Meet our Help to Grow Facilitators - Don McCombe

At Huddersfield Business School we offer a range of programmes that enhance business performance, resilience and long-term growth. Our Help to Grow Management programme is ideal for business leaders that are looking for expert advice and training to help them develop new skills and knowledge and become more competitive in their chosen marketplace.

Our Help to Grow facilitators have a vast amount of experience and knowledge from an array of industries to share with our business leaders. They encourage businesses to collaborate and work together during the sessions and always ensure that there is a supportive and productive environment where everyone’s contributions are valued and encouraged. 

In this blog, you’ll hear from Help to Grow facilitator, Don McCombe. Don has over 30 years of experience in the manufacturing and supply chain industry so has three decades worth of knowledge to pass on to business leaders on our Help to Grow Management programme.  

 

Please can you tell us a little bit about yourself? 

Hi, my name is Don McCombe, and I am originally from Liverpool. I suppose you could class me as a journeyman, someone who has had a career that has had many twists and turns that upon reflection has provided me with vast amounts of experience in many roles and industries. 

I left school at 15 and I became a qualified butcher. I then moved to Tesco in the late 70s and joined their management trainee programme where at the time I became the youngest Superstore Manager. After working in retail management for a few years, I hit a bit of a glass ceiling and became restless for more experience. Following a short stint in public services, I went to work in the hospitality industry for the majority of the 80s and early 90s. I ran several pubs, nightclubs, and gastro pubs across the north of England which was great fun. However, it wasn’t a career that I saw myself in full time and I wanted to settle down and find a “proper job”. So, in the mid-90s, I moved to work in manufacturing beginning with 3M and that’s where my love for the manufacturing industry began. 3M manufactures and distributes a broad range of products, such as adhesive tape, audio-visual equipment and media, medical and dental products, Post-It Notes, and safety products such as reflective coatings and signs.

Working for 3M was a great period of my life as I found something that I really loved. I quickly moved through the ranks, where I eventually became part of the Sales and Operations Planning team for medical devices. After 7 years working for 3M, I was headhunted for another global manufacturing group that in addition to pharmaceuticals, also had an automotive sector which was very exciting as this was the sector that I wanted to specialise in within the manufacturing industry. I then joined a turbocharger supplier company working on a business turnaround project, before moving down to London to run a magnet manufacturing company. 

In 2011, I moved back north to work in business support with a government-backed project called Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS). The programme was introduced to provide support and advice locally to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to support improvements in areas such as efficiency, strategy, and innovation. The programme ended in 2014 but provided me with an appetite and desire to help and support the SME community. In 2020, after working for 4 years on another business turnaround project, I was asked to join the University of Huddersfield to assist in the Manufacturing Champions programme, which comes to an end on the 31st of March 2023. The Manufacturing Champions programme gives scaleups and ambitious SMEs access to an integrated package of advisory support including business mentoring and financial assistance to accelerate growth and is targeted predominantly at small manufacturing businesses with significant growth potential. 

Over the years I’ve seen some challenging issues and gained a lot of expertise, knowledge, and personal resilience along the way. 

As a facilitator on the Help to Grow Management programme at Huddersfield, what expertise do you bring? 

The Help to Grow Management programme is a UK government initiative aimed at helping SMEs to grow, develop and improve their productivity and competitiveness through expert advice and training - all of which link with my day job at the Manufacturing Champions programme, working with SMEs to help them to grow and develop. 

My role as a facilitator on the Help to Grow Management programme is to help people work together effectively towards a common goal or objective and create a supportive and productive environment where everyone's contributions are valued and encouraged. The expertise that I bring to the programme is my experience in business development, project management, communication, and my expertise in running businesses - which is all covered in the Operational Excellence module which I deliver. 

What I love about being a facilitator is when you’re delivering a module and you see a business get that ‘light bulb moment’ and think “why have I never thought of that before”? You can see them taking in the content and you know that they are going to go back and implement this in their business - I find this really rewarding. 

Why is the Help to Grow Management programme beneficial for businesses? 

The Help to Grow Management programme is beneficial for businesses for several reasons:

• Expert advice and training. The programme provides businesses with access to expert advice and training, which can help them to develop new skills and knowledge, improve their processes, and become more competitive in their chosen marketplace.
• Access to technology. The programme offers businesses the opportunity to adopt and implement new technologies that can improve their efficiency and productivity. I’m a big fan of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and apps that can help businesses improve, at little cost.
• Financial support. The programme provides financial support from the government - they cover 90% of the Help to Grow fees meaning a business just have to fund 10% (£750) itself.
• Networking and collaboration. The programme provides opportunities for businesses to network and collaborate with other businesses in their industry or sector, which can lead to new partnerships and opportunities for growth. However, it also provides opportunities to mix with other sectors and types of businesses that may have innovative solutions to similar problems!
• Recognition and accreditation. Businesses that participate in the programme can receive recognition and accreditation for their achievements, which can help to improve their reputation and credibility.

Overall, the Help to Grow Management programme provides businesses with the tools and support they need to grow, develop and become more resilient, which can lead to increased profitability, competitiveness, and sustainability in the long run.

As a mentor for Help to Grow Nationwide how do you feel your role as a mentor helps your mentees?   

My role as a business mentor is to support, guide, and empower mentees to achieve their goals and realise their full potential. Below are a few examples of how mentors can help mentees.

• Provide guidance and support. I provide guidance and support to mentees as they navigate the challenges of growing a business. This might involve helping them to identify their goals and priorities or offering advice on specific issues they are facing. Sometimes mentees get a bit lost in the day-to-day running of a business - I call it working in the business rather than working on the business. I guide and support them to make their own mind up on current issues that they’re facing at that present time, providing a soundboard for the mentees.
• Sharing your expertise. I share my expertise and experience, providing insights and perspectives that they may not have considered. This could include sharing my knowledge of industry or sector or providing advice on specific areas of business such as marketing, finance, or operations.
• Offering feedback and encouragement. I offer feedback and encouragement to mentees, helping them to stay motivated and on track as they work towards their goals. This might involve providing constructive feedback or as I like to call it, disruptive mentoring where you are challenging your mentee, but in a non-confrontational way. It’s also important to offer encouragement and support when they face setbacks or challenges.
• Facilitating connections and networking. Occasionally I may be able to help mentees build their networks and make connections within their industry or sector. This might involve introducing them to potential partners, customers, or investors, or providing advice on how to build their online presence and reputation.
• Provide accountability and motivation. Helping mentees to stay accountable and motivated as they work towards their goals. This might involve setting milestones and deadlines or providing regular check-ins to track their progress and offer support and encouragement.

Business leaders on the Help to Grow Management programme get 10 hours of 1-2-1 mentoring across the 12-week programme and it’s up to each individual to decide how they want to use that time - but ultimately, we bring everything back to the Growth Action Plan. I’ve mentored 12 mentees through Help to Grow Nationwide so far and I’m currently working with another 4 - so in total that will be 16.