Fast-growth leadership…

Intense periods of growth can leave scaleup companies ricocheting from one new challenge to another. It takes confident and skilled leadership to maintain momentum and an engaged workforce, while delivering in excess of 20% growth year-on-year - the benchmark definition of a scaleup.

Stewart Barnes and his team at QuoLux^TM have made it their mission to support small and medium-sized firms to develop their businesses through strong leadership. With alumni of its flagship LEAD^TM programme achieving on average 27% growth, there’s evidence that their approach works.

“Every business faces its own leadership challenges,” says Stewart. “But for growing organisations these can feel particularly acute. On our LEAD^TM programme we help owners, directors and senior managers to become the best leaders they can be. Delegates navigate their way through change using ‘tools’, shared learning with like-minded peers and time for thinking deeply, so that they feel equipped to deal with whatever is thrown at them.

“It’s often an entrepreneurial spark that ignites a young business, driven by its founders and the small team around them that create something exciting. As output increases or more investment is needed, the informality of the early days needs to move towards more formal management.

“That brings new challenges; more delegation is required with the top management needing to ‘let go’ and take on the role of leading. That can be a struggle for those used to being highly directive. A shift in culture may be needed, moving towards collaboration. We see firsthand on our LEAD^TM programme that, within even the most outwardly successful entrepreneurial businesses, leaders may lack confidence.”

Increasing self-belief or self-confidence is often the key to unlocking leaders’ potential. “Research among our alumni showed that, without exception, they felt more confident and effective having completed the 10-month programme.

“We see delegates inspiring belief in each other through the experience of peer-to-peer learning within their cohort. This shouldn’t be underestimated. It is only from self-belief that leaders can then inspire belief among those they lead. If a scaleup is to sustain growth to gain competitive advantage, leading an engaged and empowered workforce is a crucial ingredient to success.”

The next LEAD^TM programme begins in April 2020, bringing together another small group of MDs, owner-managers, directors, senior managers and partners to explore their leadership and grow their companies.

To see videos from like-minded leaders explaining why they chose LEAD^TM visit www.quolux.co.uk

Read more about how QuoLux work with business leaders in  ‘Spotlight on Leaders’  – Published inside Business & Innovation Magazine

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