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Kevin founded Step-Change Management Ltd in August 2005. He has extensive commercial and change management experience having worked at board level for a range of blue-chip organisations, primarily within the FMCG sector. Throughout his career, he has been creating commercial success through the creation and implementation of change. Even his MBA dissertation, for which he was awarded a mark of distinction, explored the critical success factors for new market entry and product development success.

Working as Commercial Director for Appletise plc, a subsidiary business of South African Breweries, Kevin was responsible for remodeling the UK business as a franchise with Coca-Cola and Schweppes Beverages, then the UK’s dominant soft drinks production and marketing business, as well as opening businesses within the Benelux and Middle East Regions. As Sales and Marketing Director for Merrydown Plc, Kevin re-focused the business strategy away from manufacturing and implemented a series of new sales and marketing strategies. New products, new technologies and a new management process took the business that had been rescued from collapse to a commercial foundation that enabled it to be positioned for sale. Within the B2B sector he has worked as Commercial Director for Well Well Well, a venture capital backed water cooler business. Kevin identified a new market opportunity that moved the business away from its traditional bottle-fed business into the higher technology, higher profit area of plumbed-in facilities. Within 18 months the business held a 20% share of the market from a standing start. Kevin has also worked for Bayer, Johnson Wax and Dairy Crest.

With extensive experience of devising, resourcing and implementing change programmes, Kevin moved into consultancy through the formation of Step-Change Management. Working in association with Wallace Walker, he led the culture change element of the Defence Storage and Distribution Agency’s (DSDA) transformation programme; a project worth £440 million over a 10 year period. He conceived the workforce alignment plan; a crucial enabler for the delivery of the business’s strategic plan. This covered a multi-level communication strategy through to workforce briefing; the development of all materials from the operating guide through to training modules; the development, piloting and delivery of ‘new ways of working’ at managerial and shop floor levels.

Over a 20 month period, Kevin devised, launched and implemented a culture change and communications programme to support the transformation of the Healthcare Commission’s complaints team. The programme was instrumental in mobilising the management and staff behind a programme of reform that included the design and launch of new business processes, the adoption of a range of performance management initiatives, the creation and roll-out of a bespoke management development programme and the execution of a multi-channel communications plan. The complaints team went from a 5,000 case backlog and direct management oversight from a Department of Health recovery board to the provision of a first-class customer service delivered within a self imposed stringent service level agreement. Furthermore, the culture moved from autocratic reactionism to empowered self-determination. Targets and measures moved from a stick to beat staff with, to being clear indicators of performance and tools to drive continuous improvement.

Kevin’s business and life experience is extensive and valuable. Having started his career as a chemist, he has been extremely successful within the commercial environment of high level sales and marketing and now with a proven track record within change management consultancy, he has the ‘tool kit’ to make a significant contribution in a fast and controlled manner. He has excellent analytical and planning skills, is an accomplished workshop facilitator, has a strong creative streak, and the management and people skills to deliver implementation support and direction to ensure that plans get delivered to quality and timing goals.

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Kevin Bolt, MBA, MCIM