Corporate Profile: Eustis, Fla.-based Pringle Development is a developer of active adult communities and builder of single family homes in Central Florida. The company has a record for more than 20 years focusing on the Florida retirement community concept, offering complete architectural design services for pre-designed and custom homes.
Pringle Development was founded in 1981, and has developed six active adult communities with more than 5,000 home sales. In 2004, the company became employee owned. It also operates a resale division specializing in its own communities and homes.
Mission: Pringle takes an unwavering approach in applying its founders' core ideals of trust, integrity and doing the right thing. The company strives to become America's most successful employee-owned home builder by delivering greater value to its customers than available from competitors.
Management Team: Alan Parrow, president/chief executive officer; Ken Knorr, vice president of quality assurance and business solutions; Brian Nagle, vice president of sales, marketing and design; and Tony DeLuca, chief financial officer and vice president of accounting
Strategic Goals: Pringle undertakes significant strategic planning efforts to stay on top of the 55-plus market and ensure it continues to meet its customer needs. Each February, it sets key success goals such as numbers of leads, visits and home closings. In 2004, Pringle established “Tiger Teams,” for strategic planning by small teams that address specific issues and problems.
Judge's Comments: “Pringle has established communication channels within the organization that facilitate the effective deployment of its vision. Leaders are highly visible and engaged as role models in driving the vision and ensuring that all employees are aware of how it connects to everyday work. Strategic challenges are documented, deployed and monitored through the use of performance indicators. Continual improvement is managed through the use of 'Tiger Teams.'”
Pringle Development
Best Practices: Strategic Planning
Planning is about setting an effective game plan with focus. Eustic, Fla.-based Pringle Development improved its planning process and success rates wtih a focus that company leaders derived from "Tiger Teams."
Tiger Teamwork. Adapting a concept originally employed by the U.S. military, Pringle's Tiger Teams typically comprise of a small number of employees representing various disciplines at the company. Like a tiger going after prey, the teams sharply focus on very specific targets —issues that arise in the course of growing the business.
During the last 18 months, Pringle has used more than 20 such teams to attack issues ranging from strategic planning, to more tactical areas as diverse as compensation and pay grades, application for NHQ awards and inventory management of marketing materials.
By all accounts, the Tiger Teams are working. In the area of designing its strategic plan for 2005—a document critical to guide the company's future growth—company president Alan Parrow directed a Tiger Team that met bi-weekly for several months. Each member accepted assignments, researched facts and proposed solutions which were then debated and modified by top management. The company identified not only strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, but also core competencies which could be leveraged to gain market share.
Teaming for NHQ recognition. Pringle likewise formed a Tiger Team to prepare an application for the 2006 NHQ award. Consisting of five senior executives, each member accepted a section to author which was subsequently presented to the whole team, debated and then finalized on content before presentation to Parrow for final approval.
Overall, Pringle has found the focused Tiger Teams bring more accountability while promoting action and problem solving among the team and company. Most recently, a team was formed to take the company toward formal NHQ certification. That team, responsible for developing a coherent Quality Manual, conducted gap analyses and recommended areas for continuous improvement and has now finished its work. |
