Dmytro Kurko – Development and Quality Manager.
December 15, 2022
Bradford Markets Regeneration
February 7, 2023Impact Day 2022
On the 8th & 9th of November 2022, we decided to do something we'd never done before. We decided to close the business and hold a 2-day 'Impact Day' for our staff, bringing everyone together to recognise our achievements and celebrate our success.
The event was held at the famous Alton Towers and featured talks from all areas of the business, team-building events, motivational speaking and of course an enjoyable evening of dinner, drinks and entertainment.
Watch our video and read the full order of events of our Impact Day below!
Impact Day 1
The impact day started by taking us right back to the start of the story when Ischebeck was created in 1881 by Friedrich Ischebeck. Our Managing Director, Stuart Bamford and Björn Ischebeck, the 5th generation of the Ischebeck family, explained how Ischebeck has grown over the last 131 years, some key moments and what's made Ischebeck such a success to date.
Stuart and Björn were joined on stage by John McNamee, one of the founding members of Ischebeck Titan UK. John has been with the company ever since we opened in the UK on the 16th of November 1990 . John retires this year, leaving a legacy of strong customer relations, market leading service and a family-centric culture we pride ourselves on.
Ischebeck Inform, which has been part of the group since 2006, was represented by a long-standing member of the team, Steve O'Neil. Steve shared some facts about the Inform history, where the company is now and how they plan to grow in the coming years.
Stuart Bamford was then joined by Shirley Hutchinson, our Group Strategy Director to share a more in-depth presentation on an overall company update, recent changes, and the vision for the next 5 years.
The last few years have been very unusual for us all, possibly one of the hardest business landscapes in recent history with the challenges of BREXIT, COVID-19, the recent war and various other economic, political and environmental factors. Despite these challenges, our Senior Leadership team presented how they have been working tirelessly on driving the company forward, investing in more solutions, new premises, product ranges and our staff.
Team Building activity – Instruments
We invited the talented team from Red Zebra to run an instrumental event and kick off the first of the activities planned over the 2 days.
Despite us having a relatively small team in the construction world, we are always happy to make plenty of noise and show what we can achieve together - so an instrumental activity felt very appropriate.
Dinner / Team activity
In the evening, after an action-packed day of informative presentations and fun activities, we had an evening dinner with great company, food, and entertainment. We even discovered that some of our long-serving staff members have a hidden talent for singing.
Impact Day 2
The second day commenced with a team breakfast and a time to reflect on the empowering events of day one. This followed with some information on what was in store for day 2.
The first presentation of the day was delivered by Shirley Hutchinson and was an informative presentation on People Development - leadership programmes, benefits, HR and our values.
As a growing business, we recognise that the people we employ make us capable of providing market-leading products and services and we know that the more we invest in them, the more they will be capable of. People development is one of the key aspects of our vision over the next few years, which will play an important part in the development of our overall plans.
Shirley also covered the launch of our new 'Company Values':
- Trust
- Collaboration
- Innovation
- Sustainability
- Agility
- Passion
These 6 areas are the foundation of our vision for the future and are at the centre of everything that we do.
In conversation with Business Development
Neil Conroy, National Business Development Manager, was next to deliver a presentation on Business Development. Neil joined Ischebeck back in 2006 as a Sales Engineer with over 16 years of experience and 14 years later, took on the newly created role of our Business Development Manager.
Neil is the first person to be in a Business development-focused role at Ischebeck Titan and feels it's been a brilliant internal development for the company. Here are a few words from Neil and his thoughts on the role:
"In today’s market, Business Development has never been more relevant. To create strategies to grow our business we need to gain market intelligence, undertake competitor studies, and understand product profiles including, availability and whether we buy in or we develop our own.
In Business Development I like to think of us as the glue that gels the departments together, collating strategic information and presenting it in a format that makes bold and dynamic decisions easier and quicker to make."
In conversation with Sales
Andy Caulfield our National Sales Manager discussed with Neil Conroy how the sales strategy and the business has changed over recent years, overcoming many challenges such as BREXIT, COVID-19 and a looming recession with many changes along the way.
Andy went on to explain how the product offering of Ischebeck Titan has changed over the years and brought attention to one of the latest additions to the product range, Aulfix, a lightweight wall formwork solution, which has had a very successful launch to market.
Andy then went on to discuss one of the largest changes he has overseen since joining Ischebeck Titan, growing the Ischebeck Inform part of our group. When Inform was purchased back in 2006, it was lacking investment and a clear strategy to grow its sales, which required a lot of hard work and planning from Andy and his team to make Inform the flourishing business it is today.
Over the last 5 years, Andy and the other members of the Inform internal & external sales teams focussed on growing the business from a relatively small concrete consumable company to nearly doubling the annual sales. To do this, they focussed on creating synergy between the business streams and developing key people and product within the business.
To bring the discussion to a close, Andy raised a few final strong points about the importance of working together, focusing on our 'Company Values' and thanking all of the departments for their dedication and hard work that's made the business what it is today.
In Conversation with Engineering
Stephen Hubbard, who joined Ischebeck Titan 11 months ago as Chief Engineer, joined Andy Caulfield to discuss the engineering side of Ischebeck. The discussion covered Stephen's background in engineering, why he decided to join the Ischebeck Titan family and the impact he's had already.
Stephen explained how he has introduced more structure to the technical department and how he's encouraged a more team-focused culture, aligning with our set of company values. Stephen also highlighted the growth and positive changes that have happened in the Engineering & Design team over the last 11 months with 8 new team members and 4 promotions.
The conversation finished with details on his plans on developing the team further and the focus for 2023 and beyond.
In Conversation with Operations
John Pollock, our operations Manager joined the stage with the Senior Leadership team to discuss the importance of Operations in the Ischebeck Titan group and how he plans to cope with future challenges that come with planned expansion. John focused on one of his largest challenges to date, and a key strategic milestone for the company, the construction of our new Headquarters Ischebeck House in Burton Upon Trent.
Upon moving to the new site, a few joked about it being too big and how we'd never fill the space, but due to the growth over the last couple of years, more plans need to be implemented to find even more space to facilitate our growth.
John also touched on the number of operations that are involved in the successful running and growth of Ischebeck Inform and how operational planning has been a key factor in the company's success over recent years.
In conversation with Geotechnical Engineering
The geotechnical division of Ischebeck Titan hasn't always been one of the main focuses of the business but thanks to the efforts of Colin Thompson our UK & Ireland GE Sales Manager and the growing geotechnical team, we are now a serious player in the GE market.
Colin, delivered a passionate presentation on his own experience in the geotechnical industry, the history of Ischebeck's geotechnical development and projects for 2023 and beyond. From the presentation, it was clear to see the passion that Colin has for the industry and his drive to make a difference to our company and the people in it.
Colin also introduced, Azeem Israr, who has very recently joined the team as a Specifications Manager. Azeem Israr will play a vital role in the team getting Ischebeck bars specified for large upcoming projects.
Motivation activity
After a few detailed and passionate presentations from all departments of the business, it was time to welcome Luke Staton from Luke Staton Ltd to the stage, to deliver some motivational speaking.
Luke, delivered a fantastic and moving speech on how working together and small acts of kindness and compassion can have a huge impact, on not only the person you're helping but also your path in life and business.
Part of Luke's talk was based on the record-breaking achievement of Eliud Kipchoge, who was the first person to run a marathon in under 2 hours. Showcasing this monumental achievement clearly identified how planning, teamwork and dedication can result in record-breaking achievements.
Long Service Awards
We recognise that we wouldn't be where we are today without the passion and dedication that pours out of everyone in our business. To celebrate these exceptionally talented and dedicated individuals we decided that it would be great to start issuing long-service awards. We were proud to hand out awards and gifts to 55 people who have been with the company for 5 to 28 years.
Being a company of around 120 full-time employees, and having nearly half of our staff being long-standing members of the team makes us proud and very protective of the Ischebeck culture and it's what makes us the thriving company we are today.
Closing Speech
The event finally came to an end with a speech from Stuart thanking everyone involved for making the event a roaring success and we also had some emotional words from another long-standing pillar of the company Paul Leech our Design Office Manager who is also retiring at the end of this year.
The 'Impact Day' brought us together and reminded us of who we are and what amazing things we achieve every single day.
Together we can make a difference!!!
