A new Business Group with Soul

When business, religion and community come together, it’s a heady and powerful combination. So, in these times of perceived corporate greed, massive increases in CEO remuneration and austerity in the streets, it could have been a potential spark to the gunpowder keg.

But it wasn’t like that at all.

When the Ely Cathedral Business Group launched this week, culminating with their business exhibition in the cathedral and evening event last night to celebrate Business in the Community, it couldn’t have been more inspiring!

ECBG believes that for a healthy community, you need a healthy business community too; as they both work together. And the purpose of this group is to explore and strengthen this bond, help businesses succeed and communities grow stronger.

Very persuasive arguments were eloquently made by CEO’s from Spearhead International and John Lewis, Tom Green and Charlie Mayfield together with Bishop of Ely Rt. Rev Stephen Conway.

Quite a cocktail of speakers.

It was fascinating to learn about John Lewis’s partnership model, where CEO pay is linked to remuneration on the shop floor and where Managers, top to bottom, are held accountable to the people that work for them.

Interesting too, that building a business and passing the value on doesn’t have to be all about selling it, yet the tax breaks to do otherwise can be penalising. And that a huge proportion of stock exchange transactions to sell these days are automatic, based upon computer algorithms.

The general stance of the ECBG was that it is time to ditch short termism; based upon continual profit and to generate a longer term stability and platform that supports the wellbeing of the community.

This was an excellent launch event and I’m sure that they will do well as the fundamentals upon which they are built are solid and make sense. It was such a pleasure to enjoy the majesty of the Cathedral and to be able to circulate all of the stands and not feel that you are in the usual exhibition ‘shark tank’ with everyone wanting to high pressure sell.

Well done to ECBG, this event sold itself. I’m very confident that the organisation will flourish and do well and I look forward to finding out more about how they intend supporting the community within which I live.

Jonathan Wainwright enables organisations to create commercial success through digital marketing, traditional communications and team development.

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Thinking ahead isn’t easy because the present can hold us back

In Victorian times, due to industrial grime, the Midlands was called, “The Black Country” and London had shocking pea soup “Smog”. What was normal then, would horrify us and be unacceptable today.

So, not everything about prosperity is good. The industrial revolution’s pollution is one very good example. Things had to change and they did, yet breaking free can present a difficult challenge.

Today’s equivalent to the Industrial Revolution’s pollution is “Austerity”. A great word – it sounds serious and severe, yet full of traditional virtue and values. It covers a gambit of situations, primarily politically and banker made, yet with the impact pressing down firmly on the shoulders of the populous.

The result is that money is tight, the banks won’t lend. Jobs are becoming scarcer, particularly for youngsters. Wages are static, costs rising with customers demanding better value. And dealing with customer complaints has got to the bureaucratic point of idiocy.

The face of retailing has changed forever, as the ability to research any topic is a mouse click away, meaning that we are all getting much more ‘Savvy’ in the way we do business. At some stage soon, the next sea change will come about and to survive society and business needs will change yet again.

So what we need right now are special gifted people and organisations who have the insight to work out how to get us out of the “Austerity” dilemma. To find the Higgs Boson particle of the business world, what Donald Rumsfeld famously called, for different reasons, his “Unknown unknowns”.

These people are the next generation Branson’s, Job’s and Zuckerberg’s. The true innovators, whose challenge is to create something new rather than ride on the back of an existing opportunity wave.

Some may call that crystal ball gazing. Others may call it vision or foresight. And others may say that evolution is better than revolution. But whatever way, it takes a very special organisation or individual to achieve this. And generally one where the leader has a clear and radical view of the future and is seeking the solution to get there with an open mind.

So, what’s your take on this? And what message do you have for the business community so it can kick “Austerity” into touch?

Jonathan Wainwright

enables organisations to create commercial success through digital marketing, traditional communications and team development.

Join me on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Inspiration from Nelson Mandela

2009 has been a tough year for many of us, so here are a few words from the great man to inspire us all to achieve something special during 2010.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around us.
We were born to make manifest the Glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”.

Nelson Mandela, 1994 inaugural speech

‘Found Out’- a thought provoking Exhibition from Fran Crowe

Sponsored by AdeC (Arts Development East Cambridgeshire), ‘Found Out’ challenges what we do with our plastic rubbish.  It is a thought-provoking and powerful reminder, from artist Fran Crowe, about why we need to look after the world we all live in. 

According to the UN, there are over 46,000 pieces of plastic litter per square mile of ocean worldwide, leading to the death of over 1,000,000 seabirds and over 100,000 marine mammals every year through entanglement or swallowing.  The exhibition explores the relationship between plastics and the environment, which provides a fascinating, yet disturbing insight into how we treat our world. 

Unless burned (which in turn pollutes) plastic it is extremely difficult to get rid of, so nearly all the plastic ever produced still exists in our homes, or in landfills and the oceans today and is growing at an alarming rate.

Fran’s work is 99% recycled, created from locally sourced discarded marine litter, mainly collected from East Anglia’s beaches.  Even nature’s most powerful washing machine can’t tame plastic.  It can take a1000 years or more to degrade in seawater and still continues to pollute with thousands of toxic microscopic fibres.  And Greenpeace recently discovered that there is a vortex of floating pieces of plastic in the southern Pacific which is the size of Texas.

Fran’s exhibition explores our relationship between increasing consumer demands for plastic packaging and materials and the environment.  The images are beautiful yet paradoxically made from waste.  And it all looks harmless enough, yet at the same time shocks, communicated playfully, teasing the viewer, lightening the moment before hitting them with plastic’s deadly message.

Entry is free and ‘Found Out’ runs until Sunday 22^nd November at Ely’s Babylon Gallery on Waterside.  The show includes a ‘matchbox gallery’, wildlife traps and an everlasting birdfeeder and is suitable for all ages.

www.adec.org.uk

Is Self-Directed Support the death knell for charities or saviour for people with a disability?

Self-directed support is the new social care policy being rolled out, to be in place by 2011.  It means larger charities will no longer be able to provide a ‘one size fits all’ bulk contracted service to local authorities.  Instead, they will have to sell their services direct to each customer, skills which most of them don’t currently have. 

By 2011 the Government wants the SDS system in place and fully operational.  Currently the scheme is creating a major upheaval for local authorities.  Why?  Because they have to assess each individual, allocate a care budget, support the creation of a care plan, approve it and then help the individual and their carers put it in place. 

Many are running behind schedule and right now there’s no clear indication of how, when or what the volume of this fledgling market will be.  And that’s a big problem for charities as many of them are geared to work with local authority contracts worth £000’s and the customers arriving automatically, rather than one-by-one and direct payment in the £0’s.

Added to this potentially chaotic situation, the mindset of many charities could easily hold them back.  Historically, those without a retail operation simply haven’t needed to adopt a commercial approach where customers have to be found, courted and sold to.  Customers have arrived courtesy of a local authority contract or spot purchase.  And, as in any organisation where the customer doesn’t pay directly for the service, customer care and service flexibility is generally at the back of the pack.  Furthermore, a ‘one size fits all’ service is driven almost entirely by cost.  And ironically, one of the things that contribute towards high costs is administration, which without investment in IT and customer relationship management processes is very labour intensive.

One example of this mindset is a label often given to the people served through social care.  Rather than politely referring to those they support as ‘customers’ or ‘clients’, they are rather unattractively labelled ‘service users’; unique to the industry.  And if you Google ‘service user’, you will see that it’s a tag that doesn’t go down at all well.

So what are the specific challenges charities face to deliver in the face of SDS?

The first one is scoping the business.  As it isn’t at all clear how the market will segment, scenarios need modelling to explore shaping the service.  For example how will the provision of consultancy or advice and the service to be delivered be separated?  The cost/income equation needs exploring to see what is and what isn’t viable and the impact, if any, upon their current business should they stop delivering to this sector of the market.

The second is how to tailor what they do and package it in a way that is customer friendly, relevant to the market and presented and marketed in a manner that is attractive so people will buy it.  As many charities have never had to do this, they may need to put in place a basic customer relationship management system along with a sales process and assign and train a sales team to sell their products and services. 

The third is the marketing communications strategy and plan, to deliver the new service to the market, which will have a considerable cost attached to it; one which charities are neither used to nor familiar with. 

Then IT and the accounts process will need upgrading, as the number of transactions, invoices and hence potential for customer queries are likely to considerably increase.  And with this comes the need for tighter credit control.

The final challenge is perhaps the biggest.  That is to transform the culture that underlies delivery of the current service.  Let’s call the current approach the ‘professional gift model’.  Here, care comes as a ‘gift’, something those that receive it cannot control or reshape.  Everything is decided for them by the professionals who assess what they need.  

If this is to change to a system where the client and their carers decide what they need and how, many current assumptions about control, purpose and responsibility will need to be revisited.  Furthermore, where the client has the power of choice, most staff working within this area are likely to feel undervalued and undermined, as choice means there is a need for persuasion and selling, rather than professional advice. 

They won’t be at all familiar with selling skills and it isn’t an area that they will particularly want to become involved with, as selling is often viewed as unprofessional.  And that’s perfectly normal.  As up until the introduction of SDS there was no need to sell; customers just arrived as consistently as the sun rises each morning.

On top of all this, judging just when to enter the market is a lottery.  Too soon and competitors can re-define their offering and pricing to provide greater ‘added value’ and be more competitive.  Too late and the opportunity can be lost.

What remains far from clear is whether or not there will be a place for the major providers.  They tend to have fixed facilities with high overheads, so unless they can be creative and flexible in their approach, the whole market could fragment into a cottage industry of family, friends and acquaintances, providing highly personalised, flexible services at low cost.

However, you can have your SDS cake and eat it.  For the last nine months I have been working with one of the more forward thinking regional charities.  They now have in place their offering for the market, ready and waiting to be introduced and rolled out at the right moment.  And for a win, win scenario, the approach that has been adopted will ensure that current services are delivered in a much greater customer centric manner too, which will help change mindsets.

The last word should be for people with a disability, the group of people that the scheme is designed to help.  For them the concept of SDS is enlightened.  So if local authorities and charities can make it work, they really will have equality, choice and independence.

Things that ‘Make my Day’

I don’t mean in the Clint Eastwood sense, but things that just make me smile and feel good about life.  And I mean little things that just happen day to day, not involving family and friends.

Generally, they are random acts. 

Perhaps a motorist stopping graciously at a zebra crossing, with a smile, so I can cross the road.  Or someone else stopping to let mother duck and her brood of ducklings cross the roads in Ely, safely.

Maybe it’s a casual smile or perhaps a cheery ‘Good Morning’ as you pass someone else walking down the street.  Or a shopkeeper’s small talk, remembering something you said when you last met.

I once heard about a train driver who sang information to the tune of “I Did It My Way” by Frank Sinatra.

So instead of “The next stop is Olympia where this train terminates.”

He sang, “And now, the end is near…… and now we reach…. our final destination.  We’ve come from High Street Ken….. and passed through all…… those other stations…..”

There was no reason for him to do it.  He wouldn’t get paid anymore for it.  Nobody would buy more tube tickets because of it.  There was no financial benefit.  No material incentive.

He was just having fun.  And the people on the train had fun, listening to him have fun.  It just made the people on the train feel better, helping to make the world go around.

I would like to have been on that train.

Yet it isn’t, to my knowledge, part of any Customer Relationship Management process in the world (apart from one internal South African airline who sing their safety message).  Can you imagine the conversation during the corporate planning process – the idea would be seen as far to ‘off the wall’.

Bring it on – it makes the world a better place.

Wounded

For the first time, the Ministry Of Defence has allowed television cameras to follow the recovery and rehabilitation of severely injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan.

Earlier in the week I watched this documentary which follows the journey of two seriously injured soldiers; Andy Allen, a 19-year-old Ranger and Tom Neathway, a 24-year-old Lance Corporal.

It moved me to tears.

We experience first-hand, the true effect of war. The ‘Collateral’ damage and sanitised pictures we usually get on TV, as some form of super PC Game, were stripped bare. Unlike the movies, what we saw here were real people, really, really hurt – blood guts and all.

And their families and loved one’s were there too, helplessly sharing their pain, anguish and journey to recovery. And here was I, a fly on the wall viewer feeling like a voyeur, watching this very intimate and personal journey unfold.

The programme humbled me and changed the way I think about things that personally trouble me and left me with three distinct and clear thoughts.

What impressed me most about both Andy and Tom was their formidable mental strength. They just got on with the job of getting better and back to living their lives. They were incredibly stoic, without an ounce of self pity. I truly hope that they can maintain this because it will make them unstoppable, achieving whatever they want to do in their lives.

They both had a magnificent sense of loyalty and belonging. The Army and their mates were incredibly important to them and they went the extra mile and will I’m sure, continue to do so for either. This was an unswerving loyalty and a quality they should be proud of, as self interest was definitely at the back of the pack.

That any politician even considering taking their country to war should watch this film at least twice and face up to the magnitude of human suffering and misery that their decision to pull the trigger will inevitably unleash upon thousands.

Here's Part One

Scary statistics for our youngsters

With boredom being one of the chief causes of petty vandalism, and youth unemployment at an all time high for fifteen years, this is a combination for disaster. And the situation’s going to get worse!

Official figures show that only two thirds of youngsters aged 16 and 17, that have already left school, have gained work in the three months to April and one in six of those aged 18 to 24 are unemployed – the most since July 1994. And job prospects for students leaving school this summer and there are tens of thousands of them, look equally bleak.

So with unemployment on the increase and companies cutting back on recruiting staff, to keep their existing workforce in place, this just adds to the youth dole queue misery, with the number of young people claiming benefits soaring by 80%; that’s nearly half a million people. And of these, young men are hit by far the hardest.

This is a social scandal on a par with politician’s expenses – creating long term unemployed before people have their first job.

So what can be done?

I think it’s been clear, for some time, that what’s taught in school has pretty much zero connection with the work place (unless the desire is to pursue academia), so I think that there is a huge opportunity for a job shadowing programme as an ongoing part of a school’s curriculum. Unlike ‘Work Experience’ this would provide youngsters with variety, following different job functions; from ‘CEO’ to ‘Post Room’, in different industries.

Hence they would pick up valuable all round knowledge and understanding of what happens in the working world. It could be organised through local Chambers of Commerce or Business Link and provided at no cost to the business world. The carrot would be their social contribution and an opportunity to meet youngsters that they may at some stage consider employing. And for all the youngsters themselves, give them something practical to discuss at interview.

Seems like a win, win scenario to me and hopefully it would also reduce boredom and hence the potential for increasing anti-social behavior and that downward spiral.