Dairy Crest

Dairy Crest is one of the UK’s leading chilled Dairy foods company. It provides dairy spreads and
butters, cheese, milk and milkshakes products for the retail grocery trade and major food
manufacturers. Founded in 1981, it employs around 7,000 people and has a turnover of £ 1.3 billion.
Following a period of substantial growth and capital investment-which included the strategic
acquisitions of Unigate in 2000 and the St Ivel spread brands in 2002-Dairy Crest turned its attention
to the development of its key personnel.’ We went through a huge amount of change,’ said Gareth
Hopkins, Group HR Director. ‘People’s roles expanded and became more complex. We felt we
needed to provide more support to managers in the individual businesses and functional areas, so we
decided to commission a management and leadership skills development program’. Initially the
company planned to develop a program that would be appropriate for all managers but research
revealed that there were different needs at different levels. ‘It was clear that a single program
wouldn’t suffice, ‘said Judith Bufton, the company’s Management Development Manager. We
decided instead to develop two programmes: a leaders’ program for senior managers and a managers’
program for middle managers.
Roffey Park was appointed after Dairy Crest had discussed the two potential programmes with
five development providers. ‘We chose Roffey Park because we felt that they would be best not only
at providing the underlying learning but also in helping individuals to transfer the learning to the
workplace’, said Judith Bufton. They have excellent facilities at their residential centre and their
tutors are very professional and committed. They worked with us to develop the content and structure
of the program. Aimed at senior managers across the company, the Leaders’ Program aims to raise
leadership capability and to encourage participants to take a long-term view of the business. Twelve
senior managers are now undertaking the ten-day program, which is delivered in four modules, at
Roffey Park, over a period of 15 months. ‘In the fresh food industry, there’s precious little time to sit
back and think about where the business is going, ‘said Gareth Hopkins. ‘We wanted to make time to
provide strategic leadership skills training for our senior managers. ‘Dairy Crest has around 60 senior
managers.
Semester I Examination Paper
4
IIBM Institute of Business Management
The participants are selected for each cohort of the program by the company’s Trading Board,
which comprises the managing directors of the various business units. Before the programming
begins, Roffery Park runs a mentoring workshop for the participants and for members of the Trading
Board, who act as their personal mentors. The participants themselves then provide one-to-one
mentoring and coaching for those on the managers’ program. The Leaders’ Program starts with a twoday Development Centre, which involves exercises based on Dairy Crest’s management competency
framework, 360 degree feedback and a personality questionnaire. Each participant uses this
information to review their own leadership style and behavior and to create their Personal
Development Plan.’ We were very keen to start the program with a Development Centre because this
enables the participants to think through their strengths and development needs at the outset, ‘said
Judith Bufton. ‘This information provides a base which they can use to guide their learning
throughout the program.’
The four modules, each lasting two days, are then delivered approximately three months apart.
The modules, designed specifically for Dairy Crest, cover leadership, strategy, managing change and
business finance. Some of the sessions are presented by Dairy Crest’s senior executives, which not
only focuses the learning on the practical business needs but also demonstrates the company’s
commitment to the program. The senior managers meet periodically in two Learning Sets-small
groups in which the individuals challenge and support each other-to share their learning and to work
on a business project. Facilitated by Roffey Park tutors, these meetings help to reinforce the more
formal learning on the modules. The program ends with a closing event where the learning Set groups
present their project recommendations-and their learning from the program- to senior executives. ‘We
were very keen to provide skills development for our line managers because we see them as a vital
link for unlocking people’s potential across the business,’ said Judith Bufton. Dairy Crest has around
400 managers at the target level. Its Managers’ Program aims to raise management capability by
improving core management and coaching skills. The first group of 16 middle managers is now
undertaking the six-day program. These participants were nominated by their managing directors but
for future cohorts, the managers will be able to nominate themselves. Delivered at Roffey Park, the
program is based on Dairy Crest’s management competency framework, which covers ten
competencies in four clusters; thinking skills, working with people, providing direction and delivering
results. It begins with a three-day Development Centre where participants assess their development
needs and review their preferred management style and behaviors. They then compile their own
Personal Development Plan. A few months later, the participants meet again for three days of
management skills training and group work on a business project. The sessions on this workshop are
tailored according to the development needs identified on the first workshop. Gareth Hopkins says
that one of the key benefits is that the two program bring people together from across the
organization. ‘Our one-to-one mentoring process has had a very positive impact as it encourages
people actively to pursue their personal development plans,’ she said. It has also helped to further
develop and strengthen relationships between managers at different levels.
1. Explain the two program developed by Dairy Crest with the help of Roffey Park to train their
managers at different levels.
2. Designing a training session involves the analysis of training needs and plan a training
program. Explain the aspects such as the content of training sessions, the training
methods, the trainer and trainee aspect in designing of a training session.<br style=" font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto