Conversations and curve-balls
Peer Networks bring business owners and leaders together to learn with and from peers experiencing similar challenges. The North East LEP has helped 241 companies join 21 cohort across different sectors. The LEP’s Digital Sector Lead Craig Harrison was keen to see how this programme could benefit the digital community in the region.
The government developed this scheme as part of its Covid-19 recovery plan. It aims to support business growth by helping peers learn from each other. Business leaders attended 18 hours of Action Learning Sets (ALS), cohort sessions. with the specific intention of solving current workplace challenges. The main aims of an ALS are to provide a confidential space to develop skills and strategies and come away with a set of realistic actions for the workplace. Some of the key topics that arose for digital companies were business growth, recruitment and training, and hybrid working.
Initially, Craig was unsure whether key operators working in this demanding and competitive sector would be prepared to commit to so much time away from the day-to-day running of their business. “It was a big ask,” says Craig, but in the end there was an amazing level of engagement from the ten enrolled leaders, with “excellent turnout, participation and involvement.”
Ian Proctor from Digital Edge was enthusiastic. “Where else do you get the opportunity to pick the brains of company leaders who have been there and done it?” Digital Edge is a website design company, recently created from the merger of Durham-based Pixel Media and Infuze Group in Gloucestershire. Ian’s team has grown from two to nine people in the last year, providing online solutions for international clients using the Wix platform. With their sights on further expansion, Ian says “we had nothing to lose” from joining the digital cohort.
With 45 members on their team, ITC Service was the largest business involved in the cohort. They provide client-centred IT support to over 450 businesses across the region, nationally and internationally. Kate Anderson manages human resources and joined the digital cohort looking for “an honest conversation about how the business landscape has changed in the last two years.”
Lockdowns and remote working have created immense demand for Kate’s business. In reality, this meant working “flat out on survival mode” for two years. However, social media only showed business successes and achievements. Where was the struggle? “It was reassuring,” says Kate on joining the digital cohort. “Straight away, you could see everyone was in the same boat.”
It was essential, says Craig, that the atmosphere in the room was supportive and non-judgemental. “You rarely have success without experiencing some level of failure or setback, and this is quite often the way we learn and adapt, so it was interesting to get people talking about tough times and offering their unique perspectives on common issues.” Members of the cohort felt able to let off steam and voice frustrations in the confidential space of the session.
A shared challenge identified by the cohort was recruitment. The growing demand for digital services creates challenges for small businesses in securing talent. The cohort shared experiences of remote working, apprenticeships and graduate programmes. It can be easy, says Kate, to think “we haven’t done it before and it is not what we do.” But the group discussion inspired them to think differently.
“It changed my mind and shined a light on doing things in a different way,” says Ian. “When you have been living and breathing the business for the last 15 years, you get attached to ideas. You need someone to come at it from zero with an outside perspective.”
Each week, two leaders presented a specific and current challenge they were facing and the group asked questions, shared experience and offered solutions. “There were really practical and extensive ideas coming from the group,” says Ian, with five or six solutions to every problem, “and often a curve-ball you’d never even thought of.”
At the end of the day, says Kate, “If you can implement one thing or make one decision coming out of it, then it has been worth it.” Immersed in the company’s day-to-day running, it was an invaluable opportunity to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
It was an intense six weeks that the group were sad to finish. “There needs to be more collaboration in IT and digital,” says Kate. “With more forums like this.” But the journey doesn’t end here, assures Craig. Each participant is taking advantage of one-to-one sessions with Craig to help them navigate the support available in the North East LEP area. Where appropriate this can include connecting with an experienced and successful mentor to take their business to the next level. The group plan to keep in touch online and offline and members are already discussing ways they can collaborate in the future to grow their business.
Pictured: Craig Harrison.