The ABN GROUP as a Case Study
The ABN Group is a construction company. There are over 20 Australian companies in the Group located largely in Perth (Western Australia) with two companies based in Melbourne (Victoria). They build houses (high end luxury housing through to first home buyers) or have businesses affiliated with building such as roofing, plumbing, ceilings, concreting, cabinet-making, and finance as well as a commercial arm. The company turns over $1 billion a year.
Started in 1978 by two bricklayers, these two men have created a residential building empire (see www.abngroup.com.au). While one of the original two (Dale Alcock) still oversees the whole business and is based in WA , he has now been joined by a more junior partner (Aidan Hooper) who manages the Melbourne office. The company has now built over 65,000 homes in both WA and Victoria.
Although the company has always had a positive culture based primarily on solid values and mentoring younger workers, more recently however, the group decided that they really wanted to grow their own leaders as well as be an employer of choice, ie;
* they wanted to engage staff more meaningfully,
* they wanted to retain good staff, and
* purposefully grow their future leaders,
* they wanted to both grow the business and increase productivity.
One key answer was to create a coaching culture right through the business.
2014 Coach Program Graduates
2015 Coach Program Graduates
2016 Coaching Program Graduates
However, what had been in place already over the years set the foundation for a Coaching Course, namely:
Managers & Leaders participating in the 2015 Class training part of the Coaching Program
* Level 5 Leadership from the top;
* a clear set of company values that just didn’t sit on a wall or in a foyer, but played out in real behaviours in the workplace;
* a training academy that especially covered the “soft skills” like “Emotional Intelligence” and “The Art of Listening”;
* and mandatory 360 degree assessments for all senior leaders.
In short, this company set about getting serious about its people and its culture.
And as for a coaching culture, they got serious too.
What was implemented by Crossways Consulting was an intensive and comprehensive 12 month coach program to train senior leaders, executives and managers.
This program was created, authored and conducted by Dr Darryl Cross based on his clinical and organisational psychology, his university lecturing, his workshop facilitation skills, his coach accreditation, and his coaching experience. In order to manage this program, the Institute of Leadership Coaching was created by Dr Cross.
Year 1 of the Coaching Course was set over a year period (January to December) and involved the following elements:
Year 1 of the Coach Training Program for Managers and Executives
In the following year (Year 2), there was follow up which included:
Follow up of the Coaching Program in Year 2
Finally, Year 3 and beyond for the Coach Program included the following:
Follow up of the Coach Training Program in Year 3
Australian Psychological Society Finalist for Workplace Excellence Awards in 2016
In fact, in 2016, this Program was a finalist in the hotly contested Workplace Excellence Awards conducted by the College of Organisational Psychologists on behalf of the Australian Psychological Society.
Now watch the video that describes the Coaching Program from its inception in 2014 through to the present.
Now watch the videos that are testimonials from the ABN Leadership Group in relation to various aspects of the High Performance Coaching Program.