Leadership Lesson 1: Make yourself redundant

When Nicola Dugdale enlisted for LEAD, a revolutionary training programme run by Lancaster University, she wanted to make herself redundant. Not literally of course – just ‘redundant’ from her day-to-day operational responsibilities.

Nicola is operations director and co founder of Accrington-based Specialist Training. She laughs: “Tim Barker, the MD, and I used to joke about being redundant because we want to develop and grow the business and the only way to do that is for us to move into more strategic roles.”

With LEAD’s help, she has done exactly that. Subsequently turnover has gone up and staff numbers have increased by over 25%.

Nicola, Tim and another director set up the company in 1999 offering training services in transport, warehousing and dangerous goods. After 5 years of ‘really hard slog’ and plenty of ups and downs, their dedication and hard work paid off and business was looking good. But ironically that was the problem: now Nicola was so busy coping that she had no time to look at business development.

Then she learned about LEAD, a unique training programme run specially for owner managers by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, part of Lancaster University’s Management School. The package is worth around £15,000 but under is available free to qualifying businesses in the North West.

Nicola signed up last November on the second wave or ‘cohort’ and is now nearing the end of the programme. She is adamant that LEAD has been directly responsible for some major achievements – including making her redundant.

“The stepping back bit is etched firmly in my mind,” she recalls. “It was Easter, and I remember it clearly because I used the coaching part of the programme – where we get 6 hours of one-to-one coaching – to work towards it. My coach and I actually set a schedule and deadline for it.”

Firstly someone was recruited to take over the daily grind then Nicola physically moved herself out of the operations office into a room next door. “That was a start but it’s taken a while to wean the team off me. It’s been hard for me to let go too but LEAD has given me the confidence and determination to do it.”

Nicola says she has learnt a lot about herself and her own style of leadership. “I realised there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with my style, but because I’m a problem solver and I concentrate on making things happen, I may not always be diplomatic so I tend to overlook the people issues.

“Now I try to be more laid back and think about how best to approach a situation. Also, I’ve accepted that there are different ways of doing things and getting the same results – that’s definitely a step in the right direction for me!”

Practically there have been enormous benefits. Nicola has finally written an Operations Manual, formalising the systems and procedures – something she has been trying to do for years. The directors have also begun researching the possibilities of opening another centre.

Nicola has taken over management of the company’s Defensive Driving division from Tim. She explains: “That’s something else LEAD showed me. There’s an assumption that to be a good manager you have to be able to do all the jobs yourself but it’s not true. In fact it can be a positive advantage not to.”

For the first time too, Nicola has been on holiday without the mad panic beforehand and the ‘was it worth it?’ feeling when you see your in-tray afterwards. “My in tray was minimal and I didn’t work myself into the ground before I left – it was marvellous,” she reflects.

She has nothing but praise for LEAD and says she would ‘absolutely recommend it’. “It’s fascinating and a massive learning curve. I feel honoured to have been part of it and that’s why I’m determined to make the most of it,” she adds.

Nicola likes to refer to ‘White elephant to wheelwright’, the subject of a LEAD master class by the eminent Professor Keith Gri nt. The white elephant is the leader who does everything, knowseverything, and is irreplaceable. The wheelwright leader is a spoke in a wheel – if you take it out and replace it with another, the wheel still goes round.

Thanks to LEAD, Nicola’s leadership ‘wheel’ is well and truly turning – and there isn’t a white elephant in sight!

Businesses interested in more details are asked to contact Gill Peers on 01524 510705, for more information about how they might be able to 
qualify for a place on the next LEAD course.