Employee Spotlight Of The Month: Keith Hardy – Managing Director

Welcome to the nineteenth of our ‘Employee Spotlight of the Month’ interviews! At Dakota, we believe that everyone within our organisation plays an equally important role in making the company what it is today.

Each month we will be sharing an interview with a member of staff in order to showcase their key responsibilities within the business and the benefits which they offer to our valued customer base.

This month we spoke with Keith Hardy, Managing Director, to find out more about his role within Dakota.

1. How long have you worked at Dakota and how long have you been in your current role?

I founded Dakota in June 2002 and have been the Managing Director ever since the company’s inception over twenty years ago.

2. What does the role of Managing Director at Dakota involve?

Since Dakota is a relatively small but rapidly growing business, I often find myself getting involved in a wide range of tasks which are pivotal to the day-to-day running of the company. As Managing Director, I am a key member of the Management Team and responsible for overseeing and controlling the company’s operations in order to give strategic guidance and direction, ensuring that we achieve our mission-critical goals and objectives.  As we are growing at such a fast pace, I am heavily involved in the hiring of new employees to help us continue our growth trajectory, whilst keeping in mind the direction of the business and driving the company forward as we successfully embrace new technologies and markets. We are also coming to the end of a particularly challenging twelve months during which we have moved offices twice, so my role often involves a lot of planning, which has been of particular importance during this past year. I also help to maintain relationships with our business partners, the number of which has grown significantly over the last few years.

3. What key attributes do you believe you need in order to achieve success within your role?

In order to achieve success within my role, it is vital that I have a firm understanding of the markets in which the business operates as well as having a balanced judgement on the everyday occurrences that come hand in hand with owning a company. It is also vital that I truly understand the business as well as ensuring that I have a firm handle on the financial realities, make challenging and measured decisions and act for the benefit of the whole business, whilst appreciating the fantastic team that we have here at Dakota. 

4. What do you enjoy most about your role at Dakota?

I enjoy many things about my role, but most of all I enjoy seeing and achieving success not only on a personal level, but also seeing the hard-working staff at the company achieve their individual goals and successes. Whilst it’s been a particularly challenging twelve months due to office moves, exponential growth and long-term staff retirement, we have also seen hugely positive changes within the business as a whole. We have recently welcomed some fantastic new members of staff, we have moved into our fabulous new office and warehouse space and the business is continuing to develop, thrive and grow. It’s definitely an extremely exciting time for us all! 

5. What are the most challenging aspects of your role?

I would say that one of the most challenging aspects of my role at this moment in time is the way that customer-facing work has changed so significantly since the Covid pandemic. Supply chain issues also continue to be problematic – no longer can we always expect items to be in stock or expect a smooth transition from product order to delivery. Hopefully this will change for the better in due course and in the fulness of time.

6. How do you believe that your role positively impacts our customers’ experience?

I believe that my role positively impacts our customers because I help to ensure that everything runs smoothly in order to provide the highest possible level of service to our valued and wide-ranging customer base. We are always delighted to welcome new customers into the fold, however we never take our eye off our existing customers, as they will always be pivotal to the success and growth of the business.

7. And finally…..please give us an interesting or fun fact about yourself

I used to play table tennis in the mid-Lancashire league. One fixture was held at Wymott Open Prison! I had to play the inmates and mark the scores on the floor in chalk – needless to say, all their games were played at home…..