How iVendi is building a stronger team with a hybrid leadership development programme
Rapid business growth comes with many challenges. Developing the right leadership skills to motivate an ever-expanding team is one of them.
Software company, iVendi, experienced this first-hand. Starting with three people in a spare room, it quickly grew to a team of over 100 employees. Before long, the founders spotted a need for a better connection between the people in the business and their ambitious growth strategy.
“We weren’t being effective enough in translating our vision to the wider team on a day-to-day basis. Some people weren’t feeling connected,” said Richard Tavernor, COO and co-founder of iVendi.
Making vehicle buying easier
Established in 2009 by Richard and business partner, James, iVendi digitises the entire vehicle buying process, making it easier for customers and sales outlets.
Customers choose what parts of the process they access online or at the store. And with vehicle finance integrated, it achieves the Financial Conduct Authority’s demands for transparency and fairness.
Car dealers and banks subscribe to iVendi’s software, making the purchasing journey easier and more accessible.
“Our product digitises the vehicle buying process to the benefit of all parties – Customers, retailers and lenders all benefit. Busing a vehicle is an incredibly complex process. There’s a lot of technology and moving parts, we simplify everything and that’s what makes us unique,” said Richard.
Currently operating in the UK and Germany, iVendi is now expanding into Italy, Spain, and France.
Not surprisingly, employee numbers have rocketed. With 106 today, it’ll be many hundreds in years to come.
And therein lies the leadership challenge.
Transforming line managers into leaders
Developing at speed from a small business to a sizeable operator is tough. The type of people initially required can be quite different to those needed when you’re larger.
“In terms of a candidate, what suits you in the early days doesn’t necessarily work when you’re a larger business, moving internationally with huge clients. When you’re small, everyone just gets on with it. You don’t worry about communication or professional development. You’re not asking whether people are being effectively lined managed and supported.
But you reach a tipping point when this becomes a weakness. Not a criticism of the individuals involved, it was down to our lack of focus on leadership skills to that point,” explained Richard.
As a business grows, many people end up in leadership roles by accident. First, they’re the only one in the department. Then they hire more people. They interview and recruit, then train and manage. Before long, a team is working for them, changing their role significantly.
Following several employee surveys, iVendi’s leadership problem was evident to Richard and James.
“Our people understood the vision and strategy of the business from a high level. But, when they sat at their desk on a Monday morning, they didn’t feel their work was connected to it. There was a disconnect between our team and what me and James enthused about.
And we were losing good people. We thought they were happy in their role, but they’d not see career prospects, even though there were many opportunities due to our growth. It shocked us,” said Richard.
iVendi’s line managers were excellent at their technical roles. But people skills had to be developed as the company expanded.
Richard added: “They could be the best engineer technically, but not great at managing and inspiring people. They’d often shy away from difficult conversations, avoid quality one to ones and instead talk about the latest technical problem. Not how that individual was getting on in their role.”
Richard was clear. To keep growing, iVendi had to attract and retain the best people. And it could only do that with effective leadership. He must therefore develop those skills in his line management.
Opting for the hybrid Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® programme
Having worked with Helping Reach Potential before, Richard asked Hector how they might help with leadership training.
“Helping Reach Potential first carried out several sales workshops for iVendi and supported our company conference. Given we had a great rapport with him, I asked how Helping Reach Potential could help scale up our leadership team.
Hector said: ‘Perfect timing! We’ve been developing a hybrid-delivered Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® leadership programme during the pandemic.’ It sounded ideal,” said Richard.
He’d previously looked at a couple of online leadership programmes but felt they wouldn’t work as well.
“I really liked the Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® programme being a blend of self-led work they could do in their own time and group work to bring it all together. It enabled a much faster pace. We could also tailor aspects be more personal to our business,” Richard explained.
Flexible training wherever you are
iVendi is taking 30 line managers and leaders (in two cohorts) through the Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® programme over six months.
The company encouraged all existing managers to complete the programme, whilst also inviting those with leadership potential to join.
Each person completes the self-led elements at times to suit them. Richard explained how this works.
“We haven’t formalised it. We’ve left it to their judgement. That might be Tuesday morning instead of some other work, during the weekend, or in short bursts, such as 20 minutes on the train.
There’s a lot of content and it would be tough to deliver it all in a classroom environment. So, they have immense flexibility to suit how they best work.”
But, unlike online training, everyone is held accountable. Helping Reach Potential shares weekly progress reports among peers. Those falling behind slip into amber or red status. Helping Reach Potential’s detailed monitoring highlights anyone skipping content or not completing a module properly.
“If you just sent them a workbook, some would be inclined to have a quick read the night before. But with Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® there’s accountability to ensure they’re completing every exercise fully,” he added.
Every couple of months, Helping Reach Potential runs a one-day group session where they embed learning and discuss ideas together. For good reason, Richard uses this opportunity to take everyone out for a meal.
“Another focus area is team identity. We want leaders across all functions to identify and work as a team. By including an informal meal, they’re more relaxed and that’s when much discussion happens. We hope they’ll support each other with future challenges in this way,” he said.
Early results before the programme’s completed
At the time of writing, iVendi is halfway through their Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® programme. And it’s already having an impact.
“It’s definitely helping us with our team identity challenge. This is because they’re all gathered around the same subject matter – whether virtually or physically.
Also, some have told me they’re already seeing things differently. Both for themselves and their team. They’ve learnt to understand what energises them, and others, to perform well in certain tasks. In some instances, they’ve curtailed disruptive behaviour by changing the circumstances.
Some line managers have realised they’re taking on too much and are learning how to delegate better. So far, there are positive impacts at every level,” Richard said.
Importantly, the majority of those on the Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® programme feel it’s worthwhile. Not just for their iVendi role but in giving them transferable life skills such as handling difficult conversations and motivating others.
“I’d definitely choose hybrid again.”
Insistent iVendi won’t turn into a ‘big corporate’ Richard says every business needs to create strong leaders.
“As we continue to grow, we’ll have all these people to lead and develop. We want to attract the best talent too – and many want professional development. It’s clear an effective leadership team must deliver this.
We’ll run the Adjust. Advance. Achieve.® programme again in 18 months when we have a new group of leaders to put through it. The platform and content’s there now so it’s easy to re-use.
Even if the pandemic hadn’t happened, I’d definitely choose hybrid again. All our managers are busy with their day jobs, so the mix gives them flexibility and choice whilst allowing us to move faster.
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