Creating successful and sustainable businesses…

Creating successful and sustainable businesses…

…was the focus of discussions at an event run through “Create” – a network for business owners hosted at Fruitworks, Kent’s No. 1 co-working space based in the heart of Canterbury City.

For those of you who don’t know, Fruitworks is based in a pretty cool Victorian warehouse in the centre of Canterbury, and is led by Paul Andrews the brains behind other successful businesses and the Business Bunker Radio Show.

When we were invited by Paul to run this session we agreed that a topic troubling many business owners is how they achieve their aspirations for success. In planning for the session, the following questions emerged for us:

• How do we each define success?
• What are the key challenges getting in the way of achieving our aspirations?
• How can we think differently about the way we, and our businesses, work?

Glasses charged, hors d’oeuvres in hand (or cocktail sausage!)… and off we went in search of some answers!

What success means to me – not just profits, a whole range of factors personal to me!

Success for the participating businesses was not just about profit, although we know profits are indeed healthy. Business owners began by speaking of success as a very individual thing, something “personal to me” with expectations that “we set for ourselves”.  Referring to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs [1] participants spoke about fulfilling ‘basic needs’; the ability to put food on the table and pay the bills. From there, success focused on building and sustaining relationships [2], a desire for belongingness and satisfying others, such as fellow business owners and customers. The distinction between profit and wider prosperity was made, alluding to the belief that business was more than just a vehicle through which to achieve our own goals; business holds the potential to drive social good and change. The ability to think and look differently at the way we deliver our work, be creative and continuously seek better ways of doing things rounded off this piece of the discussions. So success was a combination of personal and wider growth aspirations

Achieving our aspirations – strategy and long term are important, working ‘on’ not just ‘in’

Whilst each business is unique, and exists in its own particular context, common challenges to achieving their aspirations surfaced from the group. Initially there was a focus on the ‘here and now issues’: The challenge of navigating Government systems and policies “red tape” was high on the agenda. Businesses commented that it “often feels like we’re trying to run with our shoelaces tied together…it’s not easy or graceful and often a struggle”! Business owners remarked of a need to sell well, identifying which channels develop and sell through; and a “need to engage with social media, but not always being sure of its value”. As the session warmed up, perspectives began to broaden out as observations were made that with finite resources, strategic thinking was required to ensure that the most was made of what resources we each have. Of particular importance to participants was that finding, selecting and retaining the right people was central to sustainable success, not least, in order  to release time for owners to work ‘on’ the business, not just ‘in it’.

Time to think differently about the way we work – reflecting on ‘what works’

In supporting businesses to succeed Dr Mark Gilman and Dr Simon Raby [3] provided insights to how central Government policy has typically been oriented towards focusing on identifying ‘winners’ or ‘high growth firms’. This is where the lion’s share of support has tended to end up. What research shows however, is that growth is episodic. Beliefs are beginning to change, with a recognition that all businesses are ‘creators’ in their own rights and that in order to support business we must understand the process through which growth and performance is achieved, before focusing on a few  outputs of this process (e.g. increase in employees, sales turnover and so on). Growth potential lies with many more businesses than the 6% of businesses [4]!

Mark and Simon discussed some common problems faced by business owners and their businesses within their research, and introduced The BIG Ten [5] – ten characteristics that have been found amongst better performing firms, and those achieving their aspirations. Through exploring these characteristics participants observed:

“I recognise that there are some things I like doing and have a preference for, and others less so!”

“I need to build a team around me that has an eye on each of these areas”

“It’s opened further questions that I need to take away and work on with my team”

               “overall, a really thought provoking evening, thank you!”

In response to the success of the evening we will now be looking at how we can continue these explorations and learning in the future. If this blog and/or the evening has wet your whistle, and you want to build relationships with like-minded business owners, be challenged to think differently, and benefit from a range of support, take a first step by telling us a little but about you, and your business, through our research programme. Click here to take part. Why not get in touch and tell us what you would like to explore and benefit from.

For further information on any of the content within this blog or the evening please contact Simon on 01227 824740 or [email protected]

References

[1] we refer to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs here to illustrate the claim that we need to fulfil our most basic needs before anything else.

[2] for a take on relationships, why not read another of our blogs “relationships make the world go round” from our business owner network.

[3] Dr Mark Gilman and Dr Simon Raby are academics working through the Kent Business School. They have worked with over 500 growing SMEs over the past decade, and have translated this research into a range of strategic leadership development programmes, tools and techniques to support ambitious owner-managers.

[4] high growth firms are often labelled as the ‘6 percenters’ to demonstrate their prevalence amongst the wider business population.

[5] for a free copy of a mini report please get in touch, or alternatively you can purchase the full report for a small sum of money by clicking here. All proceeds go towards the research process, which aims to understand what drives the growth and performance of SMEs.