NEWSLETTER – SPRING 2021
Welcome to our Spring 2021 Newsletter – scroll down to find out what we’ve been up to, or if you would prefer to view the newsletter in a flipbook you can click here to jump directly to that section.
Enjoy!
WELCOME!
Happy New Year! It seems odd writing that in March but there are some of you who I haven’t connected with so far this year.
January bought more uncertainty for us all when it was announced that we were going back into Lockdown. At Wingman we have been lucky, in a sense, as many of our clients had already moved over to virtual programmes so work for us has been consistent, albeit with a new way of delivering.
You may have seen on our social media channels that we have been sharing videos to give you a more in-depth understanding of who we are, how we work and why we do what we do – if you haven’t seen them already, please go ahead and check them out.
Thank you to those who interacted with our poll about events from the last newsletter – the team are busy planning a selection of face-to-face and online events for later in the year and we can’t wait to share these with you.
Wishing you all a great 2021 and please do not hesitate to pick up the phone or drop me an email if myself or the team can be of any help.
Kind regards
Rory Underwood, Director
UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN
We were introduced to Lincoln University back in 2019 by another local business, RecruitMe, who were looking for a host for their Connect event, Leading from the Front Line, that had an RAF background but also business experience and so Rory was the perfect fit!
The event saw close to 100 participants from both business and the RAF discuss how each sector interprets tasks differently due to the nature of their work, which results in different ways of working. There were also five fantastic speakers, including the inspiring Major Gen (Retd) Julian Free CBE, Deputy VICE Chancellor of the University of Lincoln, about his experiences within the Army.
Rory also worked with Martin Hickerton, Partnerships Development Manager & MBA Programme Director at the University, on a variety of webinars through the course of last year, and he introduced us to the Film & Media department.
Following on from discussions, we are now working with a group of Year 3 students from that department on a live project tasking them to create a number of visuals to promote Wingman across our social media channels. This collaboration provides the students with a real-life, real-time opportunity to work on a client project from start to finish, giving them some essential experience to take into their working lives after graduation.
We are really looking forward to seeing what they produce for this project and to continuing our collaboration with the University. Keep an eye out for their results through the rest of this year.
WORKING WITH
In each newsletter, we’ll be focusing on one our clients and unashamedly highlighting some of the work we have been doing with them. To find out about more of the businesses we’ve partnered with, and on what, you can visit wingmanltd.com/who-we-work-with.
This time around, it’s the turn of …
BREEDON GROUP
Breedon are a leading construction materials group in Great Britain and Ireland who produce cement, aggregates, asphalt, ready-mixed concrete, Welsh slate and specialist concrete and clay products, and offer a range of contracting services.
Wingman started working with Breedon in 2017 after they’d identified a need to focus on the development of their managers across the group and equip them with the core skills required to lead and manage their teams, and thus the Breedon Management Development Programme was born, and is still going strong!
The overall aim of the programme, which is also accredited by the Institute of Quarrying, is for managers across Breedon to better understand their own role as effective managers, better understand the impact of their behaviours to create a ‘can-do’ performance culture and fully understand their leadership styles and how to use them to get the best out of their people.
Content and topics have been specifically targeted and delivered to the level required by Breedon and each workshop provides training using blended delivery to mix group learning of basic theory and knowledge with facilitated action learning, practical learning exercises, personal reflection time and practical action planning for the Managers to take back into the workplace.
We have travelled all around the UK, and have been over to the Republic of Ireland, to deliver workshops for Breedon and when lockdown 1.0 began in 2020, Breedon knew they didn’t want their employees to stop learning. We worked closely with them to move the programme to a virtual delivery platform, which we are still delivering, and will continue to do so until we can get back to face-to-face workshops.
To date we have had over 240 Breedon Managers complete the programme, and have really enjoyed the variety that the different areas and groups provide as we continue to work closely with the business to deliver high-class and high-performing content.
Stewart Hook, Learning & Development Manager – GB, said:
“We’ve built a strong relationship with the Wingman team over the past 3 years. The team are really responsive to our needs and have taken the time to understand our business and the challenges we face. This ensures that the programme workshops are facilitated credibly, and reference real day-to-day examples that our managers face.”
TEAM LINCOLNSHIRE 
In February, Wingman hosted a Team Lincolnshire Coffee Club around the topic of ‘Establishing greater strategic awareness across your organisation’.
Rory spoke about how having your team engaged and aligned when it comes to delivering your business plan means you will ‘Fly higher and faster, with less effort’.
We had some great questions from several of the attendees, from recommendations on platforms and toolkits to embedding messages within the team and maintaining engagement when working from home.
This in turn led to a discussion about the future of office space as we come out of the pandemic. Some attendees said their business hadn’t been affected as much as they thought and as staff were starting to return to work, a mixture of home- and office-working would probably become the norm. Others said 
due to the nature of their business, working from home wasn’t an option but that being flexible with in-office working hours had been working for them and their employees.
If your business is within Greater Lincolnshire, take a look at their website for further information and we hope to see you at a Team Lincolnshire event soon.
greaterlincolnshirelep.co.uk/funding-and-projects/team-lincolnshire
SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESS
At the back-end of 2020, Rory was approached by the wonderfully talented and inspirational Jeannette Linfoot to be a guest on her ‘Brave, Bold, Brilliant’ podcast. The podcast ‘talks to incredible people about their experiences of being Brave, Bold & Brilliant, which have allowed them to unleash their full potential in business, their careers and life in general.’
How could Rory not say yes when invited to be a guest!
If you think you know Rory – be it from his RAF days, Rugby playing days or most recently in business – then think again! The longest of Jeannette’s 
podcasts this year, Rory explains why he founded Wingman and the unique techniques used to enable clients to perform at the highest level and fulfil their potential.
So grab a drink, sit back, relax and listen to how Rory’s early life shaped his outlook and his approach to business, along with sharing a wealth of information that every business owner can benefit from applying, regardless of size or industry.
We wish you a very relaxing Easter break.
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