Culture: Running a values-based business

I am regular listener to Cambridgeshire’s Star FM Business Hub, which covers some amazing topics for small businesses and is a regular feature of my BTEC lessons. This week's episode however contained a large segment on the importance of culture in a business' success, which is particularly pertinent for BUSS4. The interview with William Rogers, CEO of UKRD group (owner of Star Radio), gives a fantastic insight into how leaders can create the right culture for a business to succeed. It can be found here and starts 27 minutes in.

UKRD owns and operates 16 local commercial radio stations. In addition, it owns a significant portfolio of websites, a software licensing business and has interests in numerous DAB multiplexes, a national sales house and 2 further commercial radio stations. Its own website gives some background information to the company.

The Company retained its position of number 1 in the Sunday Times' Best 100 Companies to Work For list. Some of the reasons are here. It is not hard to see that Rogers' ethos is stamped all over the company. He talks about the decentralisation of decision-making (autonomy), enrichment/engagement, openness, honesty and integrity.

The culture in the business is one where the employees' own objectives are intertwined with those of the company. A mutual win-win if you will and it seems to have borne fruit. Turnover has nearly doubled in the last three years. True this in part due to the acquisition of The Local Radio Company (TLRC) in June 2009. However, just over a year later they managed to turn TLRC's £2.1m loss into a £0.4m profit. UKRD Ltd’s 2011 results showed that pre-tax profits rose 74.7% to £0.74m and Rogers is predicting an increase in dividend of 13% this year.

Rogers talks about how he believes in the importance of valuing people and ensuring they value each other. He makes it clear that this approach is not a short-term fix, it needs to be work upon constantly, but disagrees that this is a cost to the business. Quite the contrary in fact, Rogers is certain that it is fundamental to UKRD's recent success. It is also clear that there is a fair degree of change management required when instilling a company culture and it isn't without its problems. His comments on recruitment and staff turnover are pertinent to the issue.

Overall, this interview is incredibly useful in understanding the nuances of how a company culture is created and its impact on the bottom line. At times this can be ephemeral and difficult to pin down.