When we took on 42 Junction Road, it was always to become a place that gets people together.
At the heart of this building will be a co-working hub for other local entrepreneurs and creatives to meet, work and collaborate (think WeWork). A space to host events, workshops, business get-togethers and networking!
With Planning Permission granted on the project back in February, you'd be forgiven for thinking our first event would be in a beautiful new space, post-renovation.
But as with any complex construction project – and as with anything worth doing right – some things just take time!
So, as we continue to work tirelessly in the background to keep the renovation moving forward, we simply couldn’t wait to host our first in-person event for local businesses!
Time to import a Kiwi…
The event space was never intended to only have our firm presenting though; you see enough of us locally already!
It’s about broadening all of our collective horizons, and reaching out to other respected business people and entrepreneurs outside Orkney, and bringing them and their insights up to our islands.
With that in mind; a couple of months back, a plan was hatched…
From previous conversations with fellow accountant, and New Zealander, Mark Jenkins, I knew that he and his wife were keen on a bit of Orkney puffin-spotting whilst they were across in the UK over the summer.
Not to let a trip to Orkney go to waste, I thought we’d chance our arm and see if he fancied being involved in a wee get-together for some local employers.
Shy bairns get no sweets, eh!
We were delighted when he came back with a resounding ‘yes’!
A bit about Mark
Now Mark isn’t just another accountant; in fact, 8 years ago he sold his very successful practice with a 40+ strong team, before founding a software company, The Gap.
Mark is also still actively a business strategist, coach, and well known within the industry on the UK and international speaking circuit.
Headquartered in New Zealand, The Gap’s software is something that’s used by over 500 firms of accountants around the world, including ours.
As with anything in business; the numbers are only part of the equation.
A huge focus of Mark’s time in practice, and now with his software business, is how to help small businesses maximise their performance, and how to create businesses with purpose.
It’s all about taking the values and vision of the business owner, and bringing these to the surface, so that, together with their accountant & business advisors, they can shape the business into something which really works for them.
As with anything in business; the numbers are only part of the equation.
How the session unfolded
I’m completely fascinated by what makes people tick.
This is true in general life, but specifically within the context of business, and how business can be a force for good for all those within it.
At CRC, this is why we do what we do.
For example, if we can understand what business owners want, we can draw upon our financial expertise and combine this with their existing expertise of their own business, to help them hone in their business model to create something which serves them; rather than them serving it.
But the owner's just the start of it. They’re only a small piece of the puzzle.
there’s always more we’ve been wanting to do.
More importantly; what really interests us is how we can help these owners create a situation which works for them and their team. This is where we get the chance to make the biggest impact possible.
We’ve been making good headway on this over the last couple of years, and COVID has certainly accelerated it. But there’s always more we’ve been wanting to do.
So where better to go, than straight to the employees themselves?!
In the run-up to the session we designed a temperature-check survey for our clients’ teams.
This was rolled out to the invitees and our other clients, including a mix of businesses across the UK, plus businesses who had previously been part of The Flywheel Collective.
Fully-anonymised, this gave some hugely interesting insights into how those workplaces are (in the employees’ eyes), and what impact COVID has had on the workplace.
In particular, they confirmed:
Most employees felt proud of the place they worked.
Most employees also felt there were sufficient training opportunities and progression available within the business they worked at.
However, comparatively less employees were clear on the future direction of the business they worked at.
Equally, those surveyed were less satisfied with the levels of communication between individuals within their workplace.
That first point was awesome to see! Pride is something each employer should be striving to create within their team!
But it's the final two points which really interested us – and perhaps weren’t terribly surprising.
if they know too little, it makes it harder for them to see where they fit into the puzzle
As we’d discuss in the session, business owners have all the information available to them; the good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s easy to forget just how much you actually do know.
Whereas many other members of the team don’t have the luxury of this oversight. They don’t have full clarity on the financials, clarity on the high level strategy of the business, and the interim targets and performance metrics along the way.
They don’t necessarily need to know all of this, but if they know too little, it makes it harder for them to see where they fit into the puzzle, and how their input is appreciated within the full organisation.
Understandably, this disparity in understanding can cause disgruntlement, uncertainty, and ultimately – and perhaps concerningly, longer term – employee disengagement.
To help overcome this, Mark took some time to explain some leadership concepts, including ‘The 4 Disciplines of Organisational Health’ – below.
Using the survey as a reference point, there was some great discussion with the businesses in attendance about how they can turn these ‘management speak’ concepts into reality within their business.
We also explained how we, at CRC, can assist with facilitating sessions for the teams of businesses, to help give the team more insight into the business model, and how their roles fit – and indeed are vital – within it.
This isn’t a ‘open the books’ approach; but rather a tailored session which helps close the gap in understanding, and helps the team become more aware of the different plates which the business owner is having to spin, and why they have to spin them to keep the business in operation.
As well as closing gaps in (mis)understanding, these sessions are also designed to tease out ideas from the team, so that they fully buy into the future of that business.
Full engagement, and increased clarity.
If having a session like this facilitated for your business would be of interest, feel free to get in touch.
The survey remains live
The session might be done, but we’re going to keep the survey live. You can access the results here.
If you’d like to see how your business shapes up against the average results above, drop us a line and we’ll create a bespoke link which you can issue to your team.
Again, it’s fully anonymised, to give your team space to share their honest opinions, and enables an accurate picture to be formed.
And we’ll also give you a separate questionnaire as the business owner, which will enable you to see how your own understanding of your organisation’s position compares to the views of your team.
No fee for this. It’s just good useful stuff!
Some final thanks!
We met Mark and his team at exactly the right time on our journey, and the learnings we’ve had them over the last couple of years are a key component of how we’re shaping CRC, and what we’re wanting to be known for. So it was a pretty phenomenal opportunity to have him along for our event!
Thank you, Mark.
A huge thanks also has to be extended to all of the team here at CRC for their efforts in pulling together this event (including all our family and friends for the building setup work!), to all the attendees and their teams for completing the surveys, to Artmachine Graphics for the branded gear, to Diane for her Flywheel input, to Thora Cant for her camera work, and to the food and drink providers on the day (Beiting and Brew, Orkney Dairy, and Orkney Roastery).
It all came together very nicely!
It was great to get our first event at 42 under our belt, and we can’t wait to welcome even more people in for the next one!
Oh, and I'm pleased to confirm - Mark and his wife did manage to spot some puffins!
