Away Day at Top Table

One of the things I hoped to gain from the mentoring experience was a sense of how other businesses work and are run. Although I have been lucky enough to have had amazing experience setting up and running a successful company, most of this has been learnt ‘on the job’ so to speak. My professional experience has been entirely in small/medium sized marketing agencies and almost all the management team at IM previously worked at my previous company as well so it can sometimes feel a little too familiar.

I was therefore really excited to spend a day with Karen and her team at Top Table. It really was a perfect (albeit intense) ‘foundation day’; I feel like I’ve absorbed information like a sponge and ended up with an incredibly comprehensive understanding of how this successful business is run.

Sitting at the ‘top table’
I felt immensely privileged to be able to attend a board meeting at Top Table as an observer. It was fascinating to see the types of individuals that make up the board there, and the different areas of expertise they contribute. I found it useful to see the types of areas covered on the agenda, and in what level of detail (our board meetings can sometimes drift into more day to day issues).

I've won ‘5 mentors in 1’
I also spent 1-2-1 time with several of the senior management team:

Chris Wood, the Managing Director (who had previously worked in marketing too, so had really relevant experience) gave me a good overview of the business and what it’s like working with a business owner/founder

Andy Cottle, the Head of Finance provided excellent overview on setting and monitoring KPIs to keep the business on track.

Lucy Taylor, Head of Restaurant Relations, discussed selling – how we can sell our business better to existing and prospective clients to generate more income.

Karen herself also spent some time with me talking about managing people, particularly with difficult situations, the possibilities that could be opened to us via external investment and the implications of consequently sharing ownership of the business.

Still to come… a meeting with cK, the Head of online Sales… (we ran out of time!)

The combined experience of these people is amazing and so broad, meaning that the different perspectives I gained during the day really helped me build a picture of the different elements needed to run a strong business.

Other insights…
Having sight of Top Table’s Operations Plan for the year was also a useful lesson in how succinct and focused a business plan can be. Ours is quite an unwieldy document and I’m determined to make it an easy to follow and measurable 6 page document like Top Table’s for next year!

My next steps
As with my last session with Karen, I’ve come away inspired by the scope for how we can improve our business. We can certainly make it work more efficiently and profitably if I can implement some of the learnings. There are plenty of ideas on how we can work our internal processes more effectively while sticking to our vision of the future. I feel motivated and reassured that we’re on the right tracks – but see where there are ways we can definitely prepare ourselves for the next stage in our growth to ensure the business is genuinely successful and valuable.