Not more, different.

 
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The last 18 months has challenged businesses in more ways than we can ever have imagined. And when I reflect back, I think the toughest challenge we have had to face is to move away from more to different.

What do I mean by this?

Businesses over the last 20 years, due to the continuous stable nature of economies around the world, have become entrenched in a single approach - more. More growth, more clients, more resource, more client satisfaction, more engagement, more profit.

Then along came 2020 and suddenly we all had to switch to different, including us.

We went from an organisation that was delivering 85% of our work face to face to 100% virtual.

Now I won’t go into the detail of what that meant for the team, but I will say that we had a choice. Do we sit and wait for the face to face business to return or do we accelerate different?

 
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A year and a bit later I am super proud of where we have got to:

  • We have a new brand identity

  • We have completely re-packaged our offer

  • HowWe know exactly what we want to be famous for (making EVERYONE in our clients organisation better at selling)

  • We are attracting new clients

 
 
"We are more successful the more single minded we are"

So why are you sharing this? I hear you ask. For a couple of reasons – firstly because (according to Binet and Field) one of the things we need to do differently is to invest more time and energy into brand building and secondly to share with you and reflect on what have we learned during this time, that may inspire you and your teams.

We, as a team, have been really energised (yes massively stretched at times) by change. Building different into the way we work is something that we have promised we will continue. This requires us to ring fence consistent time and resource into exploring how we can be better.

We can change much quicker than we think. When you have to, you find a way and everyone, including your clients, are willing to go on the journey with you. So we are going to keep testing and learning and not worrying about being perfect before we execute.

We are more successful the more single minded we are. The last 18 months have forced us to focus on what we are better at than anyone else and find more compelling ways of cutting through the noise to communicate that to clients and prospects. 

So bring on different. I, for one, am excited about what more it will bring.

Planning For GrowthDavid Armes