What your business can learn from Formula 1

I’ve just got back from watching the Monaco Grand Prix, which was amazing. There’s a lot businesses can learn from Formula 1 when it comes to success. The combined worth of the F1 teams is over $4billion – that doesn’t happen by accident!

 1.    Get the right team

The F1 team success is built on so much more than just the skill of the drivers. There’s a whole team of engineers, analysts, strategists, mechanics, psychologists, scientists and everything in between who work together towards every race win.

Only the best in each field make it onto the team, whatever the cost. The big hitters recognise that in order to win, you have to invest in the best. You think Mercedes are hiring the second-best engineer they can find to save a few quid in salary?! Think again.

If you are serious about success, you need to get the best people you can around you, making it happen. That means investing in the right skillsets, expertise and talent (assuming you don’t already have it). No-one can be brilliant at everything, so don’t kid yourself that just because you own the business, you’re the best person for every job.

 2.    Set your standards

Every last nut and bolt in an F1 car has been thought about, checked, double-checked and tested. Getting the top tier performance out of such a finely tuned machine means that attention to detail is absolutely vital. 

The same applies in business. Your success is going to rely on every last part of your operation working as tightly and efficiently as possible. If you take your eye off the ball and start letting standards slide in the little things, you’ll soon find this adds up to your whole operation veering off-track.

 3.    Constantly innovate

Nothing in F1 ever stands still (pardon the pun!). There’s a constant process of research, development and innovation going on behind the scenes. Each team is constantly analysing how they can improve on their performance – in a sport where being a thousandth of a second faster means the difference between winning or losing, you do whatever it takes to compete! Just because you won one race, this doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax.

If you want to stay ahead, both in business and in your personal life, you should always be looking at where you can improve. Even if this is only by a tiny degree, you never know how much that can count until you do it. If you don’t, you can be sure your competitors will!

4.    Don’t be afraid to change

In the last three years, the sport of F1 has been completely shaken up by Liberty Media. After buying out Bernie Ecclestone, they’ve made changes at every turn to reconnect with fans, increase the media base and add to the racing calendar. They’ve modernised F1 on digital media, so much that F1 now has the fastest growing social following of any sport.

Not all the changes have been popular, but in business this will always be the case. People can be resistant to change. Not every decision you make is going to please everyone. Liberty recognised that as a new generation of F1 fans come through, the old systems needed to change and adapt to stay ahead.

In your business, are you looking forwards or backwards? Are you pleasing your old customers at the expense of expanding and reaching new, more profitable markets? Don’t be afraid to make changes.   

If there are changes you know you need to make in your own business, you need to think about HOW you are going to make these happen.

If it’s a case of finding funding to grow, expand or get set for a new market then I can help. I’ve funded all kinds of businesses, so get in touch with your pitch if this sounds like you. 

Matt Haycox - [email protected]

www.fundingguru.com