Without great leadership, a business is nothing 

For Andrew Peters, UK businesses need help in three key areas: skills development, leadership and scaling up. And he thinks that Be the Business can help.

In another life, Andrew – MD at Siemens Digital Factory Congleton – would have been battling Steve Davis for the World Snooker Championship title at the Crucible. A pro for three full years, Andrew gave the sport his best shot, but admitted that he didn’t quite have what it took to go all the way.

If nothing else, snooker was a way for him to keep on top of his maths, which had been his favourite subject at school. Maths was also the reason he decided to study for an electrical engineering degree at Leicester.

The career that followed has seen Andrew work exclusively in manufacturing for 30 years, during which time he has seen a multitude of leadership and management styles in action. After finding his feet during the first ten years of his career, he has spent the last two decades developing his own leadership style – which is collaborative all the way.

“I came to recognise that to build good or great businesses, you first need a great team,” he said. “So rather than building businesses first, my approach is to build the team and then build the business. The only businesses that truly sustain in the long term are organisations that have engaged people and engaged cultures.”

This is one of the key learnings he is hoping to pass on to UK SMEs in his new role as a Be the Business fellow. It is actually something he’s been evangelising for years.

“For the past 20 years I’ve been unofficially doing what Be the Business has been doing in various guises,” he added, “which is to try and help UK manufacturing become more successful. Some of my earlier roles were in selling technology to SMEs, and I’ve long recognised that the UK has had a productivity gap compared to many of our competitors.”

Andrew brings a broad overview of what makes businesses great – he has worked in manufacturing, R&D, sales and marketing, and has a lot of experience in bringing teams together. “I’m on the extreme end of believing that culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he commented.

A career highlight for Andrews came just last year when he led the manufacturing scale-up operations for Siemens as part of the UK government’s ventilator challenge. “The NHS were predicting they would need 30,000 ventilators during the first wave of coronavirus, and they only had 7,500,” he said. “We were able to contribute by making 12,500 of them in two-and-a-half months.”

One challenge for Be the Business, he feels, is to work with other initiatives and organisations to create maximum effect. He worries there is an overwhelming amount of support for UK SMEs, who often don’t know where to begin. Everything, he thinks, should be as collaborative and integrated as possible, potentially as part of some kind of government ten- or 20-year plan.

As for the areas in which SMEs need the most help, that’s pretty straightforward. “Far and away the most prevalent issues facing UK SMEs are about leadership capabilities,” he said. “Also, as businesses grow, there’s often a need to invest in industrial digital technologies, and that’s the point where they need help. They struggle because they don’t know what to do or how to do it.”

Quick-fire questions

Who is or who was your business inspiration?

I don’t think there’s one person. What I’ve been inspired by is seeing the power of positive leadership cultures – and comparing and contrasting that with negative, autocratic cultures. I made the decision early on to be on the side of creating a culture where people feel valued and they’re happy to come into work.

Do you have a personal productivity tip?

Yes, before you digitalise any processes, first make them lean. Otherwise you’ll digitalise waste – and waste a lot of money.

What areas or trends do all businesses need to have their eye on if they’re going to thrive?

I think the key one is there’s going to be a huge shortage in skills, particularly in the manufacturing area. It’s about creating lifelong learning and curiosity within organisations so that we can continue to equip ourselves with the latest skills as we go through our careers.

What was the best piece of business advice that you were ever given?

An old boss told me to keep my learning curve as steep as it can be. If you can keep being curious and learning, then you’ll do all right.