It's All About People - 5th December 2024

READ TIME - 3 minute read

Welcome Back

This week’s It’s All About People I discuss what I learnt from spending an incredible 90 minutes listening to Steven Bartlett - and for once this was live and not on a podcast.

Read on to discover his thoughts on:

⭐️ Never settle for mediocre staff

🎯Give your team a vision to aim for

🚲️ Marginal gains

💓The importance of values

🗓️ Events coming up

🎁 In 2025 I am hoping to grow the reach of this newsletter, and would really appreciate your help. For those that do refer people to our newsletter, there will be a range of thank you freebies coming your way. Simply use the link below, and then keep an eye on your inbox in 2025 for the goodies.

🐾 As many of you know, I’ve been a fan of Steven Bartlett for years. I often joke that I’m off for a walk with Steven and my dog, Daisy, as I listen to his podcast. 📚 I love his book too—his views on employing people and getting the best out of them align so closely with my own.

This week, I had the privilege of hearing Steven speak in person, and his insights were too good not to share. For those of you who don’t know him, Steven is the youngest-ever investor on Dragon’s Den, a brilliant entrepreneur, and the host of The Diary of a CEO podcast.

Here are some of my (many) take aways from his session… 👇️ 

✨ Settling for mediocre staff is a mistake. Exceptional staff propagate exceptional staff (yes, propagate—that’s the word he used!). When you hire great people, they hire great people. It’s how you assemble the world’s best group of people.

I have always said to clients, and to our leadership team, to never settle for the best of a bad bunch.

This means when recruiting if even after many hours (and pounds) have been spent, if none of the candidates are good enough - start again. Taking someone on out of desperation is always a mistake - and one you will live to regret.

So of course, get your recruitment right - perhaps a topic for another day.

🎯 Give your team a vision to believe in and a culture where they can do the best work of their lives. I love these words.

I often talk about helping people bring their best version to work, and it is one of core values. However, Steven’s version of “best work of their lives” is genius and one I will be using.

Steven emphasized the importance of crafting an environment that fuels creativity and commitment.

🏆 Marginal gains are powerful. He spoke about the value of recognising and rewarding progress—not just outcomes. Celebrating the small wins builds momentum, motivates your team, and creates a culture of continuous improvement.

Recognise and reward for inputs more than outputs.

💡 Values are the backbone of success. Values aren’t just words on a wall—they’re the drivers of behaviour that bring an organisation’s mission to life. Steven reminded us that it’s people and processes that deliver those values daily.

As many of you will know, bringing values to life is one of my favourite topics, and you can see weekly emails on this topic in the archive.

His advice left me inspired and reaffirmed what I’ve always believed: hiring the right people and embedding strong values into your culture are the keys to building extraordinary teams.

Until next time, have a great week.

Emma

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P.P.S. If we have not connected on LinkedIn yet, I would love to connect

Events to Join in the coming weeks (click on the links to join us)

Lunch and Learn - Creating Your 2025 People Plan (free to all clients, £35+VAT for non-clients) - 10th December 12 - 1pm

Make Work Pay – Labour’s 100 Day Plan for HR & Leaders (Free Webinar) - 11th December 12-1pm

HR Clinic (free to all, come and ask your HR questions) - 17th December 12-1pm