Heler Foods has invested in leadership development at its Minffordd, North Wales packing facility through a bespoke training programme developed with the Welsh Government Sgiliau Bwyd a Diod Cymru / Food & Drink Skills Wales programme (F&DSW) and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.
Employing around 250 people and supplying customers across the UK and internationally, Heler Foods identified a need to further develop leadership and management skills following a workforce skills diagnostic. While many employees had progressed through internal promotion, additional support was required to ensure consistent leadership behaviours, effective communication and stronger organisational alignment.
In response, a tailored ‘Take Ownership’ training programme was developed and delivered by the Busnes@LlandrilloMenai team. The programme focused on key areas including delivering successful change, business improvement, building a coaching culture, and enhancing communication skills.
Sarah Griffith, People & Transformation Director at Heler Foods, said:
"Developing great leaders is one of the most important investments we can make as a business. Strong leadership creates engaged teams, drives continuous improvement and helps us build a culture where colleagues feel empowered to take ownership and deliver their best every day. This programme is an important step in supporting our future growth and ensuring we continue to develop talent from within."
Initially delivered to the senior leadership team, the training is now being cascaded across the wider management structure, with leaders actively coaching and mentoring their teams to embed learning throughout the organisation.
Mark Learmonth, Programme Area Manager for Management and Professional Programmes at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, said:
“It has been a pleasure to work in partnership with Heler Foods to design and deliver a bespoke leadership programme that directly reflects the organisation’s strategic priorities and operational needs. By combining practical micro-learning approaches with a strong focus on ownership, accountability and coaching, the programme is helping leaders at all levels develop the confidence, behaviours and skills needed to drive sustainable improvement, strengthen communication and support long-term business growth.”
Early results show a significant shift in leadership confidence, consistency and accountability, alongside improved communication and decision-making. The programme is also helping to foster a stronger coaching culture, encouraging greater ownership at departmental level and reducing reliance on escalation to senior leadership.
These improvements are already supporting productivity, employee engagement and operational performance, while creating clearer progression pathways for current and future leaders within the business.
Looking ahead, Heler Foods expects the programme to deliver long-term benefits including improved organisational resilience, enhanced succession planning and sustained business growth.
Enlli Roberts, Workforce Development Manager, Welsh Government Sgiliau Bwyd a Diod Cymru / Food & Drink Skills Wales programme added:
“Supporting businesses like Heler Foods to invest in their people is essential to building a resilient and future ready food and drink sector in Wales. By identifying skills gaps and working collaboratively with training providers, this programme is helping to strengthen leadership capability, improve productivity and create clear progression pathways for the workforce.
F&DSW provided 50% funding towards the cost of this training course, following a skills diagnostic with Heler Foods Packing to help identify their training needs. This support is available to businesses within the food and drink processing and manufacturing sector. For more information, visit FoodDrinkSkills.Wales