Tom Drake, commercial director at Green Frog, said: “As an organisation, we had really focused on our growth and where we want to go. It was successful, and we saw some excellence progress. But, due to market conditions and other factors we reached a bit of plateau. We had grown quickly, but this inevitably slows.
“We recognised that we wanted to make sure we didn’t take our eye off the ball, but also couldn’t invest the same level of energy into every project in the way that we could when we were small. Our team had also broadened, so implementing radical growth plans would be a challenge.
“We took a step back and needed to look at where we wanted to grow, and what plans we wanted to put into place to ensure this was a seamless and straightforward process. We learnt of the opportunity with the Growth Hub Scale-Up programme and it looked ideal for what we wanted to do.”
The Scale-Up workshops are aimed at accelerating business growth through peer-focused learning, group working and industry insight.
The SCR Scale-Up initiative supports businesses to grow and is an initiative delivered in collaboration with the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and the SCR Growth Hub.
Tom added: “What was important was learning about different ways of implementing a framework and therefore how to get to a point to continue to drive growth forward, while also pushing the day-to-day of actually fighting for and delivering work.
“What has really added benefit to us is having the opportunities to implement new ways of working, especially around communications within the team and the senior management as a whole. What I gained personally has really helped our business planning and board strategising and how we involve the whole team in that. We now approach these areas of the business collectively, working as a team, which is how we can get more business and continue to grow.
“Since the Scale-Up workshops, we’re taking the first steps which are the most crucial; planning for our growth as a cohesive unit. We’re laying out our long-term growth journey; not just for 2020 but for the next five and ten years.
“We found the whole process of working with Growth Hub really positive; I’d recommend seeking support from them to any business – I’ve already done just that to friends in other sectors. It was really great that we were able to get into the same room as other businesses from different areas and develop a support network.
“We were able to discuss and talk through any issues, no matter what sector, as some similar issues exist no matter what your business is. Having the opportunity to discuss and talk through possible solutions was really useful. We’re planning on meeting up with people we met through Scale-Up to continue to develop this support network and share best practices.”
Recruitment has begun for the second cohort of Scale-Up businesses starting in 2020. Please visit www.scrgrowthhub.co.uk/scale-up/.