Lessons I’ve Learned from 24 Years in the Same Business

Almost 24 years ago, I stood, alongside four fellow optimists (the entire staff contingent of the South African organisation at the time) next to our famous metal cupboard which was filled, on the one side, with our entire collection of instrumentation. On the other side lay, neatly stacked, our entire stock holding. This was the starting point of our company. At that very moment, we made a pledge that we will become the country's largest pure-play orthopaedic company and made a vow to each other that nothing would get in our way in our quest to achieve this.

Fast forward to 2021 and here we are together with all 5 of those original staff members (and almost 200 additional staff) while our warehouses across the continent are a remarkable evolution from our initial roadmap. The metal cupboard remains in our main warehouse, no longer used as a storage space but rather preserved as a symbol, and reminder, of where we came from, and as a motivation to stay humble.

As I sit down to write this article, my time with the incredible people that make up this organisation is drawing to its conclusion. I have had the opportunity to reflect and reminisce and remain as passionate about my team as the day I started. I have been blessed with the opportunity to lead this organisation and I am exceptionally proud of what we have accomplished together, as a united team, over the last two decades.

How did We Achieve this? 

I often get asked this question and when I get the opportunity to respond, it unleashes a passion that stems from deep within me: if you would like to know the answer, in a nutshell, it's “People and Culture.” 

To elaborate on how this answer runs within my DNA, I contend that “ You surround yourself with the right people, all pulling in the same direction, working collaboratively towards one common goal, where accountability and ownership run through their veins. Provide a working environment where they want to be." Whether an employee is scrubbing the floors or balancing the books, recognition and appreciation is everywhere. An environment where staff genuinely feel part of the success because, without them, Zimmer Biomet is essentially nothing. Where staff not only understand the goal of the organisation but each and every single staff member knows their individual role in achieving this goal. Create a culture where goals can be tracked and measured in a disciplined way. 

Once you have the right people, then and only then do we talk strategy. Once we have collectively agreed on the approach we will take, we make a united commitment to never ever stop until we have achieved our goal. I have been fortunate enough to have worked in many locations around the world, and we have succeeded every time this approach was implemented and failed every time it wasn't. 

Create and Cultivate the Culture

Once the people have been identified then it was important to turn on the culture focus in abundance and below are some of the main philosophies driving this cultural approach.

Success Starts with the 4 P’s - People, People, People, People

First the people, then the strategy.

I firmly believe that people are the driving force of any successful business strategy. Never confined to a closed circle of boardroom warriors or account managers. Any winning strategy, on paper, can only be converted into organisational success when all team members at every single level of the organisation have a voice whenever, and wherever, key decisions are about to be made. 

People come first, willingly driving and executing strategy, and never the other way around. With every colleague I have worked alongside, I have always strived to build a legacy and experience that could be accessed by every single member of my team.

Getting the Right Team Members on the Bus

To painstakingly build the best possible team around me to lead this organisation, I have taken inspiration from the following profound phrase popularized by the great business author, Jim Collins, from his 2001 publication, “Good to Great”. In his book, he motivates business leaders to, “Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus”. Over two decades, I have tried my utmost to affirm this philosophy.

 I believe we have a bus, with a certain amount of seats. It's about filling these seats with the right individuals, moving the right individuals into the right seats because, let's be honest, we have all hired people for a certain role but things don't always work out. But when you recognise that they are the right person for the journey you are undertaking, it's about finding the right seat on the bus for that individual.

An equally important step in this process also involves getting the wrong people off the bus. By categorizing the wrong people I don't necessarily mean, those staff that are not performing because I can handle underperformance (to an extent). As long as those struggling staff members are doing everything in their power to rectify the situation, I cannot ask more, other than motivating them to "keep on doing what you are doing and eventually you will get there." This has been proven, time and time again, with junior staff struggling in a role but doing everything they could to persevere and fix the situation. Many of these individuals now sit, deservedly, in managerial roles at Zimmer Biomet.

The wrong people are those negative, destructive people. Those particular staff who disrespect others - we identify them and remove them, irrespective of how good they are performing in their role.

This philosophy is so entrenched in our work culture, that we placed a real VW bus as our coffee station in the canteen as a constant reminder and recognition to the staff that they are the right people for this organisation.

In order to keep the Zimmer Biomet bus looking ahead and steering in the right direction, we always sought to recruit, train and develop team members that were motivated, embrace collaboration, and committed to an aligned vision that would shape the future success of our organisation. This has also been the cornerstone of a thriving work culture that generates a genuine team spirit to fuel growth and outstanding achievements.

The Porridge Box

We all have our personal challenges we are dealing with but our porridge box helps the staff deal with their personal burdens. The concept originates from my mom who would sit with me after school from the ripe age of 5 and ask about my porridge of the day.

The porridge signified the difficulties that I faced at school. The porridge box now sits at every entry and exit point of our organisation and allows the staff to place their porridge (where possible, as we are all human) in the proverbial porridge box, close it, and focus on teamwork for the day.

Because let's face it, we have the ability to largely push aside our troubles when we need to. For example, when you arrive for an interview you tend to leave your personal issues behind and focus on the interview at hand because if we didn't the chances of being successful would be significantly reduced. When you leave the company at the end of your work shift you pass the porridge box and it serves as a reminder to pick up your troubles on your way out.

Create a Happy Workplace where People want to Be and Stay

The beginning of my career at Zimmer Biomet coincided with the coining of the FISH! Philosophy, created by John Christensen. Inspired by the contrasting atmospheres and attitudes of traders at a fish market in Seattle, it teaches us to seek out the joy and fun in everything we do in the work environment. The approach has resonated with me, from day one, and has always been my blueprint for developing a workspace where professionalism and fun will go hand in hand. 

I personally visited the Seattle Pike Fish Market which changed my way of thinking in an instant. Take a walk through this market and you will see many fish stalls with one or two customers buying fish. However, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, there is one specific fish stall that is a hive of activity - customers everywhere with staff and customers having an absolute blast and this stall was significantly busier than all of the others.

During my visit, I realized:

• They all get their fish from the same supplier: the ocean
• There is no fancy fish in the pipeline
• All the fish costs the same
• Despite all these similarities, this stall stood head and shoulders above the rest

At that moment I promised myself that if I am privileged enough to manage my own business unit, this is how I would run it. Enter the FISH philosophy.

It's all about creating an environment where staff want to be, where they have fun and genuinely look forward to coming to work. Staff want this and customers also want to connect and work with people that carry this mindset.

With people as the heartbeat of any organization, it is essential to extract the maximum dose of positive energy wherever, and however, you can find it. It breeds collaboration, grows teamwork, creates a hotbed of innovative ideas, and ultimately, allows individuals to overcome challenges and share in the success, as a united team. I have been hooked and reeled in by the FISH Philosophy since day one, and fully intend to live by this philosophy for the remainder of my professional career. 

Balance the Fun with Accountability, Ownership and Discipline

Accountability, particularly in the workplace, is often given an unfair and negative perception. The idea of being constantly monitored and having to justify each and every task you commit to is not a workplace environment that will ever win over the trust and respect of its team. We championed a different perspective, one that highlighted the positive relationship between individual accountability and shared success. A culture where being ‘accountable’ for your own actions is just as important as the outcome that you are trying to achieve. 

Accountability, in any business, provides the valuable building blocks of trust, confidence on a personal level, which naturally transfers over to top performance and confidence in a team setting. Through the course of my career, I have watched accountability grow and decline, in the waves of fresh campaigns and strategies. I believe in elevating accountability to a core value of my business. Encouraging colleagues to take ownership of their role and responsibilities, and build up levels of expectation, trust and commitment at an individual level, which will eventually lead to sustained, top-performance and confidence in a team environment. Staff need to take ownership, they need to be disciplined individuals and if you have the right people on the bus this is exactly what you will find.

The Proof is in the Pudding

I often get asked, “what about the results, though?” 

Well, this team won the most prestigious award of 'Country of the Year' Award in 2011, and instead of sitting back and thinking "we have done it" and resting on our laurels, we embraced this win in the way that we know best. We asked ourselves “What more can we do?”

This is where the orchestrate concept took place, where through the guidance of 15 private music teachers and an international music conductor we gave every single staff member (and I mean every single staff member, whether musically inclined or not!) an instrument, chosen at random (Cellos, violins, clarinets etc.) Within a three-hour timeframe, we challenged them to master the basics of their instrument and prepare and perform two classical symphonies, back to back as a team. If that is possible, then winning the 'Country of the Year' Award again is definitely a possibility. The orchestral debut of the Zimmer Biomet orchestra result can be enjoyed below.

The team went on to win the 'Country of the Year' Award on a further three occasions, in addition to the 'Global Emerging Market of the Year' Award. In between the group successes, a number of top-performing individuals also received personal global awards for their exceptional efforts.

Where to, from Here?

As I step into the bus terminal of a new adventure, I am reminded of the words of Henry Rollins;

“Change is hard, but change is good”

After 24 years it is time for me to take on another challenge, which inevitably means leaving my team behind. While this was not an easy decision to come to, I am completely convinced that the right passengers are firmly seated on the bus, in the right seats, and pulling together in the same direction. I am certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, they will continue to fly and take the company to even greater heights.

Team, it has been a pleasure to work alongside you and for that, I cannot begin to thank you enough. Thank you for the loyalty and support that you have given me over the years - you will forever be in my thoughts.

I love you all! Now go and get the rest of the trophies out there.

Your old leader,

Steven