Carpenter Oak and Woodland

Carpenter Oak and Woodland identified the need to develop the skills of the main Board in order to drive the business towards its longer term vision and greater success.

Carpenter Oak and Woodland design and construct traditional and contemporary timber framed buildings for the domestic and public sectors. The company employ around fifty staff across two yards, Lintrathen in Scotland and Colerne in Wiltshire.

Opportunity

Whilst the Board members were technically and professionally highly qualified, they lacked disciplined processes and rigorous structured thinking to work effectively at Board level. Following a period of uncertainty and restructuring, the Board culture was described by the Chairman: “Our communication was not open enough and many of our behaviours were defensive of our individual areas of responsibility. We were not pulling together and were failing despite everyone’s underlying good intentions”.

Action taken by True North

Using a number of different interventions including facilitation of Board meetings, personality profiling and specific developmental workshops we worked with the team on their ability to interact with each other, value their different working styles and focus on the work of a main Board. “The people who supported us from True North have brought clear, rational and objective thinking. They grounded out issues very quickly and shared their knowledge for methodical problem solving and decision making” - Charley Brentnall (Chairman).

Results

The dynamic of the Board has changed dramatically to a far more open, collaborative and constructive group, working together in the best interests of the whole business.

The members of the Board have new skills and knowledge gained through a period of iterative development.

“Despite changes in membership and some very challenging business issues, we have worked extremely well as a Board and we are now looking at a bright future for the company and its employees. It has been an enlightening experience with huge amounts of learning and, for me, personal growth. Without the support of True North the Board would have fragmented, it would not have survived.” - Charley Brentnall (Chairman).