The document describes how Hammonds Furniture, a large UK furniture retailer, implemented an enterprise mentoring program to increase employee engagement and motivation. Key executives and managers participated in the program, which included 21 audio mentoring sessions, a workbook, and face-to-face mentoring meetings. Employees found the audio sessions highly engaging and reported thinking more like business owners after completing exercises in the workbook. The company saw a 10% increase in sales conversions and 20% higher revenues in regions where the program was introduced. The mentoring program caught on virally within the company as other departments sought to participate.

1. CASE STUDY
Hammonds: Where
Mentoring is Part of
the Furniture!
“The best way of describing it is they are awakened to an
opportunity that they could never see before. It’s very difficult
to describe but they become alive and alert; they’re different
people from a business perspective.”
Richard Hammonds, MD & Chairman Hammonds Furniture Case-study by Hamish Fraser
many more recognised names from
I
f you’ve ever bought a new bed-
room wardrobe, a home office, UK industry.
or even a new kitchen, there’s a The outcome of the interviews
strong chance you’ve visited was the development of a rich multi-
Hammonds Furniture. media mentoring programme
Hammonds is a stalwart of the (Enterprise MentorTM) which takes
high-street, having been founded in managers and employees on their
1926 by cabinet maker Thomas own journey of personal and busi-
Stanley Hammond. Not far off a cen- ness development, and shows them
tury later, Hammonds has over 80 a new way of thinking which is more
Chairman and Joint Managing in tune with business owners like
concessions and shops up and down Director, Richard Hammonds
the country, with over 1,000 em- Richard Hammonds.
ployed and self-employed staff. owners. They came to work and did a Richard decided to purchase a
Part of Hammonds’ success is its good job for me, but they did a job site-licence for the mentoring pro-
Chairman and joint Managing Direc- based around what they considered to gramme, and at the start of last year,
tor Richard Hammonds. Richard is be managing rather than to actually his first group of employees and
constantly on the lookout for new think, ‘this is my business and I own managers began their journey. Al-
ways to create higher levels of en- this patch, and I’ve got to make the ready he is seeing a dramatic change
gagement and motivation in his em- most out of it that I can.’” in the levels of motivation and en-
ployees, as well as finding new ways gagement of those who have re-
It was Richard’s belief that he ceived the mentoring. This has been
to grow his company’s revenues and could achieve more in his business if
profits. reflected in the business results with
he could show his managers and em- a noticeable improvements in the
A while back, when Richard was ployees a different way of approach- customer’s experience and an in-
travelling through an airport he ing their jobs which led him to look crease in revenues – which are up
picked up a book called Millionaire deeper into the work of the author 20% in the regions where the men-
Upgrade, which examines in depth of Millionaire Upgrade. toring programme has been intro-
the mindset of successful business Richard Hammonds discovered duced.
owners and business leaders. This that the author had met, interviewed
was a mindset Richard recognised in In response to the higher levels of
and modelled many successful UK employee motivation and engage-
himself, and he thought if only he business owners and business leaders
could get his people to think the ment he’s seeing, Richard said of his
to discover precisely how they people, “The best way of describing it
same way, he’d be able to create a achieved the extraordinary results
more motivated and engaged work- is they are awakened to an opportunity
they do. Those who were modelled that they could never see before. It’s is
force, and a more profitable com- included Duncan Bannatyne and
pany. very difficult to describe but they be-
Simon Woodroffe from Dragons’ come alive and alert; they’re different
Speaking about the challenges he Den, Lord Bilimoria (founder of people from a business perspective.”
faced, Richard said, “Many of my Cobra Beer), Lord Harris (founder
managers thought just like managers of CarpetRight) and Nick Wheeler So, how has Hammonds Furniture
and they didn’t think like business (founder of Charles Tyrwhitt) plus been able to achieve these changes
The People Effect: Issue 7 23

2. CASE STUDY
in people and profits, and what did
they do?
Enterprise Mentoring
The catalyst for change at
Hammonds has been the mentoring
programme Richard invested in.
This is a portfolio of tools and
strategies to allow managers to
mentor their employees.
The programme includes 21 MP3
audio mentoring sessions, a 218
page workbook, 21 MP3 summary
sessions, face-to-face mentoring
sessions which take place between
the manager and employees, a final
presentation by the employees back
to the mentor, and various follow-
on activities to keep the new energy
and way of thinking alive in the
Hammonds—who sell bedroom furniture, home offices and kitchens—are seeing revenue
workforce, and employees involved up by 20% in regions where they have implemented the mentoring programme
and connected to the business.
At Hammonds, an initial group of
mentors and protégés were chosen to three mentoring sessions per to their own business and day-to-
from the sales team. The pro- week, before having a face-to-face day work.
gramme is subsequently being rolled meeting with their mentor (David or The workbook summarises eve-
out to the rest of the company. Justin) to discuss exactly what they rything in ‘written form’ that the
had learnt in the MP3 session, and protégé’s hear in the MP3 sessions.
David and Justin (both senior ex- explore ways of bringing the learn-
ecutives) acted as mentors to eight ing alive in Hammonds. One of the key exercises is where
protégés, who included area manag- the protégés are asked, ‘What
ers Matthew, Kathryn, Vanessa and Kathryn, one of the early proté- would you do if you were CEO for
Simon. You'll hear from these proté- gés, felt the MP3 learning was so the day?’ This question really makes
gés and mentors in the rest of this addictive, she even went to bed lis- the protégés start to think like busi-
case study. tening to it. “My husband said, ‘You ness owners and business leaders,
have to be having a laugh!’ He’s gone and involves and engages them in
MP3 Mentoring Sessions through the programme as well. It the business in a way they have
To start the mentoring, each wasn’t optional because I talked about never done before.
mentor and protégé was given a it constantly. Every time he sat down
low-cost MP3 player which had the to eat I would be talking it, or the As Kathryn explained, “You don’t
entire 21-session MP3 mentoring workbook would be sitting under my ever put yourself in Richard’s situation
sessions pre-loaded on it. Also on nose as I was doing something else.” and think, ‘Okay, if this was my com-
the MP3 players were 21 MP3 sum- pany what would I want? Or what
Kathryn wasn’t alone. Fellow pro- would I do?’ Those sections were actu-
mary sessions and extra MP3 inter- tégé Matthew was glued to the MP3
views with some of the 50+ busi- ally really, really powerful because you
mentoring sessions as well. can imagine the sort of feedback that
ness owners and leaders inter-
viewed to create the programme. Matthew’s wife even considered he got in terms of potential ideas. I
looking at the workbook and the found those sections really good to
Being audio based allowed the MP3 herself! She said to Matthew, think about ideas and regenerate a bit
protégés to listen to the mentoring “If I’ve got to listen to that for a few of energy into things.”
sessions at a time and place which weeks and walk about with that stuck
suited them. As Vanessa explained, For Matthew, these exercises
to my ear to get the confidence that were one of the hardest parts of the
“We do quite a bit of travelling around you’ve got, then give it to me!”
so it was good to listen to the course programme, but really got him
while we were travelling. I put it in the Workbook Exercise: thinking. “I spent most of the time
car and listened to it. It is motiva- CEO for a Day flashing ideas onto pieces of paper and
tional as well when you’re driving to Where the MP3 sessions gave everything else! There were bits of
work in the morning and you’re listen- each protégé an underlying business scrap paper with ideas on everywhere
ing to it. That worked really well for education, and taught them the fun- — lying around my car, around the
me.” damentals of business which are house, even on the back of receipts!
consistent with all great business At one point after about five or six
Even Richard Hammonds kept an days into the course I said to David, ‘I
MP3 player in his Aston Martin and owners and business leaders, it was-
n’t until the protégés completed the hope you don’t want this workbook
would regularly dip into the pro- back because it looks as if there has
gramme. exercises in the workbook that they
could really apply the learning back been a graffiti artist all over it.’ There
Each protégé would listen to two were scribbles and highlighters all over
24 The People Effect: Issue 7

3. CASE STUDY
the place. You take so much from it.” a very mixed group of people. I don’t they actually began to realize it was
Face-to-Face know if that was deliberate or just a their responsibility to look after cus-
Mentoring Sessions coincidence, but you wouldn’t have had tomers in the way that I would.
such a rounded learning experience if They began to realize that they
Once the protégés had completed you hadn’t had that shared opportu-
two or three MP3 mentoring ses- could have a positive effect on the
nity.” business. It wasn’t just a case of man-
sions and the relevant sections of the
workbook, they would get together Final Presentation aging the status quo, they could actu-
with their respective mentors, David Built into the structure of the pro- ally have a physical positive effect on
or Justin. Both David and Justin had gramme is the ‘final presentation’. the business, which would produce
previously been through the pro- This is where each protégé has an more sales, produce more profit, and
gramme themselves, and had dis- opportunity to present all that they actually be much more satisfying for
cussed it at length with Richard have learnt to the management the manager in their work.”
Hammonds as part of the decision team. It’s also their opportunity to It isn’t just Richard who is saying
making process when deciding to share some of their ideas from the this - the protégés noticed a change
invest in the course. ‘what would you do if you were CEO for in their own thinking and behaviour
The face-to-face sessions took the a day’ exercise. too!
protégés’ learning to a whole new In the final presentation, the pro- Vanessa said, “It happened to me
level, and was the magic which al- tégés presented back to Justin, when I started listening to the entre-
lowed Hammonds Furniture to really David, Richard Hammonds and HR preneurs and their stories. That was
get the most from the programme, Director, Stuart Sinfield. the time when I thought, this is just
and deliver the biggest results for the Although Richard Hammonds had brilliant! I can walk into a business now
company. noticed changes in his team as they and I see ways of improving it.”
Initially, David and Justin mentored were progressing through the pro- Matthew said, “Just after the first
their protégés over the phone, and gramme, he said after the final pres- mentoring session, I had three very,
although this worked, they found the entations, “It’s as if a light bulb has very strong weeks in January. I don’t
results were much greater when been switched on! The thinking of the think I’ve ever had three strong weeks!
they got together in small groups of protégés who completed the course, Without the course I probably wouldn’t
four to exchange ideas, to discuss compared to how they were six months have done that.”
what they had learnt from the MP3 ago, is day and night. They now think Going Viral!
sessions and bring the whole pro- like business owners. I am now able to
gramme back in context to have a conversation with them at a If the sign of a good programme is
Hammonds Furniture. more commercial level. They under- if other people want to be part of it,
stand that the growth of this company then the mentoring at Hammonds
Simon, who was initially sceptical has caught on. Kathryn explains the
of the programme, but quickly is not just about revenue, but about
margins and cash. They understand the viral effect of the programme. “Do
turned round because of the men- you know what’s interesting? The num-
toring sessions, said, “What I found importance of the people in their
teams, the importance of recruiting the ber of other departments who are ask-
more beneficial than anything else ing questions about the course. They
were the mentor sessions. They really right people, and the importance of
managers being leaders and not just have been saying, ‘Is it only for sales?’
dotted the Is and crossed the Ts for I’ve had to explain to them that the
me. We got together as a group and managers. And they understand how to
grow this business.” programme has been rolled out first in
put our ideas together about what we sales, but that it will go further later
had learnt and that’s really when it Simon one of the protégés pre- on.”
started to sink in. I (to quote the senting said, “It’s funny, because Rich-
course) became a believer.” ard Hammonds said to me at the end Let’s leave the final word to Rich-
of the final presentation. ‘Simon you’re ard Hammonds who said, “99.9 per-
Vanessa benefited from the men- cent of the time, training courses don’t
toring sessions too and said, “I really a different person from the last time
you presented to me.’ I can only take deliver, or they don’t seem to deliver,
enjoyed going to the sessions. We lis- or maybe they don’t catch our imagi-
tened again to the section we were his word for it, but I’m sure he’s abso-
lutely right. I got a lot out of it and I nation. We have looked at other stuff
doing and then talked about it after- before, but this has caught the imagi-
wards. We discussed what each of us think from Richard’s point of view, he
got his money’s worth. He’s very, very nation of our people. Yes I’ve wanted it
had come up with, and sometimes we and the guys at the top bought into it,
had the same ideas and sometimes happy with the feedback from all the
presentations that day.” but it’s the individuals that are enjoy-
they were different. Justin was a great ing the course, and passing it onto
role model for this because he really Change in Behaviour! their peers.”
bought into it and so it really helped Just a few months after introduc-
with our enthusiasm. It was really good ing mentoring into his company, For more details about the Enterprise
and worked really well.” Richard Hammonds is already seeing Mentor Programme, or to download a
Kathryn felt the mentoring pulled a 10% increase in conversion of full copy of the Hammonds case-study
the whole thing together and made it prospects into paying customers, and which is included in the book People
relevant. “It also helped share the revenues up by 20%. Richard said, “I Upgrade, visit
learning and shared different people’s think what happened was that the pro- www.enterpriseleaders.com
experiences and backgrounds. We had gramme began to open their minds and
The People Effect: Issue 7 25