Jennifer Hallwood – TEFL Org UK
Jennifer Hallwood is the Managing Director of TEFL Org UK, an award winning company that has trained and sent thousands of TEFL students abroad. The company is staffed and managed by experienced professionals with over 30 years of experience in teaching English and teacher training. Students receive the highest standard of TEFL training throughout their transition to becoming an English language teacher; from detailed course content to extensive support from tutors and a team of experts. The business had a £1.36 million turnover at the outset of the course and 12 employees.
Jennifer signed up for the Growth Advantage Programme as she had received no formal business training in the past and wanted to ensure sustainability for the business but was also ambitious to grow and didn’t know how to go about it. She admitted that she went along with reservations thinking it wasn’t right for her but believes the course helped her to work out how to grow the business.
The Impact
The key impact has been on Jennifer’s confidence. She had ideas but didn’t have the confidence to put them into action. Jennifer was scared of taking on additional staff, making investments in new projects and spending money on business growth. However, during and following the course she began to implement the learnings. In particular, Jennifer highlighted the usefulness of looking at process within the business and making small improvements to drive bigger improvements. She has related this to what customers are buying and made improvements to make it as easy as possible for the customers. The service has been automated wherever possible to give the staff more time with customers.
This confidence also enabled Jennifer to invest in growth and a new office has been opened in Edinburgh to drive sales.
In addition a key impact was the decision to continue to invest in building a learning management system for a partner in China. Before the course Jennifer was ready to pull out due to the risk but can now see the massive potential in this work.
The business has increased sales by £440,000 to date and is projecting a turnover of £3 million in three years.
The Team
One of the first changes Jennifer made was to move office to a more professional working environment to motivate the staff. Following the move the team were involved in drawing up the company values which are now clearly displayed in the office. Jennifer also felt she should demonstrate the values in how she deals with the team and introduced flexible working, additional time off and on-going engagement with the team. This approach has influenced how the staff deal with the customers leading to a measurable improvement in customer service. As word of mouth is responsible for a third of sales this has had an impact on turnover. An ongoing message is to do everything to the best that we can while constantly striving to be better.
Jennifer let one person go but has taken on a further five including hiring an Operations Manager to enable her to focus on strategy. A strategy has been drawn up outlining the ambition and this is shared on an ongoing basis with the team and every member of staff has a copy.
The Network
As well as praising the lecturers Jennifer said she learned a lot of good practice from the other businesses who had similar aims. She has stayed in contact with the majority of the group and is drawing on this network to discuss ideas and gain support.
Personal Development
The course has given Jennifer confidence in management, communicating with staff and discussing the business strategy clearly. This has made her happier and TEFL Org Ltd a happier place to work.
In Jennifer’s words, "This was the best learning experience I’ve had. Highly recommended."
- This case study was prepared by Evelyn McDonald, Chief Executive of Scottish EDGE and Small Business Charter assessor.
