Having started their professional lives “on the tools”, Zac Cosgrove & Luke Drew know what it takes to make the leap from trainee apprentice to expert to Managing Director.
They’ve been lucky enough to benefit from supportive mentors and coaches, none more so than the QuoluxTM business development programme, led by Dr Stewart Barnes, supporting them to be better leaders and business people, and to help maximise the potential of their employees.
Driving change and development throughout the business, Cosgrove & Drew has instilled a programme of personal development, enrolling members of the Senior Leadership Team on the QuoluxTM Leadlight programme. The Leadlight programme is designed to help individuals to recognise and develop their contribution within business, and to support them with becoming better leaders too. It helps them to test their assumptions about the business and their teams, and gets them understanding their shadow of influence on those individuals too. Each course delegate must undertake a work-based project, with a view to developing detailed understanding of a particular area, and to contributing ideas and developments to help drive the business forward too.
Embracing the Leadlight course wholeheartedly, Robert Foster is undertaking a project looking at the Apprentice to Engineer pathway. It is considering the routes individuals can take to further their own careers. While the project is still in its infancy, it will see Rob work with individuals at every stage of their early- to mid-career, and help to inform and design the Cosgrove & Drew team development programme.
Building on development within the team, Cory Greening’s project will take a similar approach, but will consider the Engineer to Site Supervisor pathway, supporting individuals to accelerate their responsibilities within the business should they wish to. The two projects combined will support Cosgrove & Drew with a better understanding of their team, and the opportunity to upgrade their
internal team development processes, at the same time enhancing the wellbeing of their teams.
Considering the business from a different perspective, Neil Price has already completed his project, and his findings are now directly contributing to the success of the organisation. It was dedicated to considering the lines of communication and structure within the Cosgrove & Drew team. He considered how communication already happened within Cosgrove & Drew, whether the right people were involved in making the right decisions, and how decision-making and communication can be streamlined to become more effective. Initially, his project focussed on the Facilities Management (Maintenance and Small Works team), but has been so effective and so impactful on the business, that the changes are being adopted companywide.
Zac Cosgrove, Director, comments “Since attending the LEADlight course I have seen each individual grow in confidence with improved leadership attributions. The guys have gone on to develop their own projects of which have since become an integral part of the business and forms part of our career development and improvement plan.