EF News
We asked - you answered!
As part of our Big Question feature, we asked four Forum members: what challenges have you faced while growing your business? and how have you overcome them?
James Allen, Guerilla
Most business leaders seem to agree that one of the biggest challenges in any business is managing, motivating, and inspiring employees to achieve their individual and collective potential. Firstly, you quickly learn that there is nothing particularly fair and productive in managing people in a homogenous way. Everyone is clearly wired up differently, so the psychological challenge is to fully understand their fears, hopes and then to really get to understand what is going to get them fired up.
Added to this difficulty, is the challenge of finding managers who can actually manage groups and individuals. For example, historically I have found that several highly paid managers have proactively swerved the task of providing objective and constructive feedback, largely for the fear of becoming ‘unpopular’. Overcoming this challenge seems to come down to the light bulb moment, when you realise in sporting terms that the most talented player on the pitch is not necessarily going to make best manager or leader. Getting the right robust appraisal systems in place, training and clear communication about people management expectations generally also helps solve the problem.
Joanne Warren, LUMO
TIME – Time should never be a challenge as it is all about prioritisation, however time is a challenge when you have a busy family life, and so do your team. Not everyone can work at fully capacity everyday and as a team this should be acknowledged so support is given so overall company objectives can be met.
I am lucky that I have a great team around me which ensures that time pressures are kept to a minimum across the whole team.
RECRUITMENT - COVID played a part in affecting recruitment and due to the uncertainties in the economy it made it difficult for candidates to make the leap of faith and change employers.
At Lumo we have built up a recruitment pool of desirable team members. Working with the right recruitment consultants who have taken the time to understand Lumo’s values and culture ensures attitude and cultural fit are the most important attributes of the ideal team member.
SYSTEMS, PROCESSES, PROCEDURES – Louise at Lumo is our systems champion. She makes sure we follow the systems and continuously improves them. She doesn’t let anyone get away it, that means Lee and Graeme too! Joking apart, as a team we are improving all the time.
Marie Ranson, Key Wellbeing
Our biggest challenge, which you can probably guess, has been the pandemic. A few months after launching Key Wellbeing, Covid-19 hit hard and we were forced to reimagine our business model - taking our in-house delivery to a complete digital offering.
What started as a library of free, online employee wellbeing resources led to an MVP, with user data confirming that we were onto something that people enjoyed using. Since then, we’ve been through a big transition, from working with subcontractors to hiring headcount - finding good people is tough right?! Not to mention managing an ever-changing working environment and keeping on top of what employees want to enable us to retain good talent.
As leaders, we’ve learnt that we need to be flexible, adaptive and proactive with our solutions to work with organisations and enable them to thrive and remain resilient in these very changing times.
Lizzie Adamson-Brown, Travel Counsellors
COVID has to have been the biggest challenge to have affected business. With the world locked down, I had to unravel so much of my hard work.
During this time, I ensured I remained visible and available for, not just my own clients, but for others who were struggling to negotiate the ever -changing requirements and regulations. I didn’t make anything from this, BUT it was the right thing to do, at a time when confusion reigned.
In addition, I kept myself busy supporting other local businesses. With international travel hit, many people were taking breaks in the UK, giving an opportunity for local businesses to benefit massively.
This, and surrounding myself with a supportive team, helped keep me focussed and positive.
The great news is, that since relaxation of regulations, I’m busier than ever, and already achieved a number of awards for looking after my clients during this challenging time.
