The Lucent Perspective

Achieving True Culture Success While Scaling and Transforming, Insights from Amabel Grant

• Rebecca Hastings • Season 1 • Episode 12

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“If you want to be a great place to work and you want people to come to work with you… Then really being able to demonstrate that you care about social value as a strategy in your DNA. That really matters to people.”

Our special guest in this episode, Amabel Grant, shared her insights on how to become a great place to work by delivering on social value goals. I am really excited to share this episode with our listeners as Amabel shares insights on the following areas:

  • How to become a great place to work, and how doing so will positively impact your clients and employees.
  • Focus on social value - what it really means and how to balance it with commerciality.
  • The growing importance of ESG in procurement
  • Important core focuses when scaling your business.

Amabel is the CEO of Bloom Procurement Services which is the leading public sector fully managed marketplace for professional services.


Episode Outline and Highlights

  • [01:40]   Top tips for developing a positive working culture and employee experience.
  • [03:40]  Amabel shares their trademark behaviors and how they chose them.
  • [07:28]     The working culture’s direct impact on business.
  • [09:15]    How Bloom consistently embeds the trademark behaviors within their team.
  • [12:55]      Fostering a consistent work culture for startups.
  • [19:15]      Amabel discusses what the private sector can learn from the public sector.
  • [22:01]     Discussion on Social Value and how it aligns with commerciality.
  • [24:26]  How businesses are being assessed under ESG (Environmental Social Governance) credentials.
  • [28:58]    Core focuses when scaling a business.



Rebecca Hastings, Founder and Director at The Lucent Group

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hastingsrebecca/

Would you like to be a guest? Book a time to speak with Rebecca: https://calendly.com/rebeccahastings/discovery-call

The Lucent Group Ltd website - https://www.thelucentgroup.co.uk/

The Lucent Perspective website - https://thelucentperspective.com/

Rebecca has extensive talent and executive search experience supporting digital and technology businesses through complex changes and fast-paced scale-up periods. She works with businesses advising on C-level, technical, sales and commercial appointments, workforce planning, strategic talent management, recruitment processes and associated technology and employer brand development.

Rebecca Turnbull:

Welcome to the Listen perspective. I'm your host, Rebecca Hastings. I've spent over a decade working with executives in the tech sector, and help successful companies build their leadership teams and scale. During my career, I've been lucky to have the privilege of learning from many exceptional leaders. In these conversations, you'll get perspectives from peers, be inspired, and learn what it takes to become one of the best. This is your chance to listen to experts talking about the challenges, solutions, and the vital insights they've gained in their careers to date.

Unknown:

If you want to be a great place to work, and you want people to come and work with you in that great place to work, than really being able to kind of demonstrate that you that you care about social value passionate sprouter, it's in your DNA that really matters to people.

Rebecca Turnbull:

Annabelle is the CEO of balloon Procurement Services, which is the leading public sector fully managed marketplace, and build there are just absolutely so many things that I'd love to cover with you. But before we get into lots of the topics, the first thing I want to do is just congratulate you on securing a place on the times great places to work list recently, your chief people officer Pam actually talked me through the results. And one of the things that like stood out to me as someone who's worked internally and people operations is just like how consistently over the last few years, you have moved the matrix over like multiple areas just incrementally, to like really boost that positive culture and employee experience. So tell us, what are your top tips for developing a positive culture?

Unknown:

Well, our records first of all, it's great to be here. And yes, thank you are absolutely delighted with. With that results on the on the times great places to work list, we're very, very proud of what we've achieved. So but I guess firstly, you need to decide what sort of culture you're looking for in the business, and your what's going to result in most productive and engaged workforce. And of course, employee productivity is one of the most critical aspects of running successful business. So you need to have a clear sense of what the organization is culturally defined by, and then you need to lead and persuade the organization is choosing that culture for themselves. And then I guess you will send me to ensure you only hire employees who were who were able to, you know, square their interests with that model. Yeah, you, Adam for Unfortunately, one of the major parts of, you know, building a successful culture and a business that people often forget, as they didn't target employee happiness. And that's actually a really critical aspect of productivity. And studies have shown that happy employees are sort of 10 to 12% more productive.

Rebecca Turnbull:

Well, that's fantastic. So you're saying you know, really choose what your choice is going to be, and make sure that everyone who's on board will coming on board is on board with what the new culture is going to be. And then making sure that that results in everyone's happiness. So talk us through the journey that you've been on around culture, that one of the things that I always find so interesting about Bloom is, like, I could almost guess what some of your cultural attributes are just from speaking to different people across the business. And I've spoken to people in four or five teams and like, there are really consistent behaviors, and then obviously work with you. I'm aware of these like trademark behaviors that you have. So firstly, tell us what are the trademark behaviors? And how did you choose them?

Unknown:

So Well, what we did was we engaged with the whole business in a really collaborative way, and actually asked the business, what they thought our trademark behaviors should be. So it's quite interesting, because what are the three trademark behaviors? Are we work together? We are real and true. And we are curious. Now, you'll probably see a lot of company values that, that talk about collaboration and authenticity and innovation. And actually, our trademark behaviors do mirror those values. But because they've come up through the business, they sort of said no, we don't want everybody says Be authentic, you know, what does that mean? That you what we want is we are real and true. Because we really feel like we can grab hold of that and, and I'm work with that. But I do believe authentic leadership is vital and really important to keep the culture alive. But that's sort of where we are real and true really works for us as a trademark behavior.

Rebecca Turnbull:

And then we are curious, that's definitely something that I've encountered. And I think that lots of companies talk about being curious, but actually it's like the way in which you go about is very thoughtful and people being curious, inquisitive for the right reasons. It's, you know, always very positive in terms of the dialogue that people seem to have.

Unknown:

Yeah. And it's sort of giving people a license to say, you know, everything we do every day, you know, is there a better way that we can do it? Let's let's get curious about, you know, the right formula and the right and the right recipe. And there's always room for improvement. Right? So it's having that, you know, real curiosity about, about finding the best way to do something, for example,

Rebecca Turnbull:

definitely. And you took you talked about how, like, you went out to the business to get people to have like feedback and input into what these behaviors should be. How did you go about doing that? Because there's some companies where it's just, they'll just send out emails and surveys, what what kind of process did you guys deploy? Now, we

Unknown:

actually had collaborative working sessions. And so we've launched the redefining of the culture as a as a as a as a little mini program, and we had a wider team consult on it. And then that went down to a smaller team, who really did all the sort of real kind of legwork behind it, and then they fed all of that back back up to the Exec. You know, I think they it was a fantastic result. And you know, these things don't really work. So well, if they come top down, I think coming up from the business means that, you know, we really care about them.

Rebecca Turnbull:

Yeah. And it's so refreshing to hear, because there are companies that I've gone to work with, and they didn't have their values. So a leadership team have the whole, called, we've got, we've got 30 minutes, let's, let's choose five words that we put on the wall. And I think that really getting everyone on board is more time consuming. But the way you've described it's not just like you sent out a survey or an email for those who are interested sounds like this has been like quite a thorough approach. And, you know, as you're going through that is kind of like helping to embed those values that you've ended up with, within the business. It's definitely, you know, a more like, thorough and disciplined way of doing it. And it takes more time, but I think it is more successful ultimately. And so how has this process of you getting the culture more aligned and improving the work environment? Like, how has that impacted the business and your customers?

Unknown:

So you know, so? So great question. So in terms of impacting the business, it's had a really significant effect on our retention metrics, they they've really improved, which, of course, has a direct impact on the bottom line, because everybody, every time somebody leaves the business, and then you've got the cost of recruitment, and then, and then training, that new starter, of course, people will always leave you for good and positive reasons. But essentially, I want, you know, committed and productive people, and you've got the right skills and experience, and we're really committed to what we do bloom and then feel happy in their jobs. But you know, that's that retention percentage improved from 60% to 88%. Yeah, which is, which is very significant. And, and I guess, you know, how has it impacted our customers? Well, it's a known fact really, that happy employees means happy customers. And there's a, there's a Gallup report that I read. And in that they state that employees who are more engaged are more likely to improve customer relationships, resulting in a 20% increase in sales. So there's some good data out there to show you that you know, how happy people should be happy, really happy customers.

Rebecca Turnbull:

And there's been some other really positive things that I think have happened in bloom over the last couple of years, right innovation and things that have really moved the business forward. So there's definitely additional benefits that are probably there. Now, I've, as I said, I've alluded to, I've worked with a lot of businesses where they talk about their values. And maybe there is a real aspiration, but they don't always get them into action. And I can definitely vouch for the fact that I seem to have seen them a bit more consistent within bloom than a couple of other businesses. And I think that that's a real achievement. Getting them embedded and having that behavior aligned, is the hardest part. So please tell us how have you achieved it? What tips would you share with other executives?

Unknown:

So now I'm in is massively important. You can go through these exercises and then you know, put these things in a bottom drawer and that's that, so it's really important to kind of live and read them on a daily basis which which we strive to do so. Few areas, really, we've got a monthly award or awards for demonstrating those trademark behaviors. And that's where colleagues will nominate another colleague and, and call out, sometimes it's all three. But sometimes it's one or two of these behaviors. We've got an online platform where colleagues can give other colleagues a shout out to doing something great, which can just be a general kind of thumbs up. But or it can be demonstrating a particular trademark behavior. So that is always open. And we get lots of nominations through that. And then actually, quite importantly, it's it is now part of our performance review process. So you might hit all your objectives in in terms of your know your role objectives, but unless you are also demonstrating the trademark behaviors, you'll you'll get marked down, say, you know, that's essentially intended to drive the right behavior, say, if you want to run over others, and push other people out of the way to achieve your objectives, then then you won't get as good marks, as if you are real and true. And work together with your colleagues achieving those objectives.

Rebecca Turnbull:

And I think the combination of all of that makes it much easier to create an environment where there's low psychological safety for things to bubble up to the surface that you need to know about. And you there's a lot of different ways in which people are being incentivized, you know, through feedback there. So is that something that you've seen within the business any benefits from? Oh, absolutely.

Unknown:

And you know, the other part of that online platform is, is that that any colleague can see back anonymously at any time if they've got any issues. So it's very much an early warning system, in terms of, and there are people to look after that platform. And well, that is I say, it's anonymous, but they'll go straight back to somebody. You know, if there are any concerns, if people aren't feeling safe, we also run a large number of new wellbeing courses, and there are all sorts of opportunities that for people to get support, you know, over and above what you might expect a standard, if that should be the case,

Rebecca Turnbull:

that's very positive to hear. So anyone who's worked in a start up or scale up businesses knows that it's like, incredibly challenging, for there to be like leadership teams to consistently have, you know, like, excellent stores and get people on board, especially like, just during through periods of growth, there's so much that's changing. But I see that you guys did that when I was analyzing the results. So how have you and your team done that have you really kind of, like, fostered that consistent leadership? You know, I

Unknown:

guess it starts with hiring the right people. Um, you know, you've got great leadership and communication skills in particular, and then also ensuring that they as you get promoted from within, where we are, where we've got a great track record, actually, I'm very passionate about ensuring that we do promote from within where we can, but those people in euros then get the training and support that they need to develop the skills in terms of leadership, so they haven't already got. And, you know, I really believe in in authentic leadership. So authentic leaders have got better relationships, higher levels of trust, and they create a much more positive working environment. And I guess, you know, the other aspect of a fast growing company is the rate of change. Now, we talked a few years ago bloom about some individuals perhaps feeling what they called Change fatigue. But rather than be down about it, I think, actually one of the most positive moments for me was saying they do you know, actually changes good, we are really fast growing organization and there will always be change. So that's an attribute in bloom which each individual needs to enjoy and relish and like being part of, and if somebody doesn't enjoy change, and really hates it, and it's probably not the best place in the world for them, because it is just it is one of those. As an organization, we are we're always changing in a positive way. So

Rebecca Turnbull:

I think something that comes out to me there is you actually know what you are and are not shying away from that because if change, it can be pretty tiring. I think it's always much easier if there's like strong communication behind the change and people understand why the change is happening. Change is really positive sometimes, but yeah, for Knowing how to assess people and that you are assessing that sometimes something businesses forget, they maybe just look at it and think, Oh, well, they'll probably be adaptable, because they've worked in a few startups, actually, I think that there's personality traits that you should be looking at, if you want to assess someone's ability to cope in more thrive, really, in a changing environment, you know, like, you know, curiosity, that's definitely one of them. And you've got that in your trademark behaviors. But you know, you know, a bit of resilience, that openness, listening to other people's suggestions, because nobody has all of the ideas for all the change. That's

Unknown:

right, and you name change has to be really well managed. So when it when it's when it's chaotic, and only achieved through kind of problem solving, and dealing, when they come up, then then it's not being carefully managed. And actually, one of the things we've done in the last 12 months, because we've got even more change coming with a few new products, and so on, is that we have a change in transformation outfits now. So anything that requires significant change, they like our new marketplace, that has been run out change and transformation of this. So you take take the the unknown out of the try and plan for everything that you can, and and you know, work together work as a team. And then you can make these things much, much simpler. Without the kind of there will always be stress. Because these things, just things that are difficult can be can be stressful, but take the maximum of the unknown out and plan as as well as you can. And then you've got a winning chance

Rebecca Turnbull:

that people will associate with like a big bank or a large corporate. And it's something I have seen in some other businesses that are starting to scale or going through that journey. But it's not common. Was there anything that inspired you or that you like learned from that? Made that come about?

Unknown:

Sure, yes. I mean, when I was in a previous organization that went through the same, I was Chief Operating Officer, and an organization that went through the same growth journey that bloom was going through, and and that business grew really fast, in about five years, when I was with it. So we had, we were lucky enough because we had a team in that business of implementation consultants who were working with customers implementing, it was a procurement technology, we realized internally that we will never get anything done if it didn't have an allocated project manager. So what we did is we every one of those implementation consultants, they all had side projects that were internal projects, and they would get things done. So is that also truly, and then you know, we are we are a private equity backed business. And that means a high growth business and highly ambitious. And it's actually quite, it's not unusual to have a change, and Transformation Office sounds very grand. There are three people in that team. And so it's not unusual to have that function.

Rebecca Turnbull:

So I know you joined bloom in 2018, you were the CTO, and the seat, oh, before becoming the CEO, and I know that your village to there as well, you held leadership positions in several procurement businesses. And you've worked in the public sector at the crown commercial services. So one thing that stood out to me about your career that's like, slightly unusual, is you're actually the CEO of quite a high growth, tech kind of platform business now. And in the past, you've worked in the public sector, a lot of people would think that's an unusual mix. What what do you think that private sector can really learn from the public sector? Because you're really enmeshed with a lot of those organizations and seeing how they're overcoming challenges on a regular basis? I'd love to hear your insights.

Unknown:

Sure. I mean, I guess, you know, one of the reasons why I've been in and out of the public in the private sector, and actually, when I've been in the private sector, it's always been providing products and service into the public sector. But I've always just really followed the role for read my heart when it comes to selecting my next role. And my passion is about driving value in public sector procurement, through the use of technology. And that's what I've always done. So I guess in terms of what the private sector can learn from the public sector, it's about that sense of purpose, a sensitive achievement because you're making other people's lives better in some way. So recently, I was actually reading about a concept I've you heard of IKI guy and you'll enlighten me it's a combination You know of what are you really passionate about? What are you good at? What can you be paid for? And what the world needs. And if you can get yourself into it, but all those in a Venn diagram and put yourself in the middle, then you've sort of hit that. That perfect place, this sweet spot. Yeah, it's well, so. So I think that you know, and that's really, that's combining some of those, you know, working for the greater good in terms of social value, which doesn't just mean social value out there in the community. It's also within, say, looking after our own colleagues and so on. And yeah, so say the greater good, combine it with what you're passionate about what somebody will actually pay you for. Yeah. And what you're good at, is obviously a good idea of you if you can't do what you're good at. Right?

Rebecca Turnbull:

Yeah, totally. And I think that that would make for a lot of that happiness, if you're doing something where everything is aligned, and success is far more likely, then. And you're adding more value can just become, you know, a cycle that's really positive and reinforcing. Yeah. So, social value is something that is really embedded into bloom. And, you know, I've heard people talk about it a lot, you've given a bit of an overview, but I'm just interested to know a bit more about how you balance the business's commercial reality and that social value element, because it Tech for Good is something that people talk about more and more at the moment. And certainly the candidates that I'm speaking with, like so many people really want that purpose and direction to be aligned with their skills. But there isn't always a huge degree of commerciality bedded into those businesses, some of them incredibly commercial, and remarkably fast paced and stuff, but not always consistently. So tell us tell us a bit more by social value and how you align that commercial reality.

Unknown:

Sure, so I'm an I guess, social value, it's a broader understanding of value says it sort of moves beyond just using money as the main indicator of value and it's about you know, the well being of individuals and communities and, and looking after both the social and physical environment. So, you know, organizations on balance, should they basically aim to create a net positive impact both in the present, but then also for a sustainable future, when people really care about about social value and that sustainable aspect of what businesses are delivering. And if you if you want to be a great place to work, and you want people to come and, and, and work with you in that great place to work, then really being able to kind of demonstrate that you that you care about social value, passionate spread, it's in your DNA that really matters to people. So you know, it's part of it's part of that balloon story. Say, happier, more productive people will will have that impact on the bottom line. So that's really a large element of what the what the commerciality is about

Rebecca Turnbull:

totally, and not everyone is motivated by money. I think people want to have a lot of purpose around what they're doing. So thank you so much for sharing a lot about the culture with us. At you know, another thing that I've noticed about bloom that's a bit different. And I think this is actually becoming quite topical for a lot of organizations, especially like sales leaders and tech companies just now, like businesses are waking up to the fact that procurements really changing and in the procurement process, people are talking about there being more scope, scoring, and waiting on tenders, like towards the ESG credentials of businesses. You know, obviously, like driving and demonstrating a diverse businesses and something that sustainable is critical to that. But I noticed you also have a head of sustainability at bloom. And it's a bit like the head of transformation and change. It's a bit unusual within a startup business. So it'd be great if you could tell us a bit about how businesses are being assessed and their ESG credentials. First of all, because I think there's something which is really quite topical at the moment.

Unknown:

No, absolutely. And of course we at Blue we know an awful lot about procurement evaluation, but because it's, it's a core part of what we do. So we work with a lot of our public sector clients as to how we include social value in a procurement and how that's scored. And then how we measure it. When that project is either being delivered or has been delivered. So that is becoming a key part of procurement evaluations. And then in terms of our head of sustainability, who is a member of our exec board? So it's a really, you know, it's a key role for us. I think you'll find, as time goes on, that most organizations will start thinking about they need a sustainability manager, they need a head of sustainability, they need a chief sustainability officer. And, you know, as a business, bro, I mean, that that's absolutely, it's a crucial role. And if we didn't have our head of sustainability, he's been working really hard the last couple of years putting together the strategy implementing the plan. He's absolutely passionate about it. You know, it's it's a really interesting role and really interesting career for people moving forward. I think, and one of the fantastic things about it is, is it evolves every single part of the business. So you know, everything, from marketing, to operations to technology, every part of the business,

Rebecca Turnbull:

it'd be interesting to see where those Chief Sustainability officers of the future come from, do they come from operations are a risk and compliance are illegal? I think there's going to be a or even, you know, Technologies was it depends on the business. And I think that will be quite interesting to see how that rule matures over time. And in terms of like, assessing the diversity within businesses, or maybe looking at gender pay gap is that something that you ever see within procurement is that you're like putting more of a wasting on

Unknown:

so. So in terms of our procurement process, which which is effectively mirrors the public sector procurement process, we've got some what we call qualification questions that we start every procurement with, and having the right set of, of policies depending on your company size, is a qualification question. And in our, in our tenders. So our accredited suppliers are always asked to tell us what policies, they've got size appropriate to the knee. So that is important to us just as a baseline supplier that's accredited on our marketplace. And then if there is something in particular that a particular project requires, well, then we'll draw that out in this specific project here. Mm hmm.

Rebecca Turnbull:

Okay. So certainly sustainability, it's, you know, it's kind of much more pervasive and much more important to businesses. I noticed the code clan, which is based up in Edinburgh and Glasgow was throughout Scotland now, they've actually launched a course on sustainability and tech development recently. I haven't seen much of that. But is that something that you have ever looked for in like a tech procurement tender toll within the public sector? Or is that something that you think is just starting to emerge?

Unknown:

I think it's just to be fair, just starting to emerge without without a doubt. And, but but I have actually looked at tag clan, and I've forwarded the details to my CTA to see what we should be doing in that area. So we interesting what what he comes back with on that,

Rebecca Turnbull:

and I'm sure he will embrace a certainly feels like something that would be very much in line with those trademark behaviors you have at bloom. Yeah. And so, so far, I've got I've just got one last question. What would be your top tips for someone who is a CEO of like a scaling business just now? There's obviously a lot of uncertainty in the economy and a lot of changes afoot, just in business in general with, you know, AI and merchants and everything. What do you think are like the core fundamentals that you're leaning into, that you would recommend?

Unknown:

So I mean, there's no doubt that, say it so that word scaling is really important, because it's a word that isn't always used correctly, I'm sure it is understood. But scaling is about you know, doing Wars is not as as you grow as a business is not increasing your resource on a linear basis. It's, it's doing it doing more with less more focused FTE resource because of automation. So I think it's really ensuring that when you are scaling you are you are genuinely scaling. And are you looking at all your processes and up preaches and plans with that scaling, view in mind. Say, does your marketing strategy address scaling in terms of how do you reach more more customers more quickly than the kind of traditional one on one sales type? Approach? How do you automate your, your marketing? How do you automate your processes? And how do you put your, your people resource into that real expertise area, which is around being the experts pushing your customers and the relationship aspect of what you do as a business?

Rebecca Turnbull:

Here's a very good point. And I think I recently recorded some podcasts, one with Martin three column, the other with Richard Quinn, where we discuss that exactly. But I think within the tech sector over the last few years, it's been really easy to over hire. And there's been a lot of status around the rate of people growth within businesses, whilst there's been a lot of investment there. And I think they were getting a little bit back to belt and braces and thinking about profit and turnover. And during your growth, rather than, you know, looking at the financial metrics much more closely. I always think that it's quite interesting for me when I'm researching people, for, you know, companies like bloom that are wanting to scale that I try and find people who have worked in businesses that truly have scaled and their revenue, or their customers at least has increased faster than the rate of people. I mean, that's a really attractive thing for me to be able to say to a company when I'm presenting a candidate to them, but it is it's takes a bit more work is often overlooked. And hopefully, it's something that you know, we can all get on board with in the true sense to help boost productivity.

Unknown:

Yeah, absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Yeah.

Rebecca Turnbull:

Well, Annabelle, thank you so much for sharing your insights. It's been really valuable. And I truly think it's really impressive how you've embedded that culture and got those values as actual behaviors within your business. It's definitely something that lots of people are you trying to achieve. And even it gets harder to do that when times are a little bit tough. So it's been really useful. And certainly, that's stood out to me when I've been dealing with business. So thank you very much for your time.

Unknown:

Pleasure, Rebecca, Brian, nice to chat with you.

Rebecca Turnbull:

Thanks for listening to the Listen perspective. I'm Rebecca, a saint, founder and director at the Listen group, a tech sector executive search and talent consultancy. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it with others, post about it on social media or leave a rating and review. If you're a company looking to hire top technology leaders, or you'd like to discuss your next move, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or send me an email to Rebecca at the Listen grid pick.co.uk Thanks again for listening today.