The UK Housebuilder 'From Good to Great' Series The Human Capital Group UK

In part 2 of this three-part series, industry heavyweights Andy Beasley and Darren Jones continue to explore the strategies and ingredients needed to build and run a successful housebuilding team.
In this episode they focus on company structure, finding the right balance and keeping on top of a healthy team dynamic.

Recorded as part of a series of three webinars, Human Capital Group managing director Gerard Ball and two industry titans, Andy Beasley and Darren Jones, discuss their tried and tested methods of building a solid and reliable and housebuilding team that delivers results.
Both Andy and Darren have come through the ranks of the housebuilding industry themselves and fully understand the complexities of talent management. Both have previously been chairman of PLCs and privately-owned companies and are now both working as non-execs within SMEs.
In this episode, Andy Beasley (ex-regional chairman of Bellway PLC for 10 years) and Darren Jones (ex-regional chairman of Persimmon and exec-board member for 8 years at Miller Homes) give their insights into the critical actions for setting expectations and establishing a successful team.

In a fascinating interview, Orbit Homes group director Helen Moore shares her key drivers and the many leadership lessons she has learned since joining Countryside nearly 30 years ago as one of only three women, out of 350 staff, to occupy non-admin roles. 
Her journey through the home building industry, initially within sales and marketing, has given her an unusually varied breadth of experience encompassing the Plc (Crest Nicholson), private SME (City & Country) and now, as part of Orbit Housing Association's development arm leadership team, the housing association environment. 
Helen gives insights into the challenges and complexities unique to each of these sectors and she highlights the slowly changing landscape of equality, diversity and inclusion within the UK house building industry, explaining what needs to be done to attract new and diverse talent to the industry. 
She also shares her own personal experience of working up through a male-dominated industry, how her goal-driven, structured and positive mindset has served her and how her belief that having a clear understanding of sales, customer relationships and communication are key to great leadership. 

Recorded as part of a webinar series, this podcast looks at how the right language can create an assertive and resilient homebuilding workforce and the benefits of flattening hierarchical structures.
Gerard’s guest is best-selling author and key-note speaker, former US navy captain and submarine commander, David Marquet, whose autobiography, Turn the Ship Around highlights the power of giving rather than taking control within a team.
From his follow-up book Leadership is Language, Marquet shares with us key communication techniques for leaders to empower thinkers and decision makers within your business, to increase employee engagement, create resilient teams, improve succession planning and develop a mentally strong workforce.

Gerard talks to West Midlands-based Lioncourt Homes chief executive Colin Cole, whose tenacious approach to finance saw him launch the private firm in 2006 alongside a strategic land division, as what has termed “a mini-plc housebuilder".
The business is backed by up to 100 investors, who helped drive it through the crash of 'the noughties' to become one of the Sunday Times top 100 fastest growing businesses in the UK, for four consecutive years.
Previously, rising through the ranks at Westbury plc through the 80s and 90s to become executive director and divisional chairman, Colin was an integral part of a management buyout at the business as well as numerous acquisitions and ultimately helped facilitate the housebuilder’s £950 million sale to Persimmon in 2005.
In this podcast, he gives an insight into his extraordinary career and what’s driven his success. He highlights the qualities of strategic focus, work ethos and organisational culture that he believes are integral to his businesses strength and resilience.

Gerard chats to Steve Errington, MD of Yorkshire-based housebuilder, Stonebridge Homes, which he joined in 2018 after leading his previous firm, Story Homes, from a £26m to a £250m-turnover business within six years.
In this interview, Steve discusses many of the lessons he learned from heading a business through such explosive growth and how he is bringing them to Stonebridge, for which he has similar aspirations, with targets to expand it from a 150- to a 1000-unit business.
Discipline, communication and goal-clarity feature high on Steve’s list of musts, along with succession planning, staff development, getting the right person for the job and attracting new talent to the industry.