Here\u2019s his unfiltered advice below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Becoming more client centric with The Human Firm<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- What does a human firm look like?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Highlight your business\u2019s purpose and culture in all interviews and inductions<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The biggest challenge is maintaining sustainable growth and putting in the correct process to manage it<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Could six-hour working days and unlimited holidays be effective for your company?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Drive innovation throughout every aspect of your business<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Don\u2019t underestimate your growth potential\u2014plan ahead for it<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Make your employees the champions of tasks you can let go of<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Businesses must prepare for the generational shift in future employees<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Find your business\u2019s purpose, prepare for scale and focus on your client experience<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\nBecoming more client centric with The Human Firm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Will, you published The Digital Firm back in 2018. What prompted you to write The Human Firm five years later?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s kind of been an evolution, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when I wrote The Digital Firm in 2018, it was very much a case of this is what we\u2019ve done as a business, as an accounting firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the thing is we did lots of things that were very different in one of those industries that\u2019s perhaps one of the hardest to kind of innovate in and be different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And a lot of it was a case of, well if we could do this as accountants, anyone can do this in any kind of business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ve just got to think differently about what you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But The Digital Firm was really the story of the journey that we went on. It was targeted at accountants to provide almost a blueprint for them to be able to understand how to deploy technology to get closer to their clients, to deliver better value in everything they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the sector has evolved, and it\u2019s not just accounting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tech plays a huge part in every sector, but we\u2019re getting to a point where everyone\u2019s got access to the same technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So literally anyone can go out, we can all buy the tools that drive our business power, our business from an accounting point of view. Everyone can go and use Sage and all of these other tools that help them run better businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what else can we do that that sets us apart, differentiates us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And for me, and we\u2019re seeing everything going on with AI and ChatGPT, it\u2019s all about humans. So it\u2019s about our teams and the people we have in our organisation. How do we ensure that they\u2019re living and breathing our purpose as an organisation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But equally, how do we position what we do to clients? How do we position what we do for our customers that gives us a uniqueness that\u2019s much harder for anybody else to replicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s really an evolution about how do we become more client-centric?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do we recognise shifting expectations of current and incoming generations of employees that have different aspirations, different objectives from life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And as employers we need to match that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So The Human Firm is really about the next evolution. It\u2019s plotting the course for what I believe a business for the next decade really looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s really exciting to have launched it a couple of weeks ago and hit number one bestseller on Amazon on day of release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s been a couple of whirlwind weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
What does a human firm look like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Being customer-centric and human really gives you that competitive advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But can you sum up in a couple of sentences what a human firm looks like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I think it depends on what sector you\u2019re in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So for me, I start all of these books with almost a framework. And the framework here for me with The Human Firm and something that I came to recognise probably two years ago when I first set my firm up, I had a really clear purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t think about it as purpose, I just wanted to change the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that was kind of the thought I had sitting in my garage, in my back garden thinking I\u2019m single-handedly going to go out, and I\u2019m going to change the way professional services are delivered and the way that people that use those services perceive them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And to many, that was probably quite arrogant because I was sitting there in my garage on my own, but I fundamentally believed that we could do better as a profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was my purpose. And we hear lots of people talk about purpose now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in the book I talk about the power of purpose. And the reason I talk about the power of purpose is because that\u2019s why I set my business up, and it drove every decision that I made in the way that I grew the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was just why I did it and I didn\u2019t think about it. I didn\u2019t plaster over walls or anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it was only a couple of years ago that I made this connection that actually the clarity that I had about what I wanted to deliver had forced me to make particular decisions without actually correlating the two things together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I think that\u2019s the centre, that\u2019s the hub of what a human firm is because you have to understand why you do what you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we\u2019ve also had challenges as well, so having grown at the level we have over a number of years, we\u2019re essentially doubling in size every three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That creates huge challenges but also huge learnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the reason that this power of purposing became so obvious to me is when we stopped talking to people about why we existed as a business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was trying to almost extract myself a bit more from day-to-day operations of the business, we lost that kind of connection with people that were joining the organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it was incredible how quickly we started to see things go wrong as soon as we took that away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that\u2019s the hub of The Human Firm. That drives what we do for clients, that drives the experience we deliver for clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then for me, it\u2019s about how we balance our approach to our team and our approach to our customers and clients. And it\u2019s getting that balance right in terms of the way that we provide career opportunity, the way we build a personality for us as a firm that goes beyond brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And from a client point of view, thinking about how do we find ways to add more value to our clients because the by-product of that is that we generate new revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s a business that fundamentally understands the purpose of the organisation, is committed to the purpose of the organisation, and has clarity around what the goals and aspirations are of our clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tHighlight your business\u2019s purpose and culture in all interviews and inductions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So you almost had that sort of light bulb moment about the power of purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But how have you then communicated that to your customers, and how do you reflect that brand to your employees as well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So that\u2019s where we went wrong is because we just assumed that everybody picks it up. Somebody joins the organisation and culture\u2019s kind of there, it just happens, but it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ve got to be really deliberate about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the reason it stopped working is I stopped doing inductions myself and our MD stopped sitting in our interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we almost as we were bringing new people into the organisation, we left other people to talk about why people should come and work for us. And they had a very different aspiration about what that interview role was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whereas we would always have started with, this is Farnell Clarke, this is what we are about, this is what we do differently. And that meant that either people were really keen to come and work for us because they brought into what we were doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or even in some cases we had people say, \u201cYou know what? That\u2019s not the culture for me.\u201d And it meant that we avoided making hiring mistakes in that process as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what we\u2019ve done now is we\u2019ve gone back to making sure that I\u2019m doing inductions, we\u2019ve brought in HR directors and things that are the challenges of just scaling a business anyway because as the entrepreneur you end up doing everything, and you\u2019ve got to work out what the right time is for you to kind of take that step back and bring somebody in that can deliver that stuff for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So bringing in HR director inputs and structure around that, me stepping back into inductions and making sure that everybody understands why we exist, making sure that everybody reads a copy of the books and things like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s making sure that new team members understand what we\u2019re about as a business to make sure that we get that purpose, vision, values really embedded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then it\u2019s a case of measurement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do you measure that? How do you make sure that your team are buying into and living those values?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we do that through performance appraisal and as well as the objectives that we set our team members. It\u2019s also, look, how did you demonstrate this value?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You mentioned clients as well. I think the way we\u2019ve done this is another part of The Human Firm kind of framework is that after we have purpose and client experience, we have what we call client value proposition and employee value proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So this is a clearly articulated statement that tells our clients what we do and how we do it and tells our employees what we do and how we do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019re being very public about what it is that we\u2019re offering to both our clients and our employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The biggest challenge is maintaining sustainable growth and putting in the correct processes to manage it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You talked there about timing, which I\u2019d love to dive into a bit with you because I know you said that there is a consistency of timing as to when business owners hit hurdles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So at what stages did Farnell Clarke hit hurdles, and how did you overcome them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I make this point regularly, and I\u2019ve spoken to so many business owners over the years that have also gone through high growth. And we\u2019re talking about kind of SMEs here in the small end of SMEs, because it\u2019s living our experience, we\u2019re 75 people in our team now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every firm that I\u2019ve spoken to, the hurdles are eight employees, 15 employees, 23, 35, 50, 70, and everyone tells me 100. So that\u2019s our next one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019re going to gearing up for our next hurdle, so we\u2019ve just been over the 70 hurdle. And they\u2019re different hurdles at each point, although it\u2019s in commonality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s things like how do you structure the business, how do you structure for scale?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I\u2019m talking to accounting firms and it\u2019s relevant for any business, it\u2019s really easy to grow a business. It\u2019s much harder to scale a business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if you can get a really concise and clear message, and that\u2019s why you do what you do, what do you do, and how do you do it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you can get clarity around that, and you can articulate that really, really well, and then you communicate it really effectively in terms of the way you market yourselves through that really concise message, you will grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The challenge then is how do you grow in a sustainable way and at that scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So how do you make sure that you put in place the systems of processes, the right people at the right time to enable you to deliver on things that you say in your message? And everything that I talk about is on the back of all of the things that we got wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we got that wrong because we didn\u2019t put the processes in place, we toyed with structure, we tried different structures to make it work and that\u2019s where we get the learning from. That\u2019s where we realise that actually that doesn\u2019t work. We need to rethink it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it\u2019s now about how do we share those lessons to stop other people having to hit those same hurdles. So every point is different. The challenge is different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have a philosophy of fail fast. We try lots of different things, and we are not afraid to U-turn on it. We\u2019ve tried unlimited holiday leave, we\u2019ve tried six-hour working days, we\u2019ve done all sorts in our business and some of them have worked and some haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when they haven\u2019t, often it\u2019s the team that tell us, \u201cYou know what? This isn\u2019t working. Let\u2019s go back to what we did before or rethink it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s about culture, where you encourage your team to kind of be bold enough to challenge stuff and get them ready to be prepared to try different things and not be afraid to innovate and try and do things differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Could six-hour working days and unlimited holidays be effective for your company?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You mentioned there the six-hour working days and the unlimited holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are those things that fell by the wayside in the end or did they work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
No, I mean, we tried, and I think the problem was we tried to do both at the same time as well. We said, \u201cLet\u2019s do six-hour working days and let\u2019s give you unlimited holiday leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recruitment\u2019s tough. It\u2019s like every business struggles to get good people and retain them, and Covid created this sense of kind of flexible working and work-life balance and everything else, so we have to compete, we have to offer something that creates uniqueness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so often businesses don\u2019t treat recruitment as a marketing activity, and it fundamentally is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re selling us as a business. People have choice, so they might have three job offers and if they all pay the same, and they all offer the same working hours and everything else, it\u2019s things like the values, and the culture that\u2019s going to get people to choose your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s really important that we get that right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we want to try things, we want to give our team the flexibility. Six-hour working days stopped first because the team said, \u201cAs much as I\u2019d love to, I just can\u2019t do it, I just can\u2019t get all my work done in six hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we kind of relied on a lot of the research, and we know that the human nature is that if we have a deadline, we work to it. And the theory is that if you know you\u2019ve got to get it done in six hours, you speed up, but you get it done in six hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it didn\u2019t work for us. That\u2019s not to say it wouldn\u2019t work for other industries, it\u2019s just the nature of the work that we do. We have peaks, and it\u2019s really hard to hit all of those deadlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the team said, it was almost the case that the team got irritated that we were telling people we were trying to do six-hour working days, and they said, \u201cI never get to do my work in six hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we stopped that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The unlimited holidays was interesting. We got a real mix. Some people took a bit less, some people took a bit more, but most people took what they always used to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I think it was just the sense of everybody comparing themselves to others that ultimately created the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we went kind of back on that and said, \u201cActually we\u2019ll let you buy or sell holiday, so if you want to take your minimum, we\u2019ll buy some days back and if you want to take a bit more, we\u2019ll sell you some more days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we kind of got that flexibility. And we were already doing work one way and how you want anyway. So it wasn\u2019t a case of pre-Covid our team had to be in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that gives people flexibility. If they need to go to the school sports day, or they need to have a doctor\u2019s appointment or a beautician\u2019s appointment or whatever it is, it kind of doesn\u2019t matter, they can book it, and they can make the hours up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whereas often people will take a day\u2019s leave because they\u2019ve got a school appointment or something like that, and we don\u2019t want our team to do that, so therefore they\u2019ve got the flexibility anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tDrive innovation throughout every aspect of your business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s great that you keep trying out new things and also have the kind of courage to listen to employees and stop things when they\u2019re not working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do you create that culture of innovation and experimentation and risk taking?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So I think for a big chunk of the time that we were growing as a business, I was very visible in the business, and we\u2019d built a business around, I don\u2019t quite go as far as disruption, but certainly we were doing things differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were lucky that some smarter people than me had created technology that enabled us to do the things that we needed to. But this is the point with innovation is you haven\u2019t got to be the creators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What you\u2019ve got to do is just think differently about how you can use technology to change the business model, change the service delivery, change the experience that the client desires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it\u2019s really easy for people to look at the Amazons of this world and everything else and think we\u2019ve got to compete with Amazon. You haven\u2019t got to compete with Amazon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, Amazon is creating expectations from our consumers about what efficiency and response and everything else is all about, but we are competing with our industry, but even at that level we\u2019re actually competing with ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So are you doing better this week than you did last week and are you doing better this year than you were last year?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s really easy to get absorbed in what everybody else is doing but actually focus on what you\u2019re doing, talk to your clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I often say to businesses, you will have your favourite clients, you\u2019ll have the clients that you really like working with. You love working with them. Talk to them. Why do they choose you? Why did they choose to come to you? Because if they\u2019re your favourite client, you want more like them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So therefore find out what it is that drove them to come to you. Ask them the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Same with your staff. Who are your best staff? Ask them why they chose to work for you as an organisation. Get feedback from these people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in terms of the innovation, it was driven by me largely. And I think this was going back to the problem with purpose, we got to that point where people didn\u2019t know that this business was set up to change the way professional services were delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And as soon as you stop telling people that\u2019s why, they\u2019ll conform, and they\u2019ll do the things that they\u2019ve always done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whereas we want to constantly be challenging what we\u2019re doing and saying, \u201cCan we do this better? What can we do to enhance our client experience? What can we do to add more value to our client\u2019s businesses?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s very much a mindset. You\u2019ve got to build that, you\u2019ve got to communicate it, you\u2019ve got to make sure everybody understands it. And it\u2019s easy as you grow to forget that stuff and just assume that somebody else can take care of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me it\u2019s the one thing that whilst I\u2019ve been able to step back from a lot of other things in the business, I\u2019ve got to be the one champion in the cause. I\u2019ve got to be the one that makes everybody understand who we are as a business, what it is we\u2019re trying to achieve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a really great point to keep talking to your best and favourite clients and then try and replicate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve not heard that before. I love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t underestimate your growth potential\u2014plan ahead for it<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So you\u2019re now at 75 employees. You said the next hurdle is probably going to come at 100 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what are you doing to kind of accommodate and anticipate that growth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
We set a strategic plan that the team understand what it is we\u2019re trying to achieve. There\u2019s always challenges around kind of office space and that influences what we do with working patterns and everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We always try and carry excess capacity, so we have enough people to deliver new work that should be coming in. The big focus for us over the last two years has been building a leadership team that is capable of taking a business from 75 to 200 people, which is kind of our medium-term aspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019re very much geared for it, and certainly I talk to certainly startup businesses regularly. And when I set my business up, we grew incredibly quickly very early, and I think we moved offices four times in the first two years because I anticipated the growth would slow down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought, \u201cWell, of course I\u2019m going to grow quickly. I\u2019m a new business, and I\u2019m out there, I\u2019m talking to people, we\u2019re doing things a bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I underestimated what we were capable of doing, and I made lots of short-term decisions that very quickly had to be unravelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you believe you\u2019re going to grow, and you want to grow, then gear up for that growth. Because I said a moment ago, growth is easy. If you\u2019ve got something you need, you feel confident in your ability to communicate your proposition, you will win work. It\u2019s like, that\u2019s the easy bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But you\u2019ve got to have the processes in place, you\u2019ve got to have the systems in place, you\u2019ve got to anticipate and be ready for that growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We made all the mistakes around not increasing fees regularly enough, not recruiting staff before the work came in. The nature of what we were doing and the pricing model that we adopted early on, which was that we were charging people a monthly fee, which was pretty novel in accountancy 15 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the downside of that, is that people started paying us, but the bulk of the work was 12 months later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019d kind of sit there thinking, \u201cOh great, we\u2019ve got money in the bank\u201d, which is amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then we had to deliver all the work, and it was like, \u201cAh no, we haven\u2019t got enough people, we\u2019ve got to go out and find some people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And under pressure you recruit the wrong people, and then you start to get challenges that you\u2019ve got to unpick bad performance management and all of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it has to be planned. It has to be considered. Anticipate that growth and prepare yourself for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So don\u2019t underestimate your own growth potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\tMake your employees the champions of tasks you can let go of<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
In the book, you also talk about \u2018de-Willing\u2019 as a really essential step in the scaling process. Can you just talk to us about what de-Willing means?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Yes. It was a whole chapter in the first book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in The Digital Firm we talked about de-Willing. And when I wrote that book, we were probably, I don\u2019t know, 28 to 30 people, so a much smaller business than we are now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was around that point that we\u2019d gone through the 23, so in terms of these kinds of pain points. And it was me as the entrepreneur, as the business owner, finding out how I step back from the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the Willing was kind of getting me out of the process. And I brought on board two co-directors at that point, James and Frankie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s really talking about how I stepped back to enable James and Frankie to kind of pickup and drive different parts of the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s that kind of entrepreneur extraction from the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do you move yourself from the client relationships? How do you move yourself away from all of those things?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s that control freak nature of many entrepreneurs that means you don\u2019t want to let go of stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mean, we must have had a team of, I don\u2019t know, 20 people, and I was still opening the post every day, and it just seems so ridiculous now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it was my way of knowing exactly what was going on, because if I looked at all the letters that came in, I could see if somebody had got a Self Assessment penalty or whatever it was that was relevant to us in our business, but it was an absolute ridiculous use of my time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it\u2019s a case if you\u2019ve got to get to that point where you say, \u201cYou know what? There are people that are going to do this a bit better than me. What are the things that only I can do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as a business owner, what are the things that only you can do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the stuff you\u2019ve got to hang on to. Everything else you\u2019ve got to let go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it\u2019s a real challenge for many entrepreneurs because you understand the purpose. It comes back to purpose again. You understand what it is you\u2019re striving to achieve, and we\u2019re always going to be cautious that nobody else is going to be able to do it as well as us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we want to cling onto this stuff, but you become the bottleneck, you become the barrier. You don\u2019t make the best decisions in all of these cases. So it\u2019s working out what can I get other people in to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it means often you\u2019ve got to make your team the champions. You\u2019ve got to make them the heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ve got to be prepared to say, \u201cYou know what? You don\u2019t want to talk to me. You want to talk to Sam because Sam is going to respond to you quicker than me. He\u2019s going to give you a better quality answer because he\u2019s doing it every day. He knows much more than me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And again, that\u2019s really hard to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think Richard Branson said that you should employ people smarter than you. And that\u2019s the point, is that, just get people in and be prepared to step back so that you can focus on the things that only you can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Businesses must prepare for the generational shift in future employees<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And in terms of future growth of future employees, we know that by 2025, Generation Alpha is going to be the largest generation, and they\u2019re said to be the most digital savvy and educated workforce yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what are you doing, and what should companies do to prepare for the next generation of workers? And many of their jobs don\u2019t even exist yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Yeah, it\u2019s astonishing. And I\u2019ve talked a lot about generational shift in both of the books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I wrote the first book, we were seeing kind of the first millennials taking senior roles in organisations. So the oldest millennials were kind of approaching 40. And I\u2019ve always been a wannabe millennial. I\u2019m kind of the generation before that, but I\u2019m desperate to be a millennial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in the first book I talked a lot about the fact that we know that millennials are either consciously or subconsciously driven in their buying decisions by the value propositions of organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s definitely a shift in attitude to work-life balance. We\u2019ve seen the job for life disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve seen gig workers, gig economy, there are huge changes. And there were stats when I wrote the first book that two thirds of all millennials were going to leave their jobs within the next three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And my challenge is, look, whose fault is this? Because it\u2019s not the millennials, it\u2019s us as the employers. We are not delivering what people are aspiring to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we have to think and change that. And a friend of mine who is a millennial but has done lots of work around Gen Z in the accountancy space, did some surveys and some research around generational shifts and things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she made a really interesting point that her sister was Gen Z. And she said that there\u2019s got to be this kind of framework and clarity, and we talk about competency frameworks and progression frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And she made a really interesting point because if you look at the way that Gen Z have come through secondary education, everything is underpinned by frameworks in terms of, you need to do this, and you need to tick this off and everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that follows through because that\u2019s the way they\u2019ve been kind of trained in terms of you do this, then you move on to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019ve got to replicate that in the workplace. We\u2019ve got to give them that clarity over what it is we\u2019re doing. And this is Gen Z, so we\u2019re not even talking kind of Alpha yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I\u2019ve got young children who are that Alpha generation, they\u2019re at school at the moment. And yeah, I mean, it\u2019s like everyone\u2019s at school with laptops and iPads and things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we talk about millennials being digitally native, but we\u2019re kind of going another level. I also think it\u2019s quite frightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mean, being at school now, I mean, I imagine, I feel for schoolteachers and things when they\u2019re going to get assignments that clearly have been written by ChatGPT, and it\u2019s like how do you make that distinction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we always see generational shifts and I think we\u2019ve got to pay attention to it as employers. I think that\u2019s the key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we\u2019ve seen it with millennial, we\u2019ve seen it with Gen Z, but expectations are different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if we want to have the best people, and I can\u2019t remember exactly what the exact stats are now because you see so many and some are right and some are not, but certainly millennial and Gen Z in terms of percentage of the workforce is going to be huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And we have to gear up for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have to be ready for that and recognise that those expectations are different from Gen X and certainly the last of the boomers that are still in senior roles in employment now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so we\u2019re looking at a bridge of three generations and that\u2019s huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Find your businesses purpose, prepare for scale and focus on your client experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kate Bassett:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So if you\u2019re talking to other entrepreneurs in different sectors, and they really want to build scalable, human resilient companies, what would be your three pieces of practical advice for them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Farnell:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
So number one is all about purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I say it\u2019s been so critical and so valuable in driving decisions that I\u2019ve made as a business, but it wasn\u2019t deliberate. It was just because it came so deeply from my belief in terms of what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I often say, \u201cIf you can\u2019t kind of explain why you do what you do, what do you do, and how do you do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s got to be step one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that\u2019s purpose, it\u2019s vision, it\u2019s values, it\u2019s what\u2019s the services you\u2019re delivering, how do you deliver it that makes it different for you? So all around purpose, number one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Number two, kind of prep for scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think about structure, think about process, think about the people doing the right bit of the process so that you\u2019re there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And third, really focus on your client experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look at NPS, so net promoter score is a great way of benchmarking the way your clients perceive what you do. It\u2019s a really valuable metric, a strategic level, because if you can drive improvement in your client NPS, then you\u2019ve got clarity that you\u2019re heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You will need other metrics to underpin that. But if NPS is a top level, we want to be scoring up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our business is about 70 plus, so our target is we want an NPS of 70 and an employee NPS of 50. And research says that employee is always lower, which is why it\u2019s pitched at that level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But NPS is a really valuable way just to make sure that you\u2019re hitting the right level of experience for your clients. It gives you the opportunity to get feedback from your clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s why we exist. We exist as a business to serve clients, so we have to focus on what it is we\u2019re delivering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So purpose, prepare for scale and net promoter score to make sure you\u2019re delivering the things that you want to deliver for your clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inspired by this small business story?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wherever you\u2019re listening or watching, subscribe to Sound Advice on Apple iTunes<\/a> here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are also on Spotify<\/a> and anywhere else you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Join our community to share your insights and stories on Twitter @SageIreland<\/a> using the hashtag #SoundAdvicePodcast, on Instagram @SageOfficial<\/a> or in the comments below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Want to know more about Farnell Clarke, Will Farnell and The Human Firm?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You can visit the Farnell Clarke website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can find out more about Will on his website<\/a> or drop him a follow on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- What does a human firm look like?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
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