From Rock Bottom to New Heights: The Journey to Learning, Growth, and Success

Seven years ago today, 19 colleagues and I were informed we would be let go.?It was four days before payday, and there were no funds to meet our salaries.?A harrowing experience for all involved.

A little over a week later, on the 1st of June 2016, four of us decided we were good at what we do, so Thinking Focus was born.?We had modest ambitions as we carried the scars of the experience.?Add to that 70% of businesses failing between years two and five; we could never have imagined we'd?reach?seven.?Yes, seven!

150 and counting...

As we reflect, we have worked with over 150 clients in over 25 countries, and many clients have been with us since the start.?We are eternally grateful for your continued?support?and the trust you?have placed?in us as we develop your greatest asset - your people.

We have won awards, too, a bronze award for startup learning provider of the year in 2018 and more recently, in 2021, our collaboration with a client achieved the silver award for best use of social and collaborative learning technologies as we transformed our game-based social learning experience to deliver a culture change for a financial services organisation in embedding the FCA conduct rules.

But, it's not all been plain sailing. Like?everyone else,?we?faced into the most challenging trading conditions of a generation with austerity, a recession and Covid.?But we came out of the latter with a more rounded model that offers our clients even more choices.

What have we learnt from our experience?

We have learnt that Jim Collins is right about the hedgehog?principle: find what you're good at and do it exceptionally well.?So we did that, and we've learned?that the breadth and scope of?our content and?our?unique?work?

approach takes complex theories and simplifies them to make them accessible and purposeful for people to transform their performance.

We’ve learnt that?letting go is tough, but the sunk cost fallacy and the endowment effect are not your friends,?so?be ruthless and stick with what you're good at.

In business, relationships are everything; with your customers, stakeholders, shareholders and above all, your people.?So,?we’ve learnt to?foster strong relations and?to?be prepared to give more than you take; it will pay back in the long run.

We've learnt that becoming a trusted partner requires bravery.?Our one value is 'we do the right thing even when it's difficult'.?Occasionally this means telling our clients that we think they're wrong, that they're following the wrong path, and if necessary, walking away because it's the right thing to do.?We will never knowingly make a decision that is not in our client's best interest.

We recognise that we are in a privileged position.?We get to make remarkable differences in people's lives and careers.?We fulfil our promise to unlock potential by helping teams and business units get out of their own way.

We see people embrace new thinking, adopt growth mindsets and amaze those around them, not least themselves.

We help managers and team leaders to have bold and brave conversations, having first tapped into the experiences of their peers and socialised them, giving them confidence as if they've already trodden that path.

Our biggest lesson is, perhaps, that you are better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all.?Where's the fun and learning in that!

Here's to another seven mutually successful years with our current and future clients.?We love you all.