HOW INNOVATION LEADS TO A COMPANY ’ S WELL-BEING
By Louise Ladbrooke , business growth manager and business coach
If your company was an animal , what would it be ? Is it fit , fast , flexible and lean ? Or maybe it ’ s slow , cumbersome and not so elegant ?
Is your team engaged or in conflict ? I once worked in an organisation where the managing director loved to micro manage . As middle managers , we knew what words our boss wanted to hear . There was no well-being in that company .
When I left to set up my own childcare facility , I had to find another way .
As a leader , I needed to create more leaders not followers ; confident decision makers who in my absence looked after both the children and my business investment .
What ’ s your company ’ s purpose ? When I asked my team , they replied ‘ to provide the best childcare .’ It was a great starting point , we were already committed to a shared vision .
How do you achieve a shared vision ? Between us we built a picture of how it was going to be , then we broke it down into achievable chunks .
What qualities do you value in your people ? Companies hire on qualifications and fire on attitude . We all agreed that we would prioritise attitude and founded our 16 Star Qualities .
Why are you making the decisions ? As in any business , there was a lot of information flying around and decisions that had to be made . I wasn ’ t going to be there so we put our vision at the core of every decision .
Did we get it right all the time ? Any organisation is a living system in continual motion . Our priority was to focus on moving forward and accepted that springing forward can only be achieved by taking a step back .
We grew to trust each other and love our work ; employee engagement was high , absenteeism and staff turnover nonexistent . I learned that if I focused on looking after my team they became good communicators and confident decision makers looking after the bottom line .
NEW ERA FOR HARTHAM PARK
Corsham-based Hartham Park is a Georgian manor house steeped in over 200 years of innovation and enterprise . Set in the stunning Wiltshire countryside , it ’ s a great place to focus and be inspired . The enterprise centre is a unique business community , offering serviced offices , meeting and event space , hot desking , membership and a café .
The house has been a place to meet since the 15th century and in the 1940s it was a focal point for political and recreational life in North Wiltshire . Records show Winston Churchill stayed at Hartham Park on numerous occasions . The estate ’ s current owner Jeff Thomas , redeveloped the site into a business park in 1997 .
It is currently home to over 40 dynamic businesses , from entrepreneurial start-ups to well established names . It is also home to the Corsham Institute , a not-for-profit organisation focusing on education , research and development in the digital sector . Work is currently underway at Hartham Park for a conference at the House of Lords in October , looking at the control of data , placing equality and inclusion at the heart of the digital debate and recognising the impact of digital to the world of work and skills . Corsham boasts the largest digital capacity in the UK and Hartham Park is investing in technology to offer an unrivalled techinfrastructure and accelerated connectivity .
Hartham Park has recently undergone the first phase of an interior design project and has a complete new look , from new décor and re-purposed rooms , to a whole new brand identity in line with their future aspirations to be seen as the place to meet and work locally . Behind the Georgian façade , the space has been transformed into a contemporary space , with cosy rooms for informal meetings , to hot-desking space and boardrooms for more formal affairs .
To complement the redesign of the inside of the property , the team have been working with Mr B & Friends brand consultancy on a fresh brand identity to suit Hartham ’ s new direction . The new logo ( pictured left ) features a bold H .
Adam Partridge , strategy director at Mr B & Friends said : “ We wanted to create an identity that would capture the spirit of innovation that makes Hartham Park such a special and unique place . To give a sense of the energy and the groundbreaking enterprise that goes on behind it ’ s impressive facade and to inspire dynamic businesses of today to come and make their own history . The new identity , designed to come alive across multiple mediums , is bold and arresting and suggestive of the amazing work that goes on inside . Overall , it ’ s a proud new identity designed to inspire and keep the ground-breaking legacy of Hartham Park alive for many more years to come .”
How do you measure your company ’ s well-being ? innovate2succeed can help you create a culture of wellbeing in your business by getting to the heart of what matters . For more information , visit : www . innovate2succeed . co . uk
0330 124 1243 i2enquiries @ businesswest . co . uk
For more info : www . harthampark . com
Richard Green , operations manager at Hartham Park added : “ The new logo is paired with the ‘ Make History ’ strapline . This is meant as an open challenge to follow in the footsteps of past innovators who have made great successes at Hartham Park . We promote and inspire ground-breaking ideas , entrepreneurship and enterprise at all levels . We invite businesses to come and make their own history here .”
18 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017