solent 250 Awards Dinner 2018
Recognition for South Coast success and diversity
The six Solent 250 businesses chosen for recognition this year by an independent panel of judges provided ample evidence of the very wide range of skilled and talented management teams and workforces operating in the South Coast region
This year’s Solent 250 award-winners ranged from an innovative marine engineering specialist to a major UK telecoms provider, a southern-based homebuilder to a UK top- 25 motor dealership group, and a family-run building services contractor to a coastal holiday park business.
“We’ve run the Solent 250 listing* of top private companies in the region for eight years now and we are always struck by the diversity of businesses included,” remarked David Murray, publisher of The Business Magazine, when welcoming the invited guests to The Harbour Hotel in Ocean Village, Southampton.
“Manufacturing and engineering do lead the way, but there’s a large number of
companies in the services sector and it’s interesting to see so many housebuilders and car dealerships in the list, which represents a combined corporate turnover of more than £14 billion.”
“The retirement sector will always be prominent on the South Coast, but the Solent region is also home to lots of entrepreneurial businesses, start-ups and SMEs – for example, Bournemouth has the UK’s fastest growing digital tech cluster,” noted Murray.
The marine and maritime sector provides 20% of the Solent’s GVA and international trade is a key economic component with the Port of Southampton annually handling exports worth £40b.
Are you being creative or simply conforming?
Fold your arms. Unfold them. Now try to fold them the other way ..... physically awkward, mentally tricky, it feels wrong?
You’re not alone.
As workplace innovation consultant Kursty Groves revealed by this simple test for her awards dinner audience, we all get used to doing things in certain ways – or conforming to the accepted norm.
From childhood, when our minds are often most creative, we are taught to comply, to do things like other people, to follow workplace procedures. Like-mindedness is fine for human safety and social convenience but not necessarily innovative thinking.
Yet, unlocking human creativity, innovation and empathy will become commercially more important as robotics and AI are integrated, handling monotonous or
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MAY/JUNE 2018
repetitive workflows, within the future business world, Groves highlighted.
While many adults today have become unintentional conformists by society-led habit, Groves suggests workforces should be assisted in re-awakening their creativity and achieving innovation – “the habit of continually doing things in new ways to make a positive difference in working lives.”
Employers should aim to create workspaces that enable innovation. Research has shown that the physical and cultural nature of workplace environments can help people feel healthier, inspired, improve their productivity, change attitudes and assist learning, noted Groves.
“Over 80% of CEOs see creativity as important to their business, yet don’t provide creative space at work. Actually, spaces are not creative, but the people in them can be.”
The issue is creating the right workspace to unlock human creativity and innovation. The internet has led workstyle change, reflected in a spatial revolution in workplace design. “The traditional office is decreasingly becoming the workplace norm.
“But, you only have to look at the number of breakthrough innovations born at kitchen tables or in damp garages to know that beanbags and slides at work will not necessarily make everyone creative.
“By really understanding the drivers behind physical environment and its impact on people, you can actually use it as a strategic business tool.”
Hence, the need to give employees work environments in which to concentrate alone, discuss or relax with colleagues, have the freedom to think differently, be creative, and even to fail.
Continued overleaf ...
businessmag.co.uk
37 Kursty Groves
Portsmouth’s defence and manufacturing cluster contributes £1.6b GVA and supports 20,000 jobs.
“Nearly 44% of businesses in the region are over 10 years old, demonstrating the maturity of the Solent business environment,” he added.
“There are some 50,000 businesses in the Solent economy and it is heartening – despite the uncertainty of Brexit – to see such buoyancy and positive endeavour on the South Coast.”
*The Solent 250 annual listing is compiled by The Business Magazine and sponsored by HSBC, business adviser RSM and law firm Irwin Mitchell.
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