Secrets of our success
By Ben Brocklesby, Director at Origin.
We were recently asked how Origin drives business success, and it really got me thinking about organisational achievements and what constitutes success in my eyes.
The honest answer is that success is not one dimensional – it has lots of moving parts, that all play a crucial role in the wider running of the business. Therefore, success in my opinion, must be driven in a number of ways.
The first question for me has to be, are we delivering a top-quality product on time, every time? If we aren’t and standards start to slip, even a little bit, we run the risk of losing the consumer’s and partner’s trust. This can’t and mustn’t ever happen. So, delivering on every one of our promises, no matter the size, on time and in full, is imperative.
Secondly, I would say that feedback from our partners is really important. It not only provides us even more reason and opportunity to speak to them, but it also gives us practical insight too – can we be better in certain areas or is there a particular need in the market that we ought to be meeting. By ensuring we have the right culture and interaction with our partners, it allows us to all pull in the same direction, helping them grow and creating a more successful business in the process.
Finally, I would say that organisational culture is really important to me and something that I rank as a huge part of being a successful business. As everyone knows, Origin prides itself on being a family business, which stretches across employees and also our partners. With this in mind, I hope and want every member of the Origin family to enjoy working for the company. If we can achieve this, we can rest assured we have met one of our most important objectives.
We do actively take steps to facilitate an enjoyable working environment. We have an open-door policy, so the leadership team are always available to talk; we run 360-degree feedback sessions allowing people to speak freely about their roles and the business itself. We also host roundtable discussions with different people from different departments to ensure that the business is not only running as smoothly as we expect it to, but that everyone within each department is happy and well.
I think it is really important for everyone, not just those of us involved in the manufacturing industry, to be flexible in how they look at success. Yes, there will be goals and end of year figures that will be set in stone, but as the business grows, it is important to be able to adapt and change with the times. Success has to be worked at and built on, you can never take it for granted, so being flexible allows you to react to the market needs and stay on top.
