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EAT YOUR OWN DOG FOOD

After rapid growth from humble beginnings selling mobile phones on the high street, Excalibur Communications puts its staff, known as ‘the partners’, the Younite Foundation and social responsibility at the very heart of what they do, with awards to prove it works! 

It was one of the first to be accredited as a UK Living Wage employer, have been awarded gold accreditation against the Investors in People standard and, in 2017, were ranked 55th in The Sunday Times Top 100 Small Businesses. Peter Boucher, CEO, shares with us why sustainable business is important to Excalibur and the challenges it presents.

So, what does it take and why do we all need some dog food?

THINK STAKEHOLDERS

Excalibur looks to change how companies operate and drive better ways of working to help organisations deliver value. To do this stakeholders are crucial; the customers, employees, finance (costs) and the broader community. Each one cannot be looked at in isolation, but together; as a network of interconnected elements that have an impact on how the business progresses. This has been key for Excalibur as part of its high-octane growth, but also in creating a business that will last, with happy staff and high levels of customer service.

ENABLING EMPLOYEES

With dozens of projects around sustainability, a key focus for Excalibur has been giving employees fully mobile communications. Making staff more agile has meant there is more flexibility for clients, less paper, less travel and the list goes on! Being mobile hits every metric for the business and sustainable improvement.

This has not been without challenges, such as getting senior management to drive it from the top and lead by example. However, the risk has paid off, allowing staff the freedom to work how they want and having less ‘presenteeism’ by no longer having staff locked to old workstations and all company data locked down to the premises.

DOG FOOD

Excalibur practises what it preaches. Before advising customers on new approaches, they want to make sure they have tried it first. In an apt but crude expression, Peter describes how they believe in ‘eating our own dog food’ and how in a developed country, no firm with a relatively high cost base can afford not to invest in sustainability through stakeholders and changing operations.

Firms need to drive competitiveness in their offer and that will only come from working more efficiently within the changing environment. Businesses will never win on underlying cost structures, so need to manage all resources more effectively. Leaving time to drive real productivity and motivation across the workplace and less ‘zombie’ jobs.