Celebrating 15 Years: Q&A with Adrian Moorhouse
This year Lane4 celebrates fifteen years since it was founded by Adrian Moorhouse and Professor Graham Jones in 1995. In that time we've grown into an international organisation, working with leaders and their teams to develop their ability to drive organisational change. Here, Managing Director Adrian Moorhouse, talks about the last fifteen years and what the next fifteen might look like.
Q. What's been your proudest Lane4 moment since set-up?
It's got to be the work with our clients that really makes a difference to their performance and their working lives. Supporting companies going through extensive organisational change is challenging but a great achievement for Lane4 and our people. When I know we've made a real difference with clients I feel proud and when Lane4 became a 'Sunday Times Best Company to Work For' I felt enormous pride too.
Q. What about the toughest times?
The first few years were quite exciting but also very challenging for the first Lane4 team. It really did require a lot of belief that we had what it took to develop a credible business. It took a while because of our sporting and academic backgrounds to create a professionally run business but we did it. Last year was tough too. Any business working in service sector during a recession was hit and we were certainly not immune.
Q. What have been the biggest changes in the marketplace?
The HR or people development space has become much more sophisticated. When we started out it was small-scale individual and team development but now the organisational context is so critical. Things can't happen in isolation or as a one-off if they're going to be effective. When it comes to change management, a lot more thought goes into people side of things, which is fundamental for change to actually work.
Q. What are the key challenges for leaders when it comes to people development?
It sounds like HR jargon but, rebuilding the 'psychological contract' that has been damaged by the economic upheaval is a massive challenge. Employees need to understand the context for change and be able to link their job with the organisational goals – a line of sight if you like. It's up to leaders to drive this. They can't avoid it. They must engage with it by telling stories, communicating well and making sense of the 'messy side' of change.
Q. What about Lane4's relationships with clients, how has that evolved?
Our customers have told us that it's critical to understand their needs and those of the organisation to provide the best solutions. Therefore, evolving our approach to meet a wider organisational need is key for Lane4. 'Talent' is also being viewed in a wider context so clients want to touch, develop and engage more people. The question for us has been how to develop the Lane4 offering to meet these needs.
Q. What are your focuses for 2010?
Building on Lane4's market leadership in the sponsorship space is a priority. We're doing some really great work helping Olympic sponsors to use the Games to engage and develop their people so that's something I'm very proud about. I'm also focused on developing Lane4's services to meet client needs and, in my own Consulting, enabling leaders to drive complex organisational change effectively.
Q What about the next fifteen years?
Lane4's quality work and client impact must continue. I hope that we'll be delivering scale work across the globe and that it remains a really great place to work.
2010-04-06