Owners put their first and best energy into looking after their staff, so that their staff can look after customers. In a service business the influence and example of the owner matters, every day.
How things get done around here
Think about your workplace. Who sets the culture, and oversees the rules and boundaries that everyone adheres to?
“How things get done around here” is the business’s unique operating system. It can’t be copied. It is the real point of difference, and it requires constant energy.
When business ownership changes or the owner is no longer present every week, a new culture forms to fill the hands-on leadership void that is left behind.
When the ownership structure changes
The shift is even sharper when ownership changes from locally-owned and operated, to a branch with centralised, corporate ownership.
Bigger scale brings more capital to invest in the business and can introduce real advantages to systems and processes. An efficient corporate head office can improve marketing, purchasing, pricing, HR, and finance by having a more prescriptive, disciplined set of operating rules. Done well, that delivers quality improvements and cost savings.
But there is a trade-off. When local care and flexible, personalised decision-making are lost, any efficiency gains are quietly undermined. Long-standing customers notice the change and customer satisfaction can suffer due to the loss of a trusted relationship.
Worse still is a corporate structure with the imperative to reduce operating costs. Wages are one of the largest items on the Profit and Loss report, so they’re an easy target. But in a service business, cutting wages almost always means cutting service levels too.
We’ve all felt the frustration of a support enquiry that gets routed to a remote call centre or head office. This de-personalised process undermines our confidence in the people at the local branch and leaves us feeling like a number in a spreadsheet, rather than a valued customer.
Why it matters in healthcare
Across New Zealand there is growing concern about the corporatisation of healthcare. As more practitioners become part of national or multinational ownership, many of us sense a loss of local responsiveness, quality and care.
The social services such as health, education and housing need levels of care and dedication that go well beyond the operating manual, and well outside the 9-to-5 roster. These are sectors where people-centred care matters more than most.
There is a widening gap between local owners with everything on the line and businesses led by a paid manager with several degrees of separation between them and the shareholders.
That’s not a criticism of managers. It’s a reminder to owners: your presence, your standards and your care are your greatest competitive advantage. Finding ways to build strong connections that motivate front-line workers every day is difficult – but important.
Key takeaways
- Company culture is the owner’s operating system, and it’s the one point of difference competitors can’t copy.
- Centralisation can save costs, but not if it reduces the quality of care.
- In healthcare, hands-on local ownership still matters.
