Culture Redefined: A Leadership Strategy Towards Stakeholder Capitalism: A Time for Change

By James Bailey

"This book highlights exactly what a great leader looks like, the challenges they must overcome, the questions they must ask themselves and what a great company looks like too. Many congratulations to James on what I am sure will be a remarkable success, just like WAVE, as well as a useful tool to many curr

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Bailey
• Release date: Oct 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781802271614

James Bailey

James Bailey was born in Bristol, England, and currently lives and works in his home city. A graduate of King's College London, James has previously carried the Olympic torch, made a speech at the House of Commons, and worked as a red-carpet reporter. The Flip Side is his debut novel.

Book preview

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Published in 2021

Copyright © 2021 by James Bailey

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

ISBN, paperback: 978-1-80227-160-7

ISBN, ebook: 978-1-80227-161-4

This book is typeset in Avenir Next

Contents

Foreword

The Aims and Objectives of Culture Redefined

Prologue

Acknowledgement of Limitation

Working Towards One o’clock Strategy by Design

Introduction

Mission Statement

Vision

Beliefs and Values

Applying Schein’s Three Layers of Culture to Organisational Strategy

Working Towards Two o’clock Marketing by Design

Introduction

The Four Ps

Customer Satisfaction

Relationships

Applying Porter’s Five Forces to Marketing Strategy

Working Towards Three o’clock Growth

Introduction

Transformational Leadership

Applying Leadership Theory to Support Business Growth

Working Towards Four o’clock The Next Generation

Introduction

Increasing Capacity through Development

A Loyal and Talented Workforce

Applying Theory to Support the Development of the Next Generation

Working Towards Five o’clock Reward Management

Introduction

Motivation

Reward on Circumstance – Everyone is Different

Applying McClelland’s Theory on Motivation

Working Towards Six o’clock Beyond the Bottom Line

Introduction

Sustainable Development Goals

Continuity and Not Just a Fad

Teamwork and Morale

Applying STEEPLE to support Beyond the Bottom Line Initiatives

Working Towards Seven o’clock Measurement

Introduction

Establish the Current Position on Leadership and Culture

Making Good Better

Applying Deming’s PDCA Cycle to Measure Leadership and Culture

Working Towards Eight o’clock Planning for The Future

Introduction

Responsibilities by Skill Set

A Clear Path to Promotion

Applying the Moorhead and Griffin Change Agent Model to Initiate Change

Working Towards Nine o’clock COVID-19

Introduction

Stakeholder Capitalism

Team Mentality

Preparing a Business for The Future

Applying Kubler-Ross Five Stages of Grief in the Context of COVID-19

Working Towards Ten o’clock Change

Introduction

Pioneering Change

Preparing for Change and Understanding the Bigger Picture

Applying the McKinsey 7S Framework to Implement Change

Working Towards Eleven o’clock Establishing an EOT

Introduction

Careful Consideration – A Focus on a Best-in-Class Culture

Consultation

Applying Action Learning to Create a Culture of Continuous Change

Working Towards 12 o’clock The End of the Beginning

Introduction

Transitioning from a Power Culture to a Task Culture

Stakeholder Capitalism in Action

Remeasurement – Building Better

A Former Business Owner’s Role

Communities of Practice

Applying Johnson and Scholes Cultural Web to Drive Success

Final Reflections

References

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Foreword

WAVE Refrigeration have been a part of the Investors in People community since late 2019 and it always fills me with pride to see an organisation come on leaps and bounds by putting their people at the heart of everything they do. It’s clear that James has done just that at WAVE, attributed by their already remarkable benchmark scores going up and up! We are delighted to have WAVE as part of our community. This book highlights exactly what a great leader looks like, the challenges they must overcome, the questions they must ask themselves and what a great company looks like too. Many congratulations to James on what I am sure will be a remarkable success, just like WAVE, as well as a useful tool to many current and aspiring leaders.

- Paul Devoy CEO of Investors in People

The Aims and Objectives of

Culture Redefined

Culture Redefined conveys an evolving case study based on my experience of starting a business, growing, leading and transitioning to an employee-owned business model. The book also blends practical experience and personal reflections through the application of management theory. Culture is at the heart of my work. It is, and will always be, my key strategic driver in business, with my experiences and beliefs shared in this book.

As I have an interest in horology, the twelve chapters represent hourly goals that move towards twelve o’clock. Each hourly chapter focuses on a specific theme, from establishing a business concept to delivering sustainable, ethical and repeatable success. The overriding goal of Culture Redefined is to promote a leadership strategy that works towards the progressive ideals of stakeholder capitalism as a concept that will help organisations survive and thrive during a time of change.

Employee ownership is an operating model that is central to this book. It is a concept shift, away from traditional shareholder structures to a focus on creating lasting, resilient, people-orientated and sustainable businesses, where employees play a part in decision making and direction.

The target audience of Culture Redefined are: those who are interested in the principles of stakeholder capitalism, including experienced management professionals and business owners; people with limited management experience but who have a grounding in business management theory; students who have an interest in business and management; and people interested in exploring employee ownership as a fair and equitable business operating model.

My academic background has provided me with a ‘toolbox of solutions’ that I rely on in equal measure alongside my practical experience. Both have been instrumental in achieving success in the world of small business. The narrative style of Culture Redefined is one of informing, reinforming and reinforcing, supporting the reader in gaining knowledge transfer. This is a learning style that has taught me to learn, reflect and implement successful change as a business leader.

Prologue

I established WAVE Refrigeration, a company that provides professional engineering services to food retailers, in November 2015. My original intent was to provide specialist consultancy services on a small scale to refrigeration industry companies that required additional technical and project support.

As with many start-ups, during the first eighteen months of trading, I worked long hours almost daily as the need for our services grew. All the time, I was being supported by my wife, Joanne. Balancing work commitments with family life was difficult, but my passion for delivering my mission and vision remained steadfast. Through a blend of hard work, determination to succeed, and good fortune, we were appointed as ASDA’s refrigeration consultant in late 2016 – this was a significant catalyst for our growth. In 2017, as we grew, we were successfully awarded a refrigeration professional services contract with ALDI, which marked the real arrival of the business, and we started gaining industry attention and respect.

As we continued to grow, gaining further retail customers, I was joined by colleagues who had significant industry experience and, importantly, who shared in my mission and vision. I set about creating a culture of excellence. My focus has never been on a defined growth strategy; it is about the creation of the very best, people-centric culture. As long as you understand the industry that you operate in, have a clear mission and vision alongside ethical beliefs and values and have products or services that customers need, allow your culture to do the rest. Empower your people and, most importantly, trust them!

Though not to everyone’s taste, I am passionate about marketing and PR. I make no apology for sharing our success via social media - it is free and provides positive publicity that reaches thousands of people. Plus, most importantly, it keeps the business at the forefront of the industry. The team at WAVE share my ethos when it comes to marketing and publicity. We have won local and national awards for our work. Publicity has helped attract blue-chip clients, enhancing our culture, and most importantly, it keeps our team in well-paid and enjoyable jobs with a company that cares about their people, customers and the environment in equal measure.

Before establishing my own company, I had the good fortune to work for some exceptional people, all of whom had different ways of leading a team. I adopted what I considered to be the best characteristics of transformational leadership from my previous employers, alongside my academic learnings, but centralised organisational culture as my key driver to ensure success. Through a blend of decisiveness, promoting and encouraging individual accountability, the culture at WAVE is industry-leading.

To combat an ageing engineering industry, I set about creating a next generation programme by annually recruiting a trainee to the business. The decision to do so has reaped immeasurable benefits. It has provided our young people with a career and a mindset to deliver the company mission and live by its vision, beliefs and values. I am incredibly proud of our next generation training programme. There is no greater satisfaction in overseeing the continuous development of the next generation. Two former trainees are now managers in the business who have been shortlisted for and won a number of local and national awards.

In December 2019, I led WAVE in becoming accredited as Investors in People©, where we achieved a benchmark score of 834 out of 900.