Case Study - Alan Crockert, Margaret Hodge Recruitment Agency

Former recruitment executive Alan Crockert was so impressed with his time on a Positive Action Club (PAC) group that he has now joined the business as a group facilitator.

When Alan joined the Margaret Hodge recruitment agency, the company operated as a subsidiary of a parent company and had a non-shareholding board. Alan and his colleagues felt that this was not the best way to drive forward the business, so in 2002 he led a management buy-out.

The company grew to have 50 employees with Alan as managing director, but it became clear that the management team wasn’t right. They didn’t work together well as a team, and had different attitudes and conflicting visions about where the company was going.

PAC founders Paul McDevitt and Brian Jukes were called in to look at the business and having identified the problems with the management team, they suggested Alan join a PAC group to not only help him to resolve the issues, but to also experience direct and objective peer feedback .

PAC played a significant part in helping Alan make the decision that he should propose to the board that the business be put up for sale. A deal was lined up to sell the business and heads of agreement had been signed in 2008, but the economic recession had just struck, resulting in the offer price falling dramatically and the sale eventually fell through.

“The discussions I had in the PAC group reinforced to me that my passion for recruitment was centered around the delivery of customer service excellence, and reputation, however it was becoming clearer that this passion was not necessarily shared by some others in the sector, and that the incredible journey which I had experienced may be better placed in working with business owners across the sectors, to help them identify where they want to take their business and how they will get there”

Alan decided to the leave the company in 2009 and set up his own business consultancy service, Alan Crockert Consulting. Alan was so impressed with the experience he had with PAC, that he has decided to devote some of his time to being a PAC facilitator to help grow the business. 

“PAC made me realise that 95% of the issues people face in business are about people or money and I had experience in both,” he said. “Being involved with PAC was a really powerful experience and really clarified my thinking about what I had to do. I passionately believe in the value that PAC can bring to any business, and if I didn’t have to work for a living I would facilitate PAC groups for free – that’s how powerful I think they are.”