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The beauty of a business is in the eye of the beholder

Freddie Guilmard.

Finding the right balance between performance and culture is the key to defining what makes a great business. Freddie Guilmard, of leadership consultancy RTP, elaborates.

OVER the last 30 years I have worked with many businesses… some great and some I was glad to leave.

While wrestling with a complex project recently, I wondered ultimately what makes a great business today. Is it brilliant products? Is it a fabulous culture? Is it visionary leadership? Is it a business that makes huge profits or has an impact our planet? Or is it something else?

When commissioned to help leaders to improve their performance by changing their culture, I often talk about the need to balance both. A great culture that everyone loves to be a part of but in which you often miss your commercial goals will never be taken seriously.

By the same token, a business that drives the relentless pursuit of profit for a small group of directors/shareholders, will mean potentially high employee turnover and a brand reputation that might prevent you from attracting the very best people in your sector, which ultimately will limit your opportunity for growth.

Now, of course – and as you would expect – having worked with many organisations in various sectors and many different cultures and seen all types of leadership, I have a view of what running a great business looks like.

Before sharing this with you, I got in touch with several clients, from the private and public sector, ranging from less than £5 million turnover to more than £250 million to ask them what they thought. My question was: “If you ran the best company in the world, what are the three things you would never compromise on?”

Imagine my absolute delight when every response I got mentioned people.

The essence of the comments was always to hire those with the right attitude and invest in them with training, development and competitive remuneration. Then drive loyalty and retention by listening to them.

The second most common answer was customers. Love your customers by building meaningful relationships and be easy to do business with.

Far too often, businesses lose their customers by focusing on the wrong priorities or by having Key Performance Indicators that make no or little difference. They then end up blaming poor or cumbersome processes rather than listening to what their customer needs are and acting on it. Little of the feedback included both the external and internal customers.

The third most common answer was the importance of a world-class product or service. Is your product or service something people want? Is it good enough and relevant? How do people talk about what you make or offer?

I then had several other comments, some relating to the sector or the business the leaders were operating within. I was pleased to see that many mentioned the importance of impacting their community and planet for good, having a clear vision and purpose, strong values and never ever compromising on having great coffee

I have to admit that I am completely aligned with what these leaders have to say. I would also add, never compromise on who joins your business, never walk past poor behaviour and never be afraid to change your mind if someone has a better idea.

The reality is that no business is perfect. Everyone is on a journey and winning will mean different things to each of us.

My advice is to make sure your team understands what this means and create the future together as it will be more sustainable… and fun.

Freddie Guilmard is the chief executive and a high-performance coach at RTP, a boutique consultancy that supports leaders in addressing their big issues by building human organisations.

freddie@the-redthread.co.uk

the-redthread.co.uk

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