|
About Us
Hedley Basford - Principal
Consultant
 Prior to forming Survey Innovation with his co-director, Mike Sharpe, Hedley Basford was an independent management consultant for 20 years. He first became interested in surveys in 1985 when he helped a horticultural co-operative to select new computer systems. He conducted a survey of the customers of the short listed supplier, in which the last question was "If you were buying your system again today, would you go back to your current supplier?". Half the customers said no, with varying degrees of supporting invective! This experience alerted Hedley to the fact that many companies fail to understand the importance of testing their internal opinions of what their customers think of them, with what the customers actually think of them! It also made him aware of the power and importance of conducting surveys.
Since then, Hedley has conducted a variety of surveys for different types of company. He discovered that customers actually like being approached by their suppliers for feedback. They see it as a sign that their suppliers care about them and are keen to improve products and services. It strengthens the bond between them and both parties benefit. Hedley has also conducted surveys of management styles. It takes a brave director to submit to a challenging questionnaire that measures the quality of his management style, and then agrees to allow his staff to complete the same survey on him. In reality, everyone benefits.
Hedley is a chartered accountant and has an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management (now Cranfield University). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultancy. He gained post-qualification experience with Arthur Andersen & Co, in the days when that name was well respected! After Cranfield he joined the Sears Holdings Group in a newly created post of Group Financial Systems Manager. Later, after moving into line management for several years, he founded his own management consultancy practice in 1983.
Hedley's many years of consulting, working with directors, managers and staff in a wide range of companies and organisations, private and public, enable him to understand quickly the key issues and to advise where surveys can bring real benefits.
As an antidote to work, Hedley and his wife, Hazel, are bell ringers at Canterbury Cathedral and other local churches. He enjoys music, playing the clarinet, tenor sax and accordion.
|
