Potato Review

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW MARCH/APRIL 2023 55 Can you tell me a little about yourself? What did you aspire to be when you were growing up? For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed all things engineering and farming. As a child, my family lived on a farm, and I wanted to be a farmer. A little later, after joining the air cadets, I dreamt of being in the RAF, but I think a pivotal moment in my career decision making was when my Design & Technology teacher said: “You will have your own engineering company one day.” Not wholly accurate but it was enough at the time to make me focus on being part of an engineering organisation. I live in Bawtry with my partner Kate, our two children Ella and James, and our spaniel, appropriately named Spud. When not at work, I spend my time keeping t at the gym, clay shooting, on family walks and following my daughter’s junior football career. How did you embark on your career path and go about achieving your goals – tell me a little about how you came to be in your current position? When I was about 14, I spent every weekend and school holiday working on my step brother-in-law’s farm, which was the rst time I encountered potato handling equipment. I always favoured the mechanical side of farming and was never disappointed when a machine needed repairing or servicing as it meant I could strip it down and see how it was made before rebuilding it. At that time, my parents had a pub, so I spent some evenings serving behind the bar. is helped me to learn how to deal with people of all di erent ages and from all di erent walks of life. It’s a skill that has often come in handy over the years. Much to my mum’s disappointment towards the end of high school, I decided that I didn’t want to go to university but wanted to pursue a career in engineering. During a Design & Technology lesson, I used the school computer to visit the Haith website and used the contact form to see if they were taking on apprentices. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there is anything wrong with going to university. M y sister went to university and became a lawyer. However, there are plenty of people in business like me who have worked hands-on up through a company and achieved their goals. I have always had a good work ethic and knew from an early age if I wanted to get on in life, I would have to knuckle down and work hard. As you can guess, Haith invited me to an interview and took me on as a trainee engineer. Nigel Haith interviewed me. I remember telling him that I wanted to work in sales as I enjoyed meeting people. I still remember his reply: “Well, it’s like this. If you are okay, you will stay where you are. If you are good, you will work your way up through the business. And if you are no good, you will be out the gate and down the road!” I knew where I stood and knew where I wanted to get to. at was in 2004. After passing my probationary period and arguing my case, Haith agreed to send me to college to study for an HNC in mechanical engineering. It took me over four years on day release to achieve the quali cation. I managed to get into the sales team in 2007, having spent three years working in most other departments learning how the family business worked, from assembly to parts, service, installation, then onto sales design. Initially, I supported Chris Haith to sell and deliver project work. Over time, I gained customers’ trust and built relationships with them to a point where they started to call me directly, and I slowly built up my own customer base. By 2009 I had so many customers we had to take on more salespeople to keep up with demand, and that’s how I became sales manager. Several years later, I was invited to join the board as Haith’s rst non-family director and was promoted to Sales Director. In 2021, Nigel decided that he wanted to spend more time away from the business. As I had helped to grow the company turnover from below £10 million to over £20 million, and also having earned the respect of both sta and customers, the Haith family selected me to take on Nigel’s role of Managing Director, with him becoming chairman. What experiences have helped to shape your career and inspire you? e biggest in uence on my career was working with Mr Haith senior, who founded the company. He was a very hands-on person with a can-do attitude. He was also a very clever engineer. In fact, the same can be said of all the Haith family. ey’ve taught me a lot. Over the years, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for many di erent customers, from small farmers to directors of blue-chip multi-national companies. I think I’ve taken things away from all of these experiences and have picked up what works and what doesn’t along the way. I am always inspired by people who have started from humble beginnings and grown successful businesses. What are your main goals? On a personal level, in my new role, I want to lead by example. I don’t want to be seen as the boss. I want to inspire and empower people so that we can all take the business forward. It is vital that everyone values our customers and is committed to doing the best possible job for them. I put together an excellent senior management team, and with them and with Nigel, David and Mick Haith’s input, we developed an ambitious ve-year plan. e plan covers several areas, including mentoring and developing junior members of both the Haith team and the Haith family. e ultimate goal is to grow the business both at home and abroad. We will need to expand the sales team, continue working closely with GRIMME UK, and design and introduce innovative new products that help our customers. Tell me a little about your business successes and failures and what you have learned from them. I think the most important thing I’ve learned over the years is that relationships are crucial. ings are so much easier when you get on with people, whether it be customers, suppliers, or other team members. It is also really important to listen. We’ve grown our business by listening to our customers and developing machines that they need. We would not have sold any of our machines if they didn’t solve a problem. As well as seeing Haith become a market leader in potato packing and growing the company’s turnover to more than £20 million, I am also very proud of how we have mentored and developed younger people. Without having new people join the company and grow within it, we would not be able to cope with the increase in demand or with people retiring. I try not to dwell on failures and think one of the worst things that can happen both in business and life, in general, is complacency. Personally, I think if you’re not striving to improve or develop, you’re standing still and if so you’re at risk of being overtaken. ➜ “The biggest influence on my career was working with Mr Haith senior, who founded the company. He was a very hands-on person with a can-do attitude. He was also a very clever engineer.”