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SME Programs

SME’s make up the largest part of the UK private sector and are considered the backbone of the economy. They employ over 16m people in the UK and are some of the most innovative and diverse businesses in the world.

The number of people starting businesses is at a record high, but unfortunately the failure rate is over 60% in the first three years. We work with owners and founders to understand and refine their overall strategy and where their long-term business ambitions are focused. We use the same 4 principles with SME’s slightly adapted and bespoke for the client.clients.

  1. Strategic Review

    SME’s are often built around the idea or vision of one founder or owner, starting and growing a business is an extremely hard, stressful and often lonely pursuit. We often help in shaping the long-term strategy for the business including potential exit or succession options for the founder.

  2. Team Assessment

    SME teams are often smaller and more diverse than larger entities, this means the assessment and understanding of the team is even more critical. We use the latest in psychometric testing to ensure the leader has the right fit of team around them to ensure their strategic aims can be achieved.

  3. Support Systems

    The stress levels of the leadership of an SME can be extremely high due to the more fragile nature of the business compared to larger entities. With smaller teams the risks of single points of failure are high. Often overlooked in smaller entities the health and well being of key team members is critical and our experts in this area often make a significant improvement in the areas of sleep, stress management, fitness and work life balance.

  4. Skill Development

    Smaller teams usually have more specific skill sets and can often benefit from the development of additional skills specific to the strategic aims of the business. It is key to understand the teams’ skills to ensure they are complimentary and where there are shortfalls plans for development are implemented.

We have extensive experience in understanding the challenges of building SME’s and the passion and commitment it takes from the owners and founders to be successful. We often find we can add an interesting perspective from outside of the business which can be difficult to see when you are consumed with the day-to-day performance.