Balancing Family Values with High Performance: Lessons from The Finish Line
At The Finish Line, we’ve set up our business to be both family-friendly and high-performing, two concepts that can be seen as at odds with each other. Here are some key lessons we’ve learned along the way:
1. Prioritise Team Welfare and Happiness Our focus on the welfare and happiness of our team creates an environment where everyone can thrive. This approach not only makes our workplace enjoyable but also elevates the quality of our work. When our team feels valued and happy, they bring their best selves to every project, resulting in exceptional outcomes for our clients.
2. Foster a High-Performance Culture While we are family-friendly, we operate like a high-performance sports team. Hard work, determination, and continuous practice are essential. We expect everyone to bring their ‘A Game’ to ensure we deliver the best results. High performance and a supportive, family-oriented environment can go hand in hand.
3. Commit to Excellence and Continuous Learning We believe in being a training ground for top talent in the industry. Continuous training and deliberate practice are key to maintaining high standards. By investing in our team’s growth, we ensure that our work consistently meets the highest quality standards.
4. Embrace Unreasonable Hospitality The principle of “unreasonable hospitality” drives us to exceed customer expectations. We aim to surprise and delight our clients with our commitment and creativity, making their experience with us unique and memorable.
5. Cultivate Respect and Transparency Respect is non-negotiable at The Finish Line. We treat everyone—internally and externally—with the same respect we expect for ourselves. Transparency in communication and operations fosters trust and a sense of ownership among our team members.
6. Encourage Ownership and Personal Development Personal development is a personal responsibility at The Finish Line. We empower our team to take charge of their growth and career progression. Ownership also means acknowledging mistakes, learning from them, and continually improving.
7. Be Visible and Collaborative In a distributed business, active collaboration is crucial. We encourage open communication, knowledge sharing, and contribution to our systems and workflows. Being visible and actively involved helps reinforce a sense of belonging and teamwork.
8. Keep the Focus on Our Core Principle Everything we do is guided by the question, “Will this enable us to deliver better-looking pictures?” This core principle ensures that our decisions align with our goal of delivering outstanding results for our clients.
By integrating these lessons into our daily operations, we’ve built a business that not only delivers top-quality work but also supports a healthy, balanced work environment. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and continually strive to improve.
