner of the inaugural BMF Training Company of the Year Award this autumn.

However, we have to recognise that studying for a formal earlier this year we launched BMF In-Branch Mentoring, a completely different training model.

As the name suggests this is a bespoke, structured development programme delivered at the branch and geared to improving the performance of the whole team. It is designed to instil a collaborative culture where everyone understands where they fit within the team and the importance of their role.

The end result is to ensure that the whole team is focused on customer satisfaction and customer retention. Amanda Dodd developed and delivers this innovative results-driven training model for the BMF. As a former head of learning and development at Saint- Gobain, Amanda understands how a branch works and what makes it successful.

As part of the process, she brings an experienced outside eye to observe operations both from a staff and a customer viewpoint, to challenge accepted practice and provide one-to-one coaching in real life situations.

We all have gaps in our knowledge and skills and some people are adept at hiding their limitations. This process identifies where improvements can be made. From this we can tailor a recommendation for each person to rectify weaknesses and harness their strengths; all designed to strengthen the team and branch performance.

In-Branch Mentoring is a stand-alone service but it may identify where further training is needed and thus where the training budget is best used. Equally, it will identify those individuals who simply need the encouragement of a regular sit down meeting with their line manager to perform at their best.