solent 250 roundtable 45


Customer and competitor research has taken place, knowledge and understanding gained, and Colt's future is mapped out.


“Now it's all about leadership. We need to take our people with us on this journey. The leadership team approach is to develop, coach and train – to help people look and move in the right direction. Most people like to be part of something positive, and I am currently very encouraged with our open, inclusive programme.”


Giving people more scope to ‘own' their work is key, but so is enabling them to do their work, either through practical training or empowerment. The future ‘One Colt' way of working will be a culture where people work together internationally, understand common objectives, have no silos or internal competition, and focus on customer service satisfaction, said Buckingham, who although MD, sees his role as a programme facilitator.


“It's all about the leadership, their individual and combined behaviour – are they actually living and breathing the company values?


“You can do everything possible to get the right people, but it's only when they are actually doing the job that you discover if they truly lead by example. You find out quite quickly because other people start to vote with their feet.


“There are tough decisions to be made. If you are trying to mature a business, to make it match-fit for today's evolving market, you'll have to make changes. So, make sure to explain why, and include everyone on the journey with you. Communication is even more important than it was 10 years ago.


‘Command and control' leadership doesn't work nowadays, largely because of modern communication – social media, worldwide awareness, online comparison and critiquing – empowering outspokenness, choice, and lifestyle flexibility, he noted. “Everything gets out into the public domain very quickly. If we treat our staff in a certain fashion, the ramifications are that our clients will feel that as well.


“For us, culture is absolutely about how we do things around here.”


Nick Buckingham


Grant Thornton's Norman Armstrong added: “Changing an existing culture is very difficult, I think you can more easily create a new culture, or build on what you have.”


Achieving change is a good measure of a culture's strength, David Moxon remarked.


Murray: “Changing an organisation's culture is often seen as one of the most difficult leadership challenges”.


Buckingham: “It's about building a culture where people accept that change is a way of life.”


Culture change requires the right leaders . . .


Recruitment specialist Mike Gawthorne runs a 200-strong company, which has seen significant recent change. “Our group DNA now is authenticity, inclusiveness and empowerment. The challenge is making sure we have the right leadership teams in place, within our corporate holding company structure of subsidiary businesses.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JULY/AUGUST 2016


Lawyer James Hawkeswood highlighted how Blake Morgan had changed from a traditional firm to a progressive 21st century service provider. “Particularly given the mergers we have done, we've had to bring people together from different geographies and made them feel part of a combined endeavour. We are far more businesslike than we were, and operate in a market that is increasingly competitive. We have always had very bright and able people coming to work for us, but more than ever it is important that they are driven and motivated by what we want to achieve.


“All of us now appreciate it is not about authoritarian leadership. Engaged staff actually want to be involved with their business, feel they work somewhere that shares their values and is progressing what they want to do. And, if you are very client focused, like us, making sure your clients see and feel that is very important too.”


HSBC's Anthony Reed stated: “Companies often think they can dictate culture, and I am not sure you can. Environment is really important, but culture comes through good people with values – who and how you hire, how the organisation interacts, all determine how they will react, and importantly, reflect the organisational culture when you are not with them.


“If I want to grow my business, I can only achieve it through my people.” To be effective, today's leaders have to be accessible, inspire and motivate; knowing your people is vital.”


Armstrong observed a growing influence: “Five years ago very few people spoke about workplace culture but it really dominates the lexicon now. And the question is: ‘What kind of culture do we need within our organisation to be successful in the next five to 10 years?”


Mike Gawthorne


“Cultural diligence never happened till a few years ago. In three to five years time it will be an essential part of the due diligence process – ‘What is the nature of the culture we are buying?''


. . . and true heroes, not firestarters


Armstrong highlighted false leadership, where a leader might agree something at board level then denigrate the decision when reporting back to his team. “That's how culture can break down.”


Gawthorne suggested the views of organisational ‘heroes'– invariably honest hard- working individuals, with astute organisational awareness – could be helpful to true leaders.


Armstrong noted: “They may be the ones culturally held out by employees as the active heroes – but they may not be the right ones for your objectives.”


Some ‘heroes' can also be firestarters he revealed: “They start operational fires, just to show people that they can put them out.”


How do you hire the right people for the right culture?


Recruitment specialist Gawthorne said hiring the right person to suit an existing culture was difficult enough, but businesses aiming for cultural change needed to be brave too – a challenging hire, in more ways than one.


Persona mapping was a useful approach to individual recruitment, but getting the right message out to the market was also key.


Continued overleaf ... businessmag.co.uk


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