Examining teamwork, trends and creative company culture

Creative company culture to withstand the tests of time was the main theme of TSA's National Conference at Hilton Syon Park in West London.
Conference chairman David Stevens' dynamic introduction started proceedings with a laugh and set the right energetic note.
David Meckin from Insight Financial Consulting wanted to show the audience that adding value for stakeholders makes sense and that creating value leads to successful business.
Meckin pointed out "financial mechanics are imperative to support good ideas" and that although making profit is a must, managing cashflow is imperative as poor cashflow is the most common cause of business failure. Delegates learnt that creating value is about efficiency, not sales and that working out the company's return on equity is a strong indicator of how a company is doing financially.
Meckin's calculations of gearing, asset turnover, profit margins and finally return on equity meant he had a good overview of how the laundry industry was doing in terms of "value" when compared with similar industries.
Mark Brown's creative company culture session was about "Dolphins vs Dinosaurs". Brown came onto the stage with five cardboard boxes. He then challenged delegates to "think outside the box" and "step out of our mind cages".
Creativity doesn't have to equal "no control", said Brown.
It's about establishing the acceptable boundaries and allowing your team freedom to operate within the lines. Mistakes are okay if they fall under the categories doing things differently and revolutionary activity (boxes 4 and 5).
However, mistakes in boxes 1 and 2 (don't do and do) are not acceptable and so make that clear to your teams.
Brown, an experienced consultant with a background in organisational development, said the ideal
set-up for an organisation is to be "ambidextrous" - one hand keeping the day-to-day norm going and keeping within the boundaries of don't do, do, and do better whilst the other hand can experiment with do differently and moving completely out the box. We need to be "flexperts" and challenge our assumptions, he added. Extensive knowledge and experience doesn't always equal survival and getting bogged down in "We've always done it that way" and "Yes, but..." can prove to be the end of a company.
Delegates were delighted to learn that the industry in general falls into "dolphin" category under his dolphin index. This index is a useful tool as long as you have a good cross-section of your company taking part in the index survey so that you get a real understanding of where you sit; senior management tends to have a more positive view than the people "on the ground".
After a delicious buffet lunch in the Marco Pierre restaurant at Hilton Syon Park, the TSA's chief executive Roger Salmon introduced a panel of experts who examined the future trends that may come through and influence the industry. Questions from the audience engaged the panel, made up of Jaana Jätyri, a trend forecaster; Christoph Hoffman, the founder of HSK Knowledge, a forum for housekeepers, and also a facilities manager; and Raj Ruia, the managing director of Richard Haworth.
The panel talked about the influences of catwalk trends that will filter down to workwear and interior influences. There was a strong consensus that hotel guests are looking for a "better than home experience" and are even trying to match their home furnishings to that of their hotel experience.
The panel said that new fabric technology remains some way off having any significant effect on our industry as the trends take quite a while to filter down to the mainstream.
Christoph Hoffman provided a good overview of the work he was doing to interact with the next generation and encourage them to come into the hospitality industry.
Audience questions and panel comments suggested that next generation engagement is a task for TSA. Roger Salmon said this project had already been put on the team's agenda after the Special Interest meeting in September.
In the first of two innovation slots, Dave Aveyard from Christeyns presented the company's latest cool temperature washing chemistry.
He was followed by Frazer Kennedy from Xeros Cleaning who outlined to delegates the benefits of rewash recovery from Xeros polymer bead cleansing.
After a short break, delegates enjoyed a presentation by headline speaker, Jas Hawker. A former team leader of the Red Arrows High Performance Team, Hawker spoke about operational excellence and delivery. "Task and role clarity helps build alignment and empowerment, enabling a team to prosper," he said.
Red Arrows bring in new and fresh talent every year to replace three members of the team and at the same time everyone changes roles. Knowledge transfer is therefore imperative and debriefing has become a central activity to the team's management and development.
When recruiting for members, the focus is on being a team player and gelling with a team. One of the hardest aspects of the debrief programme is admitting when you make mistakes and each team member is made to do that in a
non-personal way.
Even the slightest mistake when flying an aircraft at 800 miles an hour with only a foot or two between you and your colleagues has serious consequences.
Ownership of mistakes provides a strong learning curve and helps team members develop as a tight knit team.
Delegates saw parallels to their business, particularly in the debriefing sessions, even if laundry is slightly less risky!
The conference ended with a dinner in the evening, which was attended by over 135 delegates. The TSA thanked all those sponsors involved in National Conference 2015. Presentations from the day can be found on the TSA website.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE: Creative company culture to withstand the tests of time was the main theme of TSA's National Conference