SME Workshops To Build Your Leadership & Business Strategy
Clarify your needs. Do better recruitment. Grow your business.
Be Guided Every Step
GET PREMIUM AFTER CARE
ENSURE RESULTS
Search Strategy
Workshops
Board Level Search
Leadership Transition Plans
Executive Hire After Care Plans
Leadership Strategy, Change Management, Assessments and Feedback
Leadership Strategy
Workshops
Board Level Search
Leadership Transition Plans
Executive Hire After Care Plans
Leadership Strategy, Change Management, Assessments and Feedback
Business Strategy
Workshops
Projects: Business Strategy, Sales & Marketing
Projects: Finance, Value Creation & Delivery, Capital Access
Review and iterate
Grow your Business
5 Leadership Hire Secrets
The five things you must do to build your leadership team
and grow your business
LIVE WORKSHOP
What's My Investment?
Are unclear business and personal goals making it difficult to make leadership hires? How annoying is it when recruiters send you tonnes of CV's, further confusing you? Do existing recruiters lack the business insight to really understand your business and it's leadership strategy? Have poor leadership hires cost you thousands of pounds in the past? A lack of clarity and poor recruitment services may be costing you a great deal.
"Preparing our client for a significant Private Equity cash out transaction meant that we needed to identify and recruit a new Managing Director to reassure the investors and banks, plus allow our client to have a planned route to retirement from the company.
The scope was especially difficult because the perfect candidate needed to be able to span international marketing/sales, engineering, R&D, overseas export and Far East contract manufacturing - a tough list to fill in one individual – and we only had a few weeks available.
Not only did Ford Hastings find one, they actually found three top candidates, one of whom was taken on as Managing Director and one other as a senior marketing consultant. The result was that the Private Equity backers were much more comfortable, the transaction could proceed as planned and the business is well set to accelerate its growth post deal."
- Julian Coy - MD at KBS Corporate Finance
Register For Workshop
Workshops To Build Your Leadership Team
Clarify your needs. Do better recruitment. Grow your business.
Be Guided Every Step
GET PREMIUM AFTER CARE
ENSURE RESULTS
Is Your Company Leadership Critical?
Is your next hire critical?
Are you worried about wasting money on recruiters who just send you a bunch of CV's?
Are you sure you're hiring the right person?
Have you done an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your existing leadership team? Do you know how they interact together?
Have you got a credible, effective transition program in place to onboard your incoming leader?
Are you worried about damaging team morale with a bad hire?
Would you like help ensuring your leaders deliver after they've been hired?
Would you like peace of mind to do other things without your business falling apart?
Ford Hastings Works With Small and Medium Sized Companies
£1m - £75m Sales
E-Commerce
Retail
Investors
Venture Capital Funds
Medium Businesses
High Growth Startups
Technology
Professional Services
Manufacturing
Private Equity Funds
Small Businesses
Invested Companies
Property
If your next leadership hire is critical, you need Ford Hastings
Have a question? Chat to us
5 Leadership Hire Secrets
The five things you must do to build your leadership team
and grow your business
"Ford Hastings provided a dynamic, thoughtful search service that large regimented search firms have not been able to match."
MARK ANSLOW
CEO AT PEMBERSTONE VENTURES
What Makes Ford Hastings Different?
The Ford Hastings approach is so different because we combine business and leadership strategy for SME’s. We undertake a workshop to help you clarify the constraints within your business and leadership strategy and operations.
We then devise a plan to help you remove those constraints.
That might be an Executive Search hire and a leadership transition plan. It might be a leadership assessment or change management programme. It might be a sales and marketing strategy overhaul or an operational systems change programme.
We can do this because we have a team of incredible consultants and advisors that have solved the problems you’re having now. Consultants who have built and sold their own businesses (sometimes many times). Psychologist consultants who have built leadership programmes for world leading companies. Search consultants with years of experience building board teams for VC and PE funded and fast growing SME companies.
With Ford Hastings, you’re working with people who have walked a similar journey to yours; people who can give you practical, actionable advice that will improve your business straight away.
''Ford Hastings takes a refreshing approach to recruiting and does not just pass through CV’s. Ford Hastings took care of all of the screening and ensured only the highest calibre candidates were passed through to us for a meeting. Ford Hastings managed volumes to make our meetings manageable and provided some exceptional individuals. We will definitely be working with Ford Hastings again.''
- Darryl Cooke - Co-Founder at Gunnercooke
Your Three Step Leadership Success Hire Plan
1. Workshop
A half day collaboration with you to find out:
The business goals, your personal goals as an owner, the company culture, and, the type of person you require now and in the medium term.
This develops and refines a leadership strategy to help you achieve your goals. It will be invaluable to the leadership hiring for your business.
The report produced is yours to implement as you wish.
2. Project
We create a proposal based on the Business Improvement Workshop we worked on together.
Projects Include:
Executive Search - using our trusted 4D Search Process to find your the right leaders for your business
Leadership Transition Plans - Working with our team to get your external leadership hire integrated into your business, effective and impactful
Aftercare Plans - to coach and mentor your leadership hire every 90 days and to provide you with an accountability framework
Leadership Strategy - using our Chartered Psychologist, offering: leadership strategy, change management, assessment, bench-marking and 360 feedback
3. Review
Depending on the project completed, we undertake a review with you to:
Ensure the project has achieved your desired business outcome
To see what else we can do to create business value for you
For example, if we've undertaken a successful Executive Search for you, it may make sense for you to:
Utilise our Leadership Transition Service to enable your new leader to be effective
Utilise our Aftercare Service to coach and mentor your new leader and to provide you with an accountability framework
LIVE WORKSHOP
What's My Investment?
Are unclear business and personal goals making it difficult to make leadership hires? How annoying is it when recruiters send you tonnes of CV's, further confusing you? Do existing recruiters lack the business insight to really understand your business and it's leadership strategy? Have poor leadership hires cost you thousands of pounds in the past? A lack of clarity and poor recruitment services may be costing you a great deal.
Register For Workshop
Workshops To Build Your Business Strategy
Clarify your needs. Remove business constraints. Grow your business.
Identify Business Problems
Devise and Implement A Plan
ENSURE RESULTS
Do You Want To Grow Your Business?
Is your business built to sell?
Do you have an effective and clear sales and marketing process?
Do you have the right business model in the right market?
Do you have a dashboard giving you visibility over the key metrics in your business?
Do you delight your existing customers?
Do you have good operational processes and procedures in place?
Are you using systems to make you more effective?
Ford Hastings Works With Small and Medium Sized Companies
£1m - £75m Sales
E-Commerce
Retail
Investors
Venture Capital Funds
Medium Businesses
High Growth Startups
Technology
Professional Services
Manufacturing
Private Equity Funds
Small Businesses
Invested Companies
Property
If you want to grow your SME and don't know how, you need Ford Hastings
Have a question? Chat to us
5 Leadership Hire Secrets
The five things you must do to build your leadership team
and grow your business
"Ford Hastings provided a dynamic, thoughtful search service that large regimented search firms have not been able to match."
MARK ANSLOW
CEO AT PEMBERSTONE VENTURES
What Makes Ford Hastings Different?
The Ford Hastings approach is so different because we combine business and leadership strategy for SME’s. We undertake a workshop to help you clarify the constraints within your business and leadership strategy and operations.
We then devise a plan to help you remove those constraints.
That might be an Executive Search hire and a leadership transition plan. It might be a leadership assessment or change management programme. It might be a sales and marketing strategy overhaul or an operational systems change programme.
We can do this because we have a team of incredible consultants and advisors that have solved the problems you’re having now. Consultants who have built and sold their own businesses (sometimes many times). Psychologist consultants who have built leadership programmes for world leading companies. Search consultants with years of experience building board teams for VC and PE funded and fast growing SME companies.
With Ford Hastings, you’re working with people who have walked a similar journey to yours; people who can give you practical, actionable advice that will improve your business straight away.
Your Three Step Business Success Plan
1. Workshop
A collaboration with you to:
Undertake a high-level macro-analysis of the business to identify problems that need solving across:
Business Strategy
Sales and Marketing
Finance
Value Creation and Value Delivery
Capital Access
2. Project
Based on our Workshop findings, we will put together a business case and project plan, detailing how we will go about solving your business problems.
This is undertaken by our associates, who have all been involved in buying, building, and selling successful SME businesses.
3. Review
Depending on the project completed, we undertake a review with you to:
Ensure the project has achieved your desired business outcome
See what else we can do to create business value for you in a project-focused capacity
Register For Workshop
Board Search To Build Your Leadership Team
Clarify your needs. Do better recruitment. Grow your business.
Devise and Implement A Plan
Use Our Proven Process
ENSURE RESULTS
"Preparing our client for a significant Private Equity cash out transaction meant that we needed to identify and recruit a new Managing Director to reassure the investors and banks, plus allow our client to have a planned route to retirement from the company.
The scope was especially difficult because the perfect candidate needed to be able to span international marketing/sales, engineering, R&D, overseas export and Far East contract manufacturing - a tough list to fill in one individual – and we only had a few weeks available.
Not only did Ford Hastings find one, they actually found three top candidates, one of whom was taken on as Managing Director and one other as a senior marketing consultant. The result was that the Private Equity backers were much more comfortable, the transaction could proceed as planned and the business is well set to accelerate its growth post deal."
- Julian Coy - MD at KBS Corporate Finance
If You Are...
A High Growth SME business that needs additional or replacement senior management who can help to capitalise on the growth successfully
An established company that has had a setback due to an internal or external senior hire that did not go successfully. Therefore, the next senior hire is crucial to the business
An SME that needs a talented Sales Director or CEO to help grow the business
A business that has had a failed trade or investor sale due to business performance erosion or poor second tier management, and doesn’t know what to do next
An SME investment fund that wants a dedicated premium search partner to hire executive and non-executive teams for its portfolio
A traditional offline business that needs to create new business models to compete in a digital world and needs a key hire to help make that happen
And You Want To...
Create more sales with less effort, giving you more time to focus on other things (like creating great products, servicing your customers, spending more time with your family)
Substantially improve your profits so that you can get light-speed organic growth
Get your business “investor ready” so that when you come to sell the process is a breeze
Figure out new profitable business models that make money while you sleep
Tap into a vast, respected, influential network that gives you one up on your competition and makes building new business partnerships easy
''Ford Hastings takes a refreshing approach to recruiting and does not just pass through CV’s. Ford Hastings took care of all of the screening and ensured only the highest calibre candidates were passed through to us for a meeting. Ford Hastings managed volumes to make our meetings manageable and provided some exceptional individuals. We will definitely be working with Ford Hastings again.''
- Darryl Cooke - Co-Founder at Gunnercooke
Why Use Ford Hastings?
Over 20+ years, we’ve hired the best leaders for your business 95% of the time. The average is 40% (Harvard Business Review)
Our Associate team have all built and sold businesses. We take your through a Workshop to find the right leaders to build yours
We use a proven 4D search process (Define, Discover, Detail, Deliver) to find you the best candidate for your role
We have an incredible global research and resource team, ensuring we’re talking with the best candidates for your business
We only hire executive teams. We’ve done it for 20 years. By focusing on a key role type, we’ve gotten to understand the DNA of a successful placement
Retained Vs Contingent Recruitment
| Retained | Contingent |
|---|---|
| Experienced business and search consultants that understand the mechanics of your business and business strategy | x |
| Detailed business and candidate market mapping | x |
| A dedicated global research team finding the best pool of talent | x |
| Challenges you on your hiring strategy in line with your business vision and aims | x |
| Detailed help crafting the appropriate job descriptions | x |
| Meetings candidates a number of times to get a comprehensive understanding of their skills, experiences and competencies | x |
| Optional behavioural and cognitive assessments | x |
| Detailed, objective candidate reports that give a true and fair assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the shortlisted candidates | x |
| A succinct shortlist of candidates, all of whom can fulfil the role effectively | CV Search and sending over a number of candidates |
| Interview facilitation and support (we can attend with you) | x |
| Candidate offer and negotiation management | x |
| Candidate package consulting (salary, bonuses, LTIPs, Options etc) | x |
| Comprehensive candidate referencing | Limited or no candidate referencing |
| Monthly candidate follow ups for the first 6 months of employment | x |
| 120 day refund guarantee | x |
| Fee: 25% - paid in 3 instalments | Fee: 25% paid on candidate acceptance |
Let's Have A Meeting...
About Ford Hastings Executive Search
Our Vision
"We help positively transform ambitious entrepreneurial businesses and people"
Our Purpose
We do that through Leadership Strategy - Workshops; Executive Search; Leadership Transition Plans; Leadership Hire Aftercare Plans; Leadership strategy, Change Management, Assessments and FeedbackWe do that through business strategy - Workshops; Projects (business strategy, sales & marketing, finance, value creation & delivery, capital access); and ReviewsWe help transform businesses by helping to create world class management teamsWe help transform people by putting putting them into incredible businesses and giving them incredible opportunitiesIn 2019, we want to positively impact 100 businesses and people, irrespective of financial reward
Meet The Team
Tim Hastings - Founder
Tim is an ex-KPMG, EY and VC board level search specialist with over 20 years’ experience placing exceptional executive and non-executive talent into a variety of businesses.
Tim has an enviable network of investment professionals, high net worth individuals, private family offices and non-executive director contacts across a broad range of sectors.
Joe Thomsett - CSO
Joe started professional life as a Chartered Accountant for a top 50 firm, working with entrepreneurial owner-managed businesses.
He moved into SME management consulting (strategy, marketing), delivering a plethora of value-added projects for an SME client base; such as delivering growth projects and working on successful company turnarounds.
Jane Anderson - Leadership Strategy
Jane is an experienced business psychologist, leader and non-executive director. She works as an independent practitioner focusing on organisational and individual growth and development to deliver strategy successfully.
Jane was a founding director of YSC, part of the team that built it into a consultancy of international repute. She has over twenty years’ experience of leading teams to win and manage global corporate and many other clients.
Will Hastings - Search Consultant
Will is a delivery Search consultant and leads the FH research team.
Will has also helped to shape the FH Brand. He co-hosts our business podcast, with the first series making the UK top 150 in it's category. Will also runs Ford Hastings Events.
Prior to Ford Hastings, will originally trained as a designer and has since built his experience in digital marketing across a broad range of services within the SME market.
Andy Bate
Andy is a qualified chartered accountant who has spent 17 years in corporate finance/private equity and 6 years being a founder partner and building a fast-growing e-commerce business that is currently expanding overseas.
He was formerly an Investment Director at Barclays and part of the Corporate Finance team at KPMG.
To date Andy has successfully navigated 6 Private Equity exits (£20m-£50m EV).
Nicholas Gill
Nick is the CEO of David Phillips, a business he joined in 2005 and has grown to be a £50m market-leading B2B services company. Revenues and profits have grown substantially since then, through a combination of organic growth and acquisition. A Fast Track 100 company, they have built a breadth of service offerings and have set themselves the mission of being the Property Market's Premier Furnishing Supplier.
Originally an M&A banker (NM Rothschild, JP Morgan), he co-established Winghaven Partners in 2003 to develop both M&A advisory and principal investment businesses.
Harry McDermott
Harry is an accomplished entrepreneur, director, management consultant and investor. He has successfully navigated the full business lifecycle from start-up, to sale and integration into a larger parent group, to shareholder value realisation and post-M&A earn-out.
He founded IT buy-side advisory services consulting company Hudson & Yorke in 2006, selling to Wavestone in 2015.
He is STEM ambassador, an investor in two space funds and an investor and Board Director at an early stage space venture.
David Pickering
David is an experienced Chief Executive, Chairman and NED of business change consulting and digital solutions and services businesses. Current and past companies include Ctrl Shift, ReEnergise Ltd, Cogenpower and Philpott Black.
He was the CEO of Charteris Plc, an IT and digital transformation services company.
Mark Dugdale
Mark has worked in both publishing and retailing for over 30 years and has become one of the pioneers of multi channel retailing with an objective of maximizing customer return.
Mark has created and marketed successfully almost every category of product both visible and invisible and have built profitable businesses both in the UK and internationally, through start ups, brand development, database management, franchising and licensing as well as through acquisitions.
Mike Lander
Mike is the Chairman at Re:Signal and owner of Piscari Associates.
Mike has a proven track record of buying, growing and selling businesses with a sector focus on Digital Marketing Agencies, Professional Services, Architecture/Interior Design and Education.
Mike previously bought, built and sold a £20m turnover change and program management consultancy.
Prior to that, he worked As Procurement Director at Alexander Mann Solutions and a Senior Manager at KPMG.
FH Research Team
Ford Hastings has an established Research Team, following industry leading search methodology, to ensure we find the best set of candidates specific to your business and the role you are hiring for.
Our Partners
The Ford Hastings 4-Step Method To Find The Right Person To Transform Your Business
1. Define
We use our Workshop session with our Associates to understand your goals and how a leadership team can achieve them. We utilise our 20+ years of experience to define a successful hiring plan based on your business needs.
We’ve worked with hundreds of successful companies like yoursWe get to know your business DNA and create a hiring plan based on thisOther search firms don’t do the work here, causing you pain and costing you money
2. Discover
With a defined, clear brief in place, we do candidate and market research.
Using our expert research team, we do market and candidate research, relative to your business DNA and goalsWe carefully engage top candidates to maximise the chances of progressing a discussion
3. Detail
After a program of search and screening, we devise a long list of candidates. We meet these candidates in person. We get to know them and compare them to your search brief.
We meet in person a long list of candidatesWe send you reports on candidates you should seeWe attend first interviews with youYou have a second interview with key candidates
4. Deliver
As a result of our 4D process, you want to offer a candidate the role.
We help you create and negotiate a salary packageWe undertake thorough candidate referencingWe nurture the candidate to the start date to ensure a smooth role transition
Contact Ford Hastings
Talk to us. Tell us about your business. Your problems. Your leadership requirements. Your growth plans. We’re ready to help you. Contact us now.
Send Us A Message
London Office
Birchin Court, 20 Birchin Lane, London, EC3V 9DU
Manchester Office
c/o gunnercooke LLP
53 King Street, Manchester, M2 4LQ
Ford Hastings Product Offerings
Search Strategy
1. Search
We use our trusted 4D search process to find you the right leader:
Define
Discover
Detail
Deliver
This includes:
Workshop findings discussions, research and mapping using our expert research team, interviews and feedback, attending shortlist interviews with you, and discussions about the best leaders to hire.
Leadership Strategy
1. Workshop
A half day collaboration with you to find out:
The business goals, your personal goals as an owner, the company culture, and, the type of person you require now and in the medium term.
This develops and refines a leadership strategy to help you achieve your goals. It will be invaluable to the leadership hiring for your business.
The report produced is yours to implement as you wish.
2. Search
We use our trusted 4D search process to find you the right leader.
This includes:
Workshop findings discussions, research and mapping using our expert research team, interviews and feedback, attending shortlist interviews with you, and discussions about the best leaders to hire.
3. Transition
Working with our Associates, we undertake a 2-Step Transition process to ensure your new hire can transition into their role as effectively as possible:
a) Transition report created ready for new hire start date
b) Working in partnership with the new hire over a period of 100 days
4. Aftercare
With our leading Associates (who have built and sold businesses), we check in with you and your new leader every 90 days.
We deliver an interview, KPI process and coaching session to measure and up skill their performance, to ensure your business success. If for any reason your new leader is not in line with KPI targets, our aftercare programme helps to spot this early and put an action plan in place.
5. Leadership
With our Chartered Psychologist, we run the following programs:
Leadership Strategy and Leadership Change Management
Leadership Assessment and Bench-marking
Leadership 360 Feedback
Business Strategy
1. Workshop
A collaboration with you to:
Undertake a high-level macro-analysis of the business to identify problems that need solving across:
Business Strategy
Sales and Marketing
Finance
Value Creation and Value Delivery
Capital Access
2. Project
Based on our Workshop findings, we will put together a business case and project plan, detailing how we will go about solving your business problems.
This is undertaken by our associates, who have all been involved in buying, building, and selling successful SME businesses.
Let's Have A Meeting...
Retained Vs Contingent Recruitment
Contingent Recruitment is optimised for speed. Firms compete with each other to get you a candidate CV as quickly as possible. This makes breadth and depth of understanding and research impossible.
Retained Recruitment is optimised for quality. Assignments are undertaken in a retained, methodical capacity. Depth and breadth of understanding and research are central to the work.
For leadership and management team hires, you want to be optimised for quality, so retained recruitment is the correct approach.
Retained Vs Contingent Recruitment Comparison
| Retained | Contingent |
|---|---|
| Experienced business and search consultants that understand the mechanics of your business and business strategy | x |
| Detailed business and candidate market mapping | x |
| A dedicated global research team finding the best pool of talent | x |
| Challenges you on your hiring strategy in line with your business vision and aims | x |
| Detailed help crafting the appropriate job descriptions | x |
| Meetings candidates a number of times to get a comprehensive understanding of their skills, experiences and competencies | x |
| Optional behavioural and cognitive assessments | x |
| Detailed, objective candidate reports that give a true and fair assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the shortlisted candidates | x |
| A succinct shortlist of candidates, all of whom can fulfil the role effectively | CV Search and sending over a number of candidates |
| Interview facilitation and support (we can attend with you) | x |
| Candidate offer and negotiation management | x |
| Candidate package consulting (salary, bonuses, LTIPs, Options etc) | x |
| Comprehensive candidate referencing | Limited or no candidate referencing |
| Monthly candidate follow ups for the first 6 months of employment | x |
| 120 day refund guarantee | x |
| Fee: 25% - paid in 3 instalments | Fee: 25% paid on candidate acceptance |