Wickland Westcott

Head of Organisational Development

Britvic Group is one of the leading soft drinks businesses in the UK, and has established itself as a FTSE250 company through product innovation and developing supply arrangements with significant new customers including Pepsi. The company has ambitious plans to double its value and expand its international presence through organic growth and acquisition activity, coupled with proactive management of the bottom line. Following recent acquisitions in Ireland and France, a decision was taken to move to a Group Structure to support the planned expansion in Europe. In the light of this, the HR Director asked Wickland Westcott to help find a commercially-oriented internationalist with long-term potential to take on the new Group Head of People and Organisational Development role.

The role had a business wide remit, working with the Board and the broader organisation to support the delivery of strategic programmes and develop a winning culture. The position also carried accountability for delivering solutions to the organisational, talent and performance issues arising from the move to a Group structure. The ideal candidate needed multi-site HR generalist change management experience combined with specialist expertise in organisational design, learning development and talent management.

The search process identified a shortage of candidates within the sector, making it necessary to cover many more organisations than was originally envisaged. Whilst there was an abundance of individuals with specialist knowledge in one of the required functions, there was a distinct shortage of people with functional breadth, allied with international experience at the appropriate level. However, after a systematic sourcing programme consisting of both search and selective advertising, the ideal candidate was recruited.

"...Wickland Westcott was relentless and thorough in covering the ground and helping us understand and shape our needs. They brought an unusual ability to look at individuals through different lenses to ensure we gained a rounded perspective of candidates and ultimately achieved the best fit".

Tom Lidstone, Group Head of Resourcing, Britvic Soft Drinks