Going for Growth

Colin Hedley and Graham Anderson on putting the Trust on a sound, long-term footing.

Colin Hedley: When I joined the Trust it was founder-driven with very clear ideas of what it wanted to achieve but financially needed more security. As an organisation we were looking for developments in the early 1990s.

Graham Anderson: What the founders achieved in the early days was absolutely massive, but organisations go through different stages and there are times when change is needed. There was a recognition that the organisation needed something different if it was going to move on.

CH: I knew we had to become stronger corporately - to proactively involve our Trustees, make the Senior Management Team more accountable and enhance staff representation. We started having away days and training, including asking staff to identify more closely with Service Users.

GA: As the Chair, my objective was to plan for the future with the new Chief Executive in place. I wanted to focus on what I called 'supertanker issues' - the building blocks you have to put in place in order to make a long-term difference and building in flexibility to respond to external changes. Things like training and staff development, IT and taking away the reliance on a head office location and culture.

CH: That was partly about decentralising - giving Service Managers more autonomy and helping them to take more ownership of their budgets. We treated units as free standing businesses with their own business plans, a strategy that encouraged them to grow.

GA: We were quite acquisitive too, in terms of acquiring new services such as Dysons Wood (see box) and moving into autism, and continuing to expand brain injury services.

CH: Moving into autism fitted with our goal of supporting people with disabilities with challenging behaviours. Autism fitted in very nicely with our business niche. We developed a robust business model and were always able to make a surplus on our services, which gave us the money to expand in other areas.

GA: It was a period of consolidation and development. Our surpluses allowed us to develop new services but every new project was carefully researched to make sure it was meeting a need and that it was viable. That was all done in a very systematic way.

Colin Hedley joined the Trust in 1991 to open its first brain injury service and was Chief Executive from 1999-2007. Graham Anderson was Chair of the Trust from 1996-2007.

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