Shaun's Story

Shaun Pledger is group MD of leading UK architectural metalworkers, Alloy Fabweld, and its family of metal-related brands. A firm believer in ‘the more you give, the more you get back’, Shaun, a founding member of group V375, tells us how Vistage helped him create businesses rich in purpose, meaning and direction. 

“I love coming to work”, says Shaun, who is always pushing the boundaries as to what metal can do. ”We’re a business that’s either innovating new products or creating a product that’s really difficult to build. If it hasn’t been done before we’re usually at the front of the queue.” 

“There’s not a person in my Vistage group that I wouldn’t trust with my life.” 

The company’s diverse range of brands include Flexi Group, Transporter and Hunwick Engineering – the only UK engineering business that is fully green powered by off grid photovoltaic and biomass energy. It also owns metal sculpture firm, Livin’ Art, and commercial gym equipment brand, Rebel Strength, which last year, supplied strongman Eddie “The Beast” Hall with half-tonne weights. Several charities fall under the Alloy Fabweld group. 

While the group of companies are diverse, “one thing, aside from metal, connects them all”, says Shaun, “and Member Case Study www.vistage.co.uk “There’s not a person in my Vistage group that I wouldn’t trust with my life.” Shaun Pledger MD of Alloy Fabweld that’s staff with a shared sense of purpose - a belief in ‘why’ we do what we do. Your employees need to share that same belief in order for you to create and sustain a positive workplace culture. Some of our staff have been with us for 25 years”.

Power of Why

I first seriously considered Vistage about three years ago when a friend who runs a concrete company said you’ve got to come to Vistage, it’s fantastic. He is a very employeefriendly boss and more my ilk and I thought if it works for him, it might just work for us. 

“Since joining Vistage our sales have gone up 100%”

It was a privilege to be invited to a meeting but I went with a little apprehension. As a leader it’s easy to think you’re the only one that has problems, but right from the start it was clear that wasn’t the case. Every leader in the group faced the same problems and challenges and wanted the same support. Being surrounded by people with good ideas always solves problems quicker than trying to resolve them on your own. 

I’ve been with my group for almost three years now and they have 100% changed the dynamics of my business by influencing how I think, resource and employ. They are an incredible bunch of people: highly enthusiastic, complementary and often challenging, especially when you’re in the Vistage ‘hot seat’ sharing issues. There’s not a person in my Vistage group that I wouldn’t trust with my life.

The group also helped me forge my ‘Why’ - a concept I hadn’t heard about until I joined Vistage. Three to four years ago I probably couldn’t have told you why we were in business. My whole life is now driven by ‘Why’. 

Our ‘Why’ is ‘changing the world one smile at a time’ and we do that in many ways. We’ve building programmes in Soweto and Rwanda and we work with a UK charity called Steel Warriors where we take up to 16 tonnes of knives from the Metropolitan Police each year and turn them into steel billets. These are then turned into gym equipment for city parks. 

The fact is, while we like making metal ‘work’, everyone within the group likes making people smile so a lot of our profit goes into that. Plus, the more we give back, the more work we seem to get; the more work we get, the more we give back. In three years, our sales have gone up 100%. The combined group is on target to turn over £50 million this year.

Navigating Covid

Understanding ‘Why’ we do what we do has also helped us stay on track during the pandemic. We were all entering the journey together but no-one within the group or within government had the answers – definitely a first! Kevin our chair very quickly set up a Covid action group. Having access to such great advice and support enabled us to bring in strategies and methodologies of working that we‘re probably now not going to lose. By challenging how we work because of Covid we’re probably a stronger team.

My advice to someone else would be to find the ’Why’ in life and business and to get the right people to work with you as profit will always follow. It’s a byproduct of believing in what you do. The hardest thing in the world is building the culture and finding people to join you on that journey, but when you do it’s a winwin for everyone: the employees, the business, and the community. Most of our business ideas have come from the workers on the shop floor who’ve felt empowered to say I’ve an idea, ‘what do you think?’

Vistage has helped me shape a company driven by the right values and build a 250-strong team that truly are the bedrock of the business.