What makes a business robust? Key attributes that will aid you through these unprecedented times.
Last week we attended a webinar held by Robert Powell and Kirsten Taylor-Martin at Grant Thornton. Hear our key take-aways on attributes that businesses have that will aid them through these unprecedented times.
TRANSCRIPT – BRANDING BEFORE BREAKFAST EP51
Hi. A bit of a different format to normal this week as I’m coming from my home, taking care to self isolate during these unprecedented times. But I wanted to share with you a webinar that I attended last week through Grant Thornton. It was hosted by Robert Powell and Kirsten Taylor-Martin and they were talking about how family businesses are far more robust during times like these. They talked to a number of factors but three in particular really stood out for me. And I think whether you are a family business or not, these are really interesting areas that you can look to nurture during these times.
So, the first is that family businesses tend to be far more agile. They’re able to move things quickly and basically get shit done. A great example of this was Scenic World. So they had their two businesses shut down –the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb and also the tourist attraction in the Blue Mountains. They quickly pivoted and they opened up their storeroom selling stock to their local community in the Blue Mountains. And this was actually less about a money-making scheme. It was more about trying to ensure they could retain as many staff as possible, to set that venture up and then also fulfill the orders and do the deliveries.
The second was all about staff loyalty. So Harvard Business Review found that family businesses have 20% less staff turnover than the non-family businesses. And interestingly, the retention had nothing to do with financial incentive, but they did find that family businesses spend a whopping 260% more on people investment, and that has to be to do with the retention.
And lastly, they talk to MacGyver. Now. I am not Aussie born and bred, so I will admit that I had to Google who MacGyver was. But what it means is that family businesses generally have people who have been there long term. They know all the different systems that have been in place over the years. They know why they were introduced, what they were used for, when they were used and if something goes wrong, they can generally fix it. And even if they don’t know how to fix something, they are willing to wear a number of different hats in their roles to get things done and sort it out. And those type of people are absolute gold during times like this.
So as I mentioned, family business or not, I think that these are really important factors that we should all be looking to nurture within our business. And I hope this help for you today. So that’s it for me. Time for brekkie.
Written by: Jo Whelan
Published: August 1, 2020