Andy Wright: Be run by ideas, not by hierarchy

Andy Wright, Executive Chair of Vital Power Group

I wish that I could claim full credit for creating the statement that’s the title of this article. But, unfortunately, I can’t!

That special honour belongs to Steve Jobs, the legendary founder of Apple, where he talked of the unique non-hierarchical culture that Apple had developed, which had played a significant part in helping the business to become the incredible success story that it now undoubtedly is.

It’s a simple concept, isn’t it, covered by just seven words, but I love everything that it implies about how best to run a business and the type of culture we should seek to build and embed in our operations and across the organisation, in order to achieve a successful outcome.

Adopting creativity

As simple a statement as it is, there’s a lot going on behind it about culture, the work environment, the role of leadership, diversity and an organisation’s ability to take risks, to name but a few areas that this touches on.

Unfortunately, closed mind thinking and fear of losing ‘control’ will mean that not all leaders are able or willing to adopt this as their way of working, preferring to utilise a command-and-control approach to work, restricting the potential of their businesses through eradicating all creativity within their teams.

Unlocking the full potential of the whole team has never been as important for the rental sector as it is now. The energy transition taking place in every

aspect of our business model, and those of our customers too, is a significant disruptor to our traditional way of thinking and of how we do things, and we need to onboard as many new ideas as possible in order to navigate our way through these unchartered waters.

Much of this revolution is new to us all, so it stands to reason that organisations that maintain an entirely hierarchical approach, where all of the ideas are generated from the top down, are limiting their chances of taking advantage of the opportunities that this new world order will throw up.

But is it really as simple as that?

Employee trust

Well, not really, because to be able to consistently entice great ideas from your workforce, they need to feel like they are able to shout up and give you their view of life, and that they will be listened to and not ‘punished’ if their view is opposite to the view of the leader.

The developing and then embedding of this environment of ‘psychological safety’ takes time and it requires numerous examples of leaders listening, considering, and then acting on good ideas.

As I have said previously, matching words and actions is a critical activity for leaders to focus on if they want to build trust between leadership and the team within their organisations.

Building trust is important because people need to feel safe if you expect them to make decisions

on your behalf or give you their thoughts and ideas.

This will only happen when there is a working environment where team members feel safe to speak up, to take risks, and express concerns without fear of embarrassment, ridicule or retribution.

From failure to success

Soichiro Honda, the founder of the Japanese motor vehicle giant that bears his name, once famously said that ‘success is 99% failure’.

The point is well made, taking calculated risks is a fundamental component of running and growing a successful business and people will only take these risks if they feel that they are safe when doing so.

Things going wrong or ‘failing’ are all opportunities to learn, change and improve ourselves or our organisation and calculated risk taking should be positively encouraged.

I’ve always believed in this approach and have led or been part of a number of teams where this approach has been adopted and I’ve seen it deliver great results. It creates a dynamic, stimulating, and motivating experience for members of the team that is self-fulling and allows the business to grow rapidly.

The key, however, is to ‘fail fast’ and not leave ideas and decisions that are clearly not working to fester, create a negative impact on the broader business and die a lingering death. If it’s not working then accept it’s not working, close it down and start all over again.

This, in my mind, is what Mr Honda meant when he said that ‘success is 99% failure’.