10 December 2020 – For years, I have been an advocate of kaizen or continual improvement. Sometimes, the best way to grow your business, win new customers, and create a product that everyone loves isn’t to make massive sweeping changes or introduce brand new ideas. It is to make small improvements, consistently, over time.
26 November 2020 – If there’s one thing we all need right now, it’s faith. Faith that we will make it through 2020. Faith in our abilities as leaders, as managers, as entrepreneurs. Faith in our instincts and experience.
13th November 2020 – This has been a big week for the world. First, Joe Biden triumphed in the US presidential election, ushering in a new era for the Democrats.
Is it single-minded determination, like Apple founder Steve Jobs? Or perhaps it’s the ability to roll out across the world at pace, like Starbucks’ Howard Shultz.
It turns out that there are far more important skills to have. I recently caught up with BigChange ambassador and mentor Kevin Keegan OBE, one of the greatest footballers of all time and a legendary successful manager and leadership coach. He told me the two most important qualities that truly great leaders much have.
We spent some time talking about these qualities and why they make for better leaders. The conversation just blew me away. Not all of his advice was new to me but the way he explained it all really resonated.
Honesty
Kevin told me that out of all the managers he has encountered throughout the course of his career, only a few really stick out as great leaders. “I knew I could trust them,” he says. “I knew they meant what they said.”
Kevin explained that the ability to be trustworthy and open is the mark of a really first-class leader. You always know where you stand with those people; you know when you have done a good job and when you need to improve.
You can only get the best out of people as a leader, he explained, when the team knows you have their best interests at heart and that you are willing to be open and transparent.
Kevin has hit the nail on the head and there has never been a more important time to fortify trust in leadership. Many people across the UK have had a challenging few months. Some may have been furloughed. Some may have experienced wage decreases. All of us need to spend more time checking in, talking to our people, and communicating exactly what’s going on in the business, and what we need to do to succeed in future.
At BigChange, we are currently in the process of developing a new five-year strategy. This will reflect all the changes that we have experienced as a result of lockdown and COVID-19. The cornerstone of this new strategy is people: how we find great colleagues, how we retain them and how we get the best out of them. Honesty is a crucial part of the process.
Fairness
Kevin told me a great story about one of the best leaders he encountered in his career. It really demonstrated why he places ‘fairness’ as one of the top two leadership qualities. While he was at Liverpool FC, he and his team mates would wear weighted clothing during training. “It was like having someone on your back,” he said. “They were so wet and heavy when we finished training that the lads used to throw them off.” One day, manager Bill Shankly pulled them up on their behaviour. “He said to Emlyn Hughes, who was the captain, ‘Don’t leave that on the floor because Jessie will have to clean it up. Pick it up.’” The Liverpool manager was telling the squad to think of the guy who looked after their kit – he, ultimately, would be the one to suffer if they left their clothes all over the changing room floor.
Kevin says that was a wake-up call for everyone. “[Bill] was so on the ball with what it meant to play for a football club,” he told me. “It’s very important for leaders to make the whole team feel part of it, and great leaders do it naturally.”
Kevin believes that that no single person is responsible for the success of an organisation or team. He has won the Ballon d’Or twice (and is the only English player to have won it more than once) as well as the Golden Boot, the award for the top goalscorer of the year. He says that while his name might be on these awards, he has never forgotten the people that helped him get the coveted title. “You don’t win on your own,” he says. “Someone has to pass you the ball.” He told me that everyone who works at a club needs to feel part of its success, from the nutritionist to the fitness trainer to the psychologist. “That’s key,” Kevin said. “To make everyone who is contributing feel recognised.”
On Tuesday night I held a virtual huddle with more than 100 members of the team. These are usually results-focused but this time I took a different tack. I thought about what Kevin had said and took the time to engage with everyone. I checked in on how they were doing and thanked all the teams for their work. The call became more of a conversation than one-way traffic.
I’m so grateful to Kevin for his brilliant advice. With all my colleagues working remotely, it’s never been more relevant to call out great work, and make sure every team knows they are seen and appreciated.
On Sunday, BigChange will be featured in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 league table for the third time. It’s an amazing achievement, especially during these difficult times, and it is absolutely 100% down to the great team of people I have here. That’s not my award, that’s recognition for everyone in the business.
When you make everyone feel like they are part of the team, and show that you see their contributions, you don’t just boost their confidence and morale, you empower them. I want everyone in BigChange to be a leader, driving forward their own projects and creating their own goals. That’s the dream.
These sessions with Kevin are really helping me to focus on how I can improve and develop as an entrepreneur and manager. Check out the second video in the Kevin Keegan series visit next week on the BigChange website www.bigchange.com.
These wise words were recently shared with me by football legend Kevin Keegan. I am delighted to announce that he has become my mentor, and will be coaching me as part of his leadership programme.
Kevin, who became a BigChange ambassador last year, has a wealth of leadership knowledge: everything from motivating a team to inspiring extraordinary endeavours. When we sat down for our first coaching session, he explained the principles that have helped him become one of football’s all-time greats.
This gave me an idea. Why not capture some of these sessions so that we could share his insights with other leaders? This is how the Kevin Keegan Secrets of Leadership series was born. From September, I’ll share clips from our discussions, as he talks about the lessons he’s learned throughout his illustrious career. What Kevin doesn’t know about leadership isn’t worth knowing.
Next week, Kevin is talking about what makes a great leader. Natural aptitude is one thing, he says, but every leader must keep learning and developing if they are to reach their full potential.
“I learned this from my father at a young age,” he says. “He would say, ‘Son, go and learn from him now’ and would send me to work at a market stall in Doncaster.” You learn so much from environments where you deal with the general public, he explained.
My father also sent me to work at a market stall when I was young. It gives you an incredible foundation in sales, and also teaches soft skills like empathy. So many great leaders have started their careers from a market stall, from Matalan founder John Hargreaves to Michael Marks, who started Marks & Spencer.
Kevin says that he has always observed other leaders – both good and bad – in order to adapt his leadership style over the years. The big influences in his life were Ron Ashman, his first manager at Scunthorpe United. “His strength was communication,” he says. “Everyone knew where they stood. But he wasn’t great when you lost, so I learned not to be like that. ” Sir Alf Ramsay, the England manager who won the World Cup in 1966, also helped shape Kevin’s leadership style. “He had this air about him,” Kevin says. “Confidence without being arrogant. You felt so comfortable following him.”
Kevin got me thinking about the great leaders who have inspired me throughout the course of my career. People like Michael Dell, the technology entrepreneur, who is a great champion of intrapreneurship within Dell. He is one of the reasons I work so hard to encourage my BigChange colleagues to bring new ideas into the business and give them autonomy on projects.
Bill Shankly is another one of Kevin’s heroes. “He would say, ‘You are here for those people out there’. It made you think about being part of the community. Everyone comes into your life for a reason.”
To hear more from Kevin, take a look next week at the BigChange visitor website www.bigchange.com and please don’t forget to share a comment.
Spoiler alert: it’s me.
My current CMO has been with me for 10 years and is keen to make his own big change. He’s moving into consumer marketing and leaving me with some big shoes to fill. I had the option of recruiting someone from outside the business but, during these difficult times, I just think it would take an outsider too long to get up to speed and absorb the DNA of this business.
I could try and find a candidate from within the business but, if I’m honest, who better to take it on than me? I built BigChange from the ground up. I live and breathe this company. Who knows more about how to communicate about our DNA, our pillars, our customer service record and commitment to innovation?
Sales and marketing are my bread and butter. Every leader understands how to sell their idea and vision – to customers, colleagues, and investors. In the early days of BigChange, I was the CEO, COO, and CMO. This is a ‘back to basics’ move; even though I have had a CMO for the last decade, I never fully checked out of the role. I always wanted final say over marketing materials and sales collateral.
I’m excited and a little nervous to take on this new challenge.
Marketing has never been more important to businesses like BigChange.
My sales colleagues can’t meet people face-to-face. It’s very difficult to build rapport with a prospective customer when you can’t have a cuppa together and you’re just a window on their laptop screen.
This is why I’m working on creating a formalised approach to sales, helping my brilliant people to set the agenda during online meetings and really listen to customer need.
COVID-19 has dealt a severe blow to many businesses. We leaders have to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in to make sure our companies weather this crisis. I’ve seen my fellow entrepreneurs doing some incredible things. From Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, who has delivered two years’ worth of digital development at the tech giant in just two months, to Steve Parkin, chairman at Clipper Logistics, who built a delivery network to get vital personal protective equipment to NHS staff and care workers in a matter of days.
This is the essence of the entrepreneur. We get stuck in. We do what needs to be done. We never rest on our laurels. And we thrive on the pressure and the thrill of a new challenge. CEOs all across the nation are stepping out of their (metaphorical) glass offices and hitting the shop floor, just like me. I can’t wait to get my hands dirty.
According to the rules of the ‘new normal’, video calls and social media can bridge the gulf and help us feel connected to one another.
This is why I have been busily launching virtual meet-ups and online initiatives – to help my BigChange colleagues feel like part of one big team and maintain our sense of camaraderie.
But here’s the thing: it doesn’t work.
Zoom. Teams. Hangouts. House Party. RingCentral. Whatever platform you choose, it is still no substitute for face-to-face conversation and real-world connection.
In fact, too many of these virtual events can add to the general stress and feeling of isolation. People either feel obliged to take part or guilty for choosing not to attend.
I have come to this realisation after receiving some feedback from the BigChange team. Some people feel that I have created far too many online events, and that these meet-ups are eating into their valuable free time.
…In hindsight, maybe introducing yet another virtual quiz was a bad idea? Especially when the whole world is regularly “pub quizzing” with family and friends already.
I’m learning all the time and, like many other leaders, trying my best to work out how to keep motivating and engaging my colleagues, both those currently working and those who have been temporarily furloughed. This is all new to me too. In these uncertain times, there are no straightforward answers. I get it wrong sometimes.
I want to apologise to anyone in my team at BigChange who feels bombarded by these new online initiatives. I know that some of you feel overwhelmed or just exhausted by the expectation to attend. I had the best intentions but I have made mistakes. I promise to do better in future.
We have established a steering committee, which is made up of representatives from every team in the business. From now on, before I launch a new online scheme to boost engagement, I will run all ideas past this sounding board and make sure that it is genuinely useful and that there will be demand for it.
I am also rethinking my plan for a totally virtual future. This pandemic has proven to me that BigChange doesn’t need a real-world office; we are just as effective working remotely. We have reduced our carbon dioxide emissions as a result of lockdown, becoming a greener and more sustainable business as a result.
But I’ve come to understand that while people don’t need to work side-by-side, they really like to.
When this crisis has passed, we will not be going back to an entirely office-based operation. But I will rotate teams in and out of the office so that a percentage of my colleagues are in the building at any one time. Teams need to come together to collaborate, bond – and just have a bit of fun too. That spirit ultimately drives organisations forward.
Forget the ‘new norm’ of virtual businesses and remote working. I’m embracing a blend of the best elements from the modern world of work and the traditional approach. From now on, it’s all about the ‘new old’.
Those who live alone have been completely cut off from friends and relatives. Even those of us with families are missing the office camaraderie. Isolation is more than a physical reality; it’s a mental state.
This is why I am so passionate about creating virtual events to help drive connections and support mental health. It may not be as comforting as real-life human contact and conversation but video calls and virtual meet-ups are a crucial lifeline to the outside world.
I’m usually a very upbeat character but even I am struggling to stay positive through this lockdown. On Mondays, I used to love coming in to the office and saying hello to everyone. It was incredibly motivating to be surrounded by my brilliant team – I miss them all.
I’m embracing virtual events as a way to recreate the amazing atmosphere that we have in our office. On Tuesday morning, we had a social event that furloughed employees could attend too. It was a chance to sing happy birthday to a colleague, and meet some of my team’s extended family. I love it when a little face peeps in to see what mum or dad are doing.
Next week, we are taking our Motivational Monday series online for the first time. I’m delighted that Nigel Owens MBE, one of rugby’s top referees, is joining us to talk about his incredible life. Growing up in a small, traditional community in west Wales, Nigel struggled with the realisation that he was gay. Rather than admit it to his parents and community, he attempted suicide.
Nigel has battled depression and bulimia but ultimately triumphed over adversity and went on to become a sporting legend. No one is better placed to talk to the team about beating loneliness and finding the strength to go on, even when the challenges seem overwhelming.
On May 13, we are launching the first in our new series of webinars, talking about topical issues facing British industry. We’ll be kicking off with a virtual roundtable about “How to support mental health and wellbeing during the covid-19 outbreak”
I’m so proud that two BigChange ambassadors, Nicolas Hamilton and Michelle Dewberry, will be joining us for that session, hosted by the former Telegraph enterprise editor Rebecca Burn-Callander.
You may remember Michelle Dewberry the 2006 series winner of The Apprentice. She has spoken candidly about her mental health struggles in the past and will share some of her experiences with the audience.
Nic Hamilton is a talented racing driver and brother of six-times Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton. He will share the secrets to developing mental resilience.
Sonal Sidpara, head of HR, Alex Abrahams Head of Training and Alex Epstein our CMO at BigChange, will also be giving advice on motivating the team through a crisis, and will outline all our BigChange learnings from the pandemic so far.
BigChange customers Steve Broughton and Kevin Sherwood will also join us as well as a representative from the charity Mind.
Put 11am in your calendars. Please do join us, and let me know any questions that you would like to put to the panel.
Till then, stay home, stay safe, and stay connected.
Of course, here we are in, in 2020, and the majority of businesses still operate an office, even if they have some people who work flexibly or remotely.
At BigChange, most of our people still work out of our office. When I speak to managers here, many of them still like having a fixed location where colleagues can come together. “It’s easier to spot problems before they become an issue when you’re around your colleagues every day,” explains my customer services director. “And an office is very useful when training new people, as they can shadow their more experienced colleagues and be easily monitored and mentored.”
So the office isn’t dead after all. However, there is a pressing need for all companies to be able to operate virtually.
I posted last week about the potential impact of coronavirus on UK companies. If this becomes the epidemic that we all fear, employees will have to work from home in order to “self quarantine”. There are other threats facing companies that do not embrace virtual working. What if your landlord suddenly closes your office building? What if there is a flood or a major leak and the office is compromised? Could you carry on as normal? With no disruption to customers or your service quality?
I learned a lot about potential business threats when BigChange went through the ISO9001 process. We had to make business continuity a priority, no matter what random threat or ‘act of god’ strikes the company. It was this process that helped us take the leap into becoming a truly virtually enabled business.
We are luckier than most because we are a technology company. All of our processes and services are virtual by definition. We use our own BigChange software to log and monitor jobs. All the calls that come through to us are handled by a voice-over-IP (VOIP) provider, so they are filtered through to the right person, who gets a pop-up on BigChange with the name of the caller.
However, it’s easy to appear virtual on paper but it’s another thing for a virtual office to work in practice. That is why BigChange runs a remote working test every three months. This ensures that colleagues are always prepared to work virtually, and exposes any weaknesses in our virtual structure.
For other business owners who want to try the test, here’s how it works:
You tell your team about the test the night before, when they are already home. This ensures they always have the correct work equipment with them. For us that’s a laptop, charger, and headset. They also have to check they have access to good wifi.
Before starting work, they fill out a risk assessment on BigChange, to confirm their home environment is fit for work.
They do their day’s work, and everything is handled just as it would be at the office, except that meetings take place virtually on Teams, and people need to be a bit more diligent about tagging the right colleagues on BigChange tickets (as they can’t just shout over their shoulder)
At the end of the day, there is another workflow, which asks how the process went, whether people felt hindered in their work, whether anything was more difficult as a result of working remotely.
We measure productivity after each test and, so far, it is at the exact same level at home and at the office. My colleagues report that they really enjoy working remotely, and have no issues using the technology, which is also really important.
We ran our last test on Friday, when every single member of the BigChange team worked from home. There were no issues, and everything passed off smoothly.
I am also working on solutions to some of the concerns raised by my managers. We need a virtual training programme, for example. And it may be necessary to have more regular check-in meetings on these “virtual days” to ensure that leaders feel connected to their teams.
We have proved that it’s entirely possible to take a traditional office-based business and run it with an entirely remote workforce.
Whether it’s the right move long-term will vary from business to business, but when it comes to business continuity, building virtual capability into your model is a no brainer.
It’s as funny today as it was when the sketch first aired in 1967. It is performed by the late Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones, who sadly passed away recently. They are sitting around in white tuxedos, sipping “Chateau de Chassilier”, and talking about the old days, when they were impoverished and couldn’t even afford a cup of tea.
These Yorkshiremen then start trying to one-up each other with stories of hardship. The sketch soon becomes totally bonkers – “We lived in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank”.
Whenever I watch that clip, I laugh, but the sketch also serves as a sober reminder of how important it is to remember your roots, and appreciate how far you’ve come in life – and in business.
I never had to work down a mine or live in a shoebox, but times were much tougher in my younger years. Even in the early days of BigChange, when we had no money and were trying to forge a new path in a competitive industry, every day was a battle.
I didn’t draw a salary for two years. We had no money to pay top salespeople but one amazing individual was so excited by the business that he offered to work for free until we were generating revenue. He’s still with us today, and has been rewarded with share options and a six-figure salary.
I will never forget the people – customers and colleagues – who took a chance on me back then. They had faith in the vision, and me as an entrepreneur, and helped me to realise my dream. I owe those people a real debt of gratitude.
As your business grows and becomes more successful, it is easy for an entrepreneur to appear arrogant or seem less accessible. When you’re a small start-up, customers feel like they can phone you for a quick chat, and colleagues wander into your office whenever they have a question. I loved that open dialogue, as it kept my feet on the ground and helped me to stay attuned to what the people who really matter to this business thought and felt.
The other day, I bumped into a customer – someone who started with us seven years ago. They bought just two systems from us in the beginning, which wasn’t a huge revenue generator but we needed that business to help establish the company. This customer said to me: “You’re growing so fast now. I bet you’re too big to talk to us now.” I was devastated by that comment. I would never want any customer to feel they were too small to be important to me.
I reassured the customer that my door was always open, and when I got back to the office, I decided to take a hard look at my role, and how it has changed over the years, to make sure I’m not losing contact with important stakeholders like that individual.
That review has prompted me to make some changes. I have brought back my weekly catch-up calls with key people in the business to talk through issues great and small. I am committed to the BigChange Network, a networking event that travels around the country, bringing customer together to talk shop and thrash out solutions to their business challenges. These things really matter to me.
If you are a customer or a colleague, I want you to know you can talk to me any time. I put my mobile number on the internet so I’m easy to find. I’ll never be the big-shot CEO who hides behind layers of management. Just like those four Yorkshiremen, I remember where I came from, and I know who to thank for how far I’ve come.
Loyalty means everything to me, and it doesn’t matter how big we get, I won’t forget you.