The bold will always learn from the best in the business
 
As we watch the government absent themselves for another round of internal convolutions, we might wonder what makes it so hard to have good ideas and implement them. Yes, some of the problems seem intractable, and yes, politicians have to face elections every four years, but some governments seem to make good progress. How do they do it?
 
This is the focus of a new book- Braver New World- by the journalist and broadcaster John Kampfner. He argues that “voters may put up with all manner of sacrifices if they are given a clear vision - and where possible involvement in a plan.”
 
He tours the world finding countries that are managing excellence and innovation. He charts Japan dealing with an ageing population, Taiwan’s healthcare system with 90% customer satisfaction at a fraction of the cost of the NHS, or Morocco which is ahead of its Paris Climate Commitments. Estonia has emerged from Soviet occupation to create a digital government where 97.6% of citizens access state services online.
 
What can business learn from this? Kampfner argues that innovation often comes from countries that have faced significant constraints (think what UK businesses are facing now). Wealthier countries can become trapped by their own assumptions. Or by using internal benchmarks to try and improve performance.
 
Countries that have made progress (he is careful not to present these as utopias) share a common characteristic - a willingness to experiment, adapt and take long term decisions in pursuit of the public good.
 
We are in danger of becoming fatalistic with the refrain of ‘Broken Britain”. No doubt there are headwinds, but there are also companies surging ahead. What are they doing? They are not obsessing over benchmarking against their competitors or over what the industry standard is. They are looking more broadly.
 
Take a restaurant group we work with. To read the news you would think the whole hospitality sector is going backwards. But here is a company that has been focused over a long time frame around providing an exceptional value proposition. There is free popcorn to start and ice cream to finish (low cost but high emotional value).
 
More importantly though, instead of passing on inflation for their core product they fought to manage costs and keep pricing the same for years. They watched as their offering become more and more compelling (and the queues grew longer).
 
They looked around for ideas from other industries, they worked with different suppliers, they took a longer term view on profitability. And now they are the industry benchmark.
Best practice might keep you in the game, but it rarely helps you change the game. The organisations that stand out tend to combine discipline around proven practices with a willingness to experiment beyond them.
 
It is very tempting when trade is difficult to chase short term profitability by increasing prices. Sometimes you have no choice, but repeatedly doing this will erode customer goodwill and eventually they will find someone who has worked hard on maintaining a great customer proposition. What could you be doing now that ensures you can be highly strategic around pricing in 2-3 years time? Who can you learn from?

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