Brodie Andrews is the General Manager of Aitken Joinery. Based in Gore, the business is the largest supplier of Vantage windows and doors in Southland and Central Otago.
Location: Gore
Business Type: Manufacturing
Founded: 2003
Number of employees: +50
Current Business Situation: Continuous and fast growth pre and post Covid
Relationship with The Icehouse: Leadership Development Programme Alumni and Financial Skills Workshop Attendee
What’s your day-to-day role?
I’m the General Manager of Aitken Joinery. Working under Mark [Robinson, the Director], I’m on the business development side, managing a sales team of nine and working with production to utilise their growth. Our efficiency in the factory is something that sets us apart from most other businesses so it’s also my job to work directly with production to improve that even further.
How did you join the business?
I met Mark at a funeral! He knew me already from my days as a qualified builder. He had a project manager vacancy coming up and approached me and asked if it was something I would be keen on. I honestly didn’t need to think twice.
What are your current challenges?
The business is growing at a rapid rate, and we have to work hard to manage that growth so we don't just implode at the other end. Covid hasn’t really affected us. Our major supplier was on top of the very first wave of Covid and had the stock we needed ready in advance to meet demand.
If you’re building windows and doors and the ply for the outside of the house or the roof doesn't arrive, then obviously that holds up the project, but we haven't noticed that to the extent that many other companies have.
We knew growth was coming over the past year or so. We started putting people in place in the factory and my sales team were ready to put in a big push. So, as we were prepared, talking to key suppliers meant that we could offer services that other companies couldn't.
What did you do with The Icehouse?
Aitken Joinery and The Icehouse have always had a great relationship. Mark did Owner Manager Programme 14 in 2007 and I did Leadership Development Programme 42 in February 2021 and Knowing Your Numbers in March 2022.
What were your key takeaways?
Going into LDP I was a little sceptical. At the beginning I wasn’t sure if I was going to get much out of it. But quite early on I realised you can't charge for the knowledge you learn on the programme. It’s such a well-run course and meeting up with all the businesspeople on it from different walks of life, with their different experiences and challenges, was incredible. I fully embedded myself in the learning so I could get everything out of the people that were there.
How do you weave those takeaways into the business?
One of the biggest takeaways came on the first day actually, and that was learning about management multipliers. I have nine staff under me, and I can't deal with each of those nine staff in the same way, so I learnt how critical it is to change your management style to cater to the person that you’re managing. That was huge for me.
I’m quite outspoken, quite extroverted, but you’ll often work with people who are quite introverted, and they respond to management in different ways. So that was a light bulb moment for me. I knew LDP was going to be good from day one.
The financial side of my role has always been a bit of a challenge. I come from a background where I'd had no previous financial training, so that was another big takeaway – how small financial changes can make a big difference to the business.
That was a big motivator for upskilling through the Knowing Your Numbers (KYN) workshop. All I was doing beforehand was reading a P&L and making changes to get that bottom line up. I thought KYN was going to be a roomful of accountants, but it was the polar opposite. Now I have the skills to really help drive the business forward.
Matt Bellingham ran KYN very well. He explained everything clearly and there were so many things I was able to implement into the business – and we can already see the difference to our margins. Things like not discounting product lines and finding new ways that we can add on value by negotiating with suppliers and so on, has really boosted our net growth.
My leadership style has certainly changed since LDP. You can earn respect, but only if you go about it in the right way. I know where I want to take the team, and the numbers and figures I want to hit in the next year.
I've got a strategy plan in place to do that. Knowing I can sit down with my team, get buy-in from them, get their ideas, and quickly start moving forward helps me and the business. I fully back their decisions. If they want to do something I will implement it and if it doesn’t work, then we work something else out.
Have you worked with any other alumni professionally since the programme and workshop?
Not yet but we all stay in touch and I know there will be some opportunities in the future.
What leadership advice can you offer right now?
In my first week, Mark told me that ‘success breeds success’ and ‘to be successful, surround yourself with successful people’. That really hit me. It took me a wee while to figure out what he meant by that, but it’s definitely something that I hold true. That runs through my team here as well. I want everyone to be successful, so I've got to be successful for them.
Follow the link for more information on Aitken Joinery and its extensive range of products and services.