Business
By Richard Freeman CEO, always possible
What I have learnt from 400 business leaders in lockdown March 2020. I was due to host a Future Skills Summit, with guest speakers from across the UK holding plenaries on the circular economy, the Internet of Things and the changing workplace. I was also facilitating a two-day summit on big data and tourism, in partnership with the University of Brighton. As Programme Director for Essex 2020, over 1000 events stretched ahead bringing together big engineering firms, artists, libraries, teenage hackers – you name it – to celebrate science and creativity in misunderstood towns. But by the 23rd, I was suddenly very available. And quite frightened. Much of my professional life has revolved around creating spaces for people to scale new ideas or deepen connections with the communities they serve. It took a little while to recalibrate and to fully understand that the spaces we now needed to occupy were digital ones. The upside is that the always possible team could spend time with more people, giving advice and practical support – but mainly just listening. A year on, and I can be more reflective about the different, and complex, decisions over 400 teams and executives have been making in the sectors
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we work with, from construction to the arts, to hospitality, retail, tech and more. If it’s possible to distil some of the insights into four lessons, regardless of sector or size, it is these:
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Never underestimate your team People tend to pull out the stops in a crisis. And the past 12 months has pushed leaders to re-evaluate the value, wellbeing and capacity to innovate of the people around them. Nearly always finding a previously untapped well of ‘can-do and mend’. We’ve been asked to help with restructures and shifts to home-working, but the genuine joy is seeing people fall back in love with their work when they can give themselves permission to do things differently; to step back and be reminded of their core mission. “We just feel so useful to our customers again”, one tech COO told me – and that energy is infectious.
2
Get an external sounding-board Ambition + fear x decision-making = noise. And we’ve been hearing over and again that many small business owners are getting tinnitus from the shrill push and pull of what they’re told they should be doing. From making spaces Covidsecure to launching new digital products, we’ve learnt there is not a single new process that doesn’t benefit from some critical friendship.
And it doesn’t need to cost the Earth. Across Sussex, programmes such as the Business Hothouse; the BRITE programme and all of the local growth hubs have been providing fully funded support. In East Sussex, we’ve been r u n nin g th e > B R E AKTH R OUGH programme for female and ethnic minority founders, as well as giving access to over £1m of growth grants to a range of SMEs as part of the South East Business Boost.
❛❛ It took a little while to recalibrate and
to fully understand that the spaces we now needed to occupy were digital ones ❜❜
