Bridge: the Early Years....
Oct 88: Due to a misunderstanding with the embryonic Bridge training & consultancy
operation who headhunted me, left Hellmann Mitchell Cotts three months before Bridge
had the financial structures in place to afford me! So used my experience as a buyer
and my knowledge of purchasing systems to secure work as a freelance administration
consultant with Bradford-based Stylus Graphics Ltd (formerly one of my suppliers
at Hellmann) and ICM Ltd in Leeds.
Feb 89: Joined Bridge, based in Bradford. Wrote
their library of training courses. These courses were very successful – and, apart
from minor updates, they remained unchanged for over 5 years. (This in spite of considered
reviews.) An attempt by other people in the Bridge organisation in 1994 to modularise
the courses against units of the Management NVQs was abandoned because it was felt
the project would end up altering the integral nature of the courses too much.
Also undertook 'hands on' training – delivering a range of management, sales and
communication skills – both to specific clients and via open seminars.
This period included providing training to the sales force of Vileda, one of Britain's
most prestigious names in FMCG household goods – the UK division of a multi-national.
During this period I worked with a number of behavioural tools – most notably Meredith
Belbin's Team Self-Inventory (1981)and the DISC model of psychometrics (derived from
the work of William Moulton Marston (1928) and licenced in the UK by Thomas International).
Commentary:
Bridge was founded by four ex-Kalamazoo salesmen - Tom Stock, Andrew Michael, Wal
England and Steve Bleasby. They saw the opportunity afforded by the DTI Enterprise
Initiative and set themselves up as management consultants. Tom and Andrew also had
the Kall Kwik printing franchise in Bradford and were one of my suppliers at Hellmann.
They knew my background as a teacher and a journalist and, from that, somehow reckoned
I could write their training courses for them!
For a while it all worked - and I got a pretty good grounding in how to be a consultant!
Mar 91: Following internal training at Bridge, I began carrying out DTI-funded business
planning projects. Clients included solicitors, printers ( a principal market for
Bridge) and contract cleaners.
Commentary: Initially my work was closely supervised;
but, within a little more than a year, only Tom Stock was receiving more praise for
his business plans.
Jan 92: Completed competence-based lead assessor training and began carrying out
BS 5750/ISO 9000 consultancy projects - usually under the Enterprise Initiative scheme
- commencing with an architect's office.
June 92: Accepted into the Institute of Quality Assurance (now the Chartered Quality
Institute) with grade of Licentiate (The grade title was later rejigged to be ‘Associate’).
Oct 92: First nursing home project (ISO 9000) commenced as sub-contractor to new
subsidiary company, Bridge Care Consultants Ltd.
Commentary: The Care in the Community
Act 1990 put a lot of pressure on nursing homes and residential care homes to be
assessed against 'quality measures' - and the first wave to respond to this pressure
sought ISO 9000 accreditation to meet these criteria.
Tom Stock and Tony Brown, another ex-Kalamazoo salesman, had set up Bridge Care earlier
in 1992 to sell a pseudo-Kalamazoo and care plan system into nursing and residential
homes. In the meantime I had become the 'ISO 9000 capacity' - but the Bridge guys
couldn't get the hang of selling it. So, when I was under-utilised and Tony started
to get requests from care homes for ISO 9000 consultancy, it made sense to farm me
out.
Summer 93: Via a systems-flow analysis, demonstrated to a £7M turnover packaging
operation the potential to make a year-on/year-on saving of £40+K in return for a
one-off investment of approximately £28K.
Autumn 93: Asked by SGS Yarsley, the UK's 3rd biggest Certification Body, to advise
them on ISO 9000 assessments in the health and care sectors. (Over the next 2 years
asked by 3 other Certification Bodies to comment on their assessment guidelines.)
Oct 93: Formally joined Bridge Care Consultants as second-in-command.
Commentary:
Tony Brown and I worked really well as a team for 2-3 years. He sold and I did the
projects. Within a few months of me becoming an employee of Bridge Care, we were
getting so much work we had to use associate consultants to handle the workload.
In and amongst my own projects, I was responsible for quality assuring the work of
the associates.
Nov 93: Undertook Level IIIB assessor training and began carrying out Investors in
People projects.
Commentary: Bridge never really 'got' ISO 9000. It was too technical
for them; so, because they didn't really understand it, they weren't very good at
selling it. When the less-technical IiP began to be pushed by the Training & Enterprise
Councils, Bridge were much more comfortable with that.
The TECs pushed IiP as a soft option to ISO 9000 especially in the care home sector.
Feb 94: First Client, Argyle Park Nursing Home (Southport, Merseyside), to achieve
ISO 9002.
Commentary: It was only years later, when I worked with Spiral Dynamics
and Adizes LifeCycle, that I came to understand why so many smaller companies failed
to carry through to ISO 9000 and/or IiP accreditation. (I also didn't appreciate
at the time how BLUE Procedures I was personally in the way I delivered quality consultancy!)
In the care home industry, attaining a quality standard was looked upon as essential
for survival - but IiP rapidly became the preferred option.
Feb 94: Received the DTI's highest accolade (via Enterprise Support) for business
planning with Radcliffe Gardens Nursing Home (Pudsey, West Yorks). (This Client has
since come back to me three times for further assistance with business planning.)
Mar 94: A Bank accepted a business plan I had written with a virtually-insolvent
client and agreed to keep supporting the client, providing the client followed the
business plan.
Nov 94: On loan back to the main Bridge organisation, demonstrated to the biggest
operation of a pan-European gravure printer that it could save £70+K per year simply
by implementing one Clause of ISO 9000 properly. Subsequently asked by that organisation
to help set criteria on which they should recruit new Quality Manager.
Dec 94: First Client, B & D Print Ltd (Chorley, Lancs), to achieve ISO 9001. My work
was commended by the Assessors.
Jan-Mar 95: 6 Clients – Beanlands Nursing Home, Currergate Nursing Home, Laurel Mount
Nursing Home, Orchards Nursing Home, Orchards Rest Home and Rosegarland Nursing Home
from Bradford TEC-supported IiP Care Home Consortium – provided first IiP recognitions.
(The 7th Consortium member - Norwood House Nursing Home - dropped out through the
Proprietor's ill health – although that Client has come back to me twice since to
progress development of the business, as much as the Proprietor's health permits.)
Commentary:
The TECs were under enormous pressure to hit Department of Employment targets on
IiP recognitions - so, when Tony Brown and I came up with the concept of using workshops
and template materials to fast-track
workshops and template materials to fast-track a consortium of care homes, Bradford
TEC readily funded it.
Even with ready-made materials, workshops and hands-on consultancy, adapting their
working practices to meet a formal quality standard proved a rather daunting task
for several of the Consortium members. The project actually had started in late 1993!
Nonetheless, it was deemed a huge success. Reputedly the first IiP consortium in
the country, we went on to do another two each for the North Yorkshire and Rotherham
TECs. (A second one was planned for Bradford but never got off the ground.)
June 95: Commenced work on achieving both ISO 9000 and Investors in People with the
English Province of the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, a 500+ employee health/care
specialist and the UK arm of a world-wide lay order.
Commentary: For a non-Catholic
with no experience of religious orders, working with the brothers of St John of God
was a different kind of experience. Though they politicked frequently(!) amongst
themselves, their dedication to their concept of 'service' was awesome. I was particularly
impressed with Brother Stanislaus Nield, a former Provincial (head) of the English
Order who was very much the driving force behind their determination to use quality
standards to gain a greater consistency of service.
They did eventually achieve IiP recognition but, after protracted deliberation, went
on to settle for a partial upgrade of their systems, rather than going all the way
to ISO 9000 accreditation.
I kept in contact with Stanislaus and several other brothers for a number of years
after the consultancy work was over.
July 95: Carried out first projects (business 'health checks') for Business Link
Doncaster) with GP fundholders.
Oct 95: Now living in Leeds, left Bridge (undergoing massive but fatally-flawed restructure)
to set up Rice & Rice Associates Ltd – to carry out sub-contract projects for Tony
Brown, former head of Bridge Care now trading as IBS/Bridge.
Commentary: Some of the
Bridge guys were more successful than others - both in terms of quality of work and
at bringing in revenue - and that led to friction. They dismantled their limited
companies and tried operating as a series of partnerships - though that didn't work
out either!
This led to Tony Brown breaking away completely. He didn't want to carry me as an
employee; so I set up Rice & Rice.
Nov 95: Approached by representatives of the Egyptian Embassy to participate in 6-month
quality management project for the Egyptian health service.
Commentary: By this time
my reputation as a care sector consultant was spreading quite considerably. After
some consideration, I turned the offer down on the grounds that my UK business would
all but disappear while I was away.
Dec 95: Work with Elim Lodge Nursing Home (Hornsea, East Yorks) to achieve ISO 9002
commended by the Assessors.
Feb 96: Approached by Triangle Training & Development Ltd to carry out an ISO 9000
project (which never materialised) in Liverpool.
June 96: Attended IiP Revised Indicators Workshop.
July 96: Designed and delivered first Staff Appraisal Training programme for Bilton
Hall Nursing Home (Harrogate) as part of their IiP programme. Later that month designed
and delivered 'Piggies in the Middle' supervisor and junior management training for
Bilton Hall.
Oct 96: Completed design and development (for IBS) of template ISO 9000 system for
nursing and residential homes.
Nov 96: Rice & Rice, now insolvent, ceased trading.
Commentary: Though it took a little
while before I would talk about it openly, I had a minor 'nervous breakdown' and
was hospitalised for a week. Tony Brown's interests had been drifting elsewhere for
some time and he was no longer supplying new work - which led to me finding out the
hard way that reputation alone will not always guarantee work coming through the
door. Additionally, my then-fiancee and co-director was bleeding Rice & Rice dry
of funds and running up significant debts.
While the 'breakdown' was a horrific experience, according to my GP I made one of
the fastest recoveries he had ever known - getting a new job within two months!
