Summer is finally here; the weather is warming up and people are looking forward to their summer holidays. As a business leader you may think that you don’t have time to stop and take a break, but now might be the perfect moment to take a step back and spend a little time on your business instead of in your business.
It’s far too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day running of things, especially when so much effort needs to be put into stabilising and consolidating your business after the pandemic. However, it’s absolutely vital that you don’t end up neglecting your company’s future for the sake of its present.
Growth won’t happen by itself. You need to take the time to develop and hone your business and leadership skills. You need to be able to step back, pause and consider your business, assess your goals and priorities, and start planning how you will go about shifting your business from stabilisation to growth.
A season for growing
This summer, business owners are being encouraged to join the Growth Curve programme, and receive support and training to help consolidate and stabilise your business, complete your recovery and return to steady, sustainable, long-term growth.
The Growth Curve Programme is run by SEMLEP’s Growth Hub, in partnership with the University of Bedfordshire, Cranfield University and the University of Northampton, and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Growth Curve will give you the opportunity to discuss your business, its challenges, and your aspirations for it with one of SEMLEP’s High Growth Business Advisers, before going on to attend a university masterclass.
This masterclass consists of a series of intensive, interactive sessions that will focus on developing and honing your leadership and business management skills. These sessions will cover a wide range of topics, that could include sales, marketing, human resources and operational efficiency.
The programme is designed to help you learn how to take a step back and look at your business from different angles. This will provide you with new insights into the challenges your business faces and see how other organisations are overcoming similar hurdles. You will learn new ways of working to better lead yourself and your team and develop an action plan to address the most urgent and important issues facing your business. Lastly, it gives you an invaluable opportunity to network with like-minded people who can be a source of motivation, support and guidance.
In addition to this, once you have completed the programme you will continue to get ongoing support, as well as access to a network of your fellow Growth Curve alumni. You will also be notified of future grant funding which you may be eligible for.
In order to be eligible to apply to join the Growth Curve programme, your company must be an SME (maximum turnover of €50m or annual balance sheet of €43m) based in the South East Midlands, have between three and 250 employees, and prior to the pandemic have had annual turnover of £200,000, and been experiencing or projecting high growth for two to three years.
For more information, and to see if your company is eligible, visit the SEMLEP Growth Hub website click here.
