CASE STUDY · INDEPENDENT FAMILY BUSINESS
Senior People Leadership, Built Around a Growing Business. How Stourflex’s Chair Brought the Right Capability in at the Right Time.
​AT A GLANCE
​CLIENT
Stourflex Limited
SECTOR
Engineering
SIZE
Small, specialist team
STRUCTURE
Independent family business
ENGAGEMENT TYPE
Fractional CPO Leadership
DURATION
Ongoing
CONTACT
Sarah Mellor, Chair
Key Outcomes
A senior leadership team free to focus on their work, no longer carrying HR alongside everything else.
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A documented business strategy and a full annual performance cycle, replacing entirely paper-based processes.
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In-house recruitment and interview capability, where previously none existed.
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Higher team energy and engagement, measurable in day-to-day working life across the business.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Stourflex is a small, specialist engineering business with a clear and well-earned reputation, built on technical expertise in thermal expansion management for large buildings. As the business has grown, its leadership team recognised that people and leadership development needed dedicated, senior attention of a kind that no one internally had the time or specialist remit to give properly. Chair Sarah Mellor identified the moment and brought in Nicola Hale as fractional Chief People Officer (CPO). What began as a clear, deliberate decision has become something the whole business has come to rely on, and, in Sarah’s words, one of the best decisions she made last year.
​THE ORGANISATION
A Specialist Business, Ready for the Next Level of Leadership
Stourflex is a small, family-run engineering business with deep specialist expertise in managing thermal expansion in the pipework of large buildings, a niche but essential discipline within the wider construction and facilities sector. Its reputation has been built over years, on technical capability and trusted relationships. Success at Stourflex has always rested on engineering excellence and reliable service, and as the business grew, Chair Sarah Mellor, recognised that supporting the team with structured, professional HR practices mattered just as much as the technical solutions the business delivers for its clients. Sarah has a background in HR herself, but works in the business only part-time, and there was no one with the dedicated time or specialist remit to take people development to the next level as the business continued to grow.
​THE CHALLENGE
The Right Time to Bring in Senior Support
THE MOMENT IT BECAME CLEAR
The decision to seek support took shape at a leadership event. After the first day, with no in-house HR support in place, it was clear that the leadership team needed both strategic and operational people support from an experienced expert to support them and the business through an important transformation of business processes and updates. The rest of the leadership team agreed with the principle, but were initially cautious about bringing someone new into a business that already felt stretched, wary of adding more change into an already busy, fast-moving environment.
This was as much about leadership capacity as it was about HR itself. Investing properly in people and their development required dedicated senior attention, something a small, fast-growing business could not consistently provide while managing day-to-day operations. With the leadership team already stretched, the aim was to bring in the right support and expertise to work alongside them, strengthening their people management capabilities and delivering meaningful improvements to the organisation's people strategy.
PRACTICAL GAPS, GROWING PAINS
Stourflex needed a more formalised approach, but the team was wary of bringing in a rigid, corporate framework that did not fit the business’s identity.
“We needed an expert to help us navigate this transition, someone who could build our systems from the ground up without disrupting our company culture.”
MIKE GARRINGTON, MANAGING DIRECTOR · STOURFLEX LIMITED
Underneath the headline issue sat a set of specific, practical gaps, the kind many growing businesses will recognise. HR processes were almost entirely paper-based, holiday tracking included, leaving a disproportionate amount of administrative time falling to the Finance Director (FD) for something that should have been routine. There was no consistent approach to one-to-one meetings or performance conversations, as no formal performance management system or review cycle was in place. As a result, these discussions were handled differently depending on who was involved. And with so much energy going into the day-to-day, there had never been time to step back and build a formal strategy process, such as, a structured way of weighing up the macro and micro factors, channels, and resourcing decisions that needed to sit behind a multi-year plan. What was needed was high-level expertise that could resolve all of this without imposing a framework that felt alien to how Stourflex actually worked.
​THE DECISION
Finding Someone Who Understood Both Ends of the Business
WHAT STOURFLEX WAS LOOKING FOR
Stourflex had not worked with a fractional HR consultant before, but Sarah’s own background in HR gave the business a clear sense of the calibre of person it needed. A junior hire that the team would not know how to direct was never going to be the answer. What was required was someone operating at a genuine strategic, business-partner level, supportive, but credible enough to hold the leadership team to account and push when it was needed. Sarah was conscious that this kind of experience could be hard to find locally, and that Stourflex needed someone who had operated at a senior level across larger, more complex organisations, while still understanding how to work inside a small, specialist business without overwhelming it.
THE RESERVATION, AND WHAT ADDRESSED IT
The honest hesitation going in was whether someone with experience across larger companies would actually fit a business as small and specialised as Stourflex. Reviewing Nicola’s background and having the initial conversation addressed that quickly. What came through was not a generic corporate playbook, but someone able to quickly and credibly pin down the strategy and goals that mattered for a business exactly Stourflex’s size.
“I wish I’d had her sooner. It would have taken so much off my plate.”
SARAH MELLOR, CHAIR · STOURFLEX LIMITED
The first interaction set the tone for everything that followed. Nicola stood out immediately for being exceptionally warm, friendly and approachable, which put the team at ease from the outset. The engagement never felt like a detached, third-party consultancy. It felt like having a trusted partner embedded in the business.
THE ENGAGEMENT
Embedded, Not Visiting
HOW THE RELATIONSHIP WORKS
Since the engagement began, Nicola has worked with the leadership team on a regular, predictable rhythm, weekly calls, roughly two days a month in person, and fortnightly catch-ups in between. She is proactive rather than reactive, often checking in on what the team has been discussing rather than waiting to be briefed. As Chair, Sarah has visibility of the relationship without needing to manage it closely, which is, in itself, part of the value.
The team had recognised the need to improve processes, but were initially unsure whether they could take on additional support alongside an already demanding set of new projects. That changed almost immediately once Nicola was in the room.
“As soon as Nicola was introduced, they were on board. The team were able to give an honest assessment, but they all loved Nicola as soon as they met her.”
SARAH MELLOR, CHAIR · STOURFLEX LIMITED
CLOSING THE SPECIFIC GAPS
The practical gaps identified at the outset were addressed directly. The paper-based HR processes were replaced with proper systems, taking the administrative burden off the Finance Director. A full performance cycle was introduced for the year, with structure, monitoring, development and goal setting built in, alongside guidance for the leadership team on how to run one-to-ones well, including the difficult ones. And the business strategy process Stourflex had not yet had the space to build was put together from scratch, working through macro and micro environment factors, channels of delivery and resourcing, the kind of structured thinking the team could now build on.
“Nicola is exceptionally knowledgeable and has played a key role in improving not only our HR function but the business as a whole. She delivers her expertise in a professional yet approachable manner, making her a trusted and valued partner.”
KAREN LECKEY, FINANCE DIRECTOR · STOURFLEX LIMITED
SUPPORT THAT REACHED ACROSS THE LEADERSHIP TEAM
What began as support for Sarah quickly extended across the wider leadership team. Head of Sales Stewart Haydon started working with Nicola in August 2025, drawing on her support for recruitment, interviewing, coaching and appraisals, as well as his own personal development. For Karen Leckey, Finance Director, the strategy and performance cycle work above became the change that mattered most. Throughout, Nicola ran presentations and individual conversations with staff to help them understand and adjust to the changes as they landed.
“My first impression of Nicola was how knowledgeable she was and how impressive it was for her to quickly break down our pain points. Nicola has been a huge support in my personal development, which I am very grateful for. She has such a wide breadth of knowledge across all aspects of the business, and to go with it, she has a lovely, warm personality to match.”
STEWART HAYDON, SENIOR SALES & MARKETING MANAGER · STOURFLEX LIMITED
RESULTS
A Team with More Energy and Better Foundations
The clearest outcome is the practical relief of knowing HR is properly accounted for, with a senior, dedicated person responsible for it, rather than something the leadership team had to find time for alongside everything else. The team’s energy and engagement has visibly lifted since the engagement began. New processes are being actively used rather than installed and left, and the team has begun seeking Nicola out directly when they need support, rather than waiting to be asked, one of the clearest signs the relationship has genuinely landed. Recruitment support in particular grew this way, never part of the original scope, but taken on because the team had the confidence to ask and trusted Nicola’s judgement to support the process well.
“She's hugely valued by the whole team and very much part of the Stourflex community.”
SARAH MELLOR, CHAIR · STOURFLEX LIMITED
The management team now has complete peace of mind that the business is following best practice, something that simply was not true when processes were inconsistent and largely undocumented. And because of the way the new systems were introduced, with warmth and genuine understanding rather than as a bureaucratic exercise, they have been embraced by the team rather than resisted.
“Nicola brings a rare combination of deep HR expertise and genuine warmth to her work. She didn’t just hand us a template; she took the time to understand Stourflex, our people, and our goals. Her professionalism and friendly approach made setting up our new HR systems and procedures an incredibly positive experience for everyone involved.”
MIKE GARRINGTON, MANAGING DIRECTOR · STOURFLEX LIMITED
LASTING IMPACT
Confidence the Business Didn’t Have Before
What Stourflex has now is not simply a set of HR processes. It is a leadership team with the bandwidth to focus on the parts of the business they lead, the confidence that comes from knowing people matters are being properly held even when Sarah herself is not in the room, and a strategic process the business can keep using long after this phase of the engagement is done.
Recruitment support was never expected to be part of what Nicola could offer, yet the amount achieved within a relatively small amount of time spent in the business each month has been striking for the Stourflex team. Working with Nicola has given Stourflex the solid HR foundation it needs to continue growing with confidence.
“One of the best decisions I made last year.”
SARAH MELLOR, CHAIR · STOURFLEX LIMITED
THE MODEL
What Changed for Stourflex
A senior leadership team with the capacity to focus on the work only they can do, no longer carrying HR alongside everything else.
A documented business strategy, working through macro and micro environment factors, channels of delivery and resourcing, where none existed before.
Measurably higher team energy and engagement across the business.
Salary benchmarking against current market and inflation pressures, built into the business’s regular salary review process.
In-house recruitment and interview capability, extending the leadership team’s ability to hire and grow without external agency cost.
Leadership coaching and personal development embedded for individual members of the team, alongside the wider HR uplift.
Planned HR improvements, including a modern HR system and structured performance cycle, were successfully embedded, supporting the Leadership Team to deliver consistent one-to-ones, goal setting and development.