Make it your Business to look after people and people will look after your business.
40 years, 20 million products, 20 people, close to 300 years of industry experience and next to ZERO churn. I may joke a little and share that we are a business version of 'Dusk 'til Dawn' - trapping everyone in and never letting them go...or perhaps we just do some other stuff. Whilst we have certainly not devised a 'recipe' for retention - there are behaviours we commit to. They are not there because our customers require us to demonstrate them. They are not there because we think it 'sounds good'. We do them because we believe in them - they are part of our fabric and they are part of every product we supply.
So below are 'things we do' and we do them because we believe in the power of their impact.
We connect before we communicate
We believe that connection is the single most excluded step in all communication. It is too easy to be led by your own agenda particularly as a business owner - that message you so quickly want to share or instruction you need to deliver or project you need to get launched. We anchor the commitment to 'connect first' through the 'fast brain, slow mouth' philosophy. Whether that be with internal teams, external customers or suppliers - connection is the solid foundation effective communication sits on. Within our business we lead with connection.
When we communicate we are open
Across all people and areas we welcome, encourage and nurture tireless debate on our engineering and processes. We are direct, honest and candid. We commit time to inspiring confidence in the people who are part of the journey. Confidence to speak freely in language they are comfortable with, be unique, challenge the status quo, share ideas - and when they do we listen before we speak.
Action
We do what we say we will do. It is that simple. We can all talk long, but sometimes just starting is better than talking. Fear is the biggest killer of action and an employee base that has a fear to act is fatal. Acceptance that some action will be unexpected, some action will be unwanted, some action will have results that are not desired - coming to peace with that and encouraging MORE ACTION - is progress. People being completely comfortable in failing greatly will most certainly have more chance of succeeding greatly.
When we commit to something we do it
We are a body of people that has traditional values and our values drive our behaviours. Our word is our bond. We use the word 'commitment' in our language and we each know that this is an agreement in approach.
We believe in turning behaviours into habits
We appreciate that all this is not seasonal. We commit to developing these behaviours into deep rooted positive habits. Habits that in time support transformational business results.