Those among you who have been on the Lane4 website in the last twenty-four hours or so might have noticed some changes. The link is here if you have not seen it. http://www.lane4performance.com/Home.html
In the central panel, you will also see a story which gives a little more context.http://www.lane4performance.com/Lane4-extends-service-offering.html#first
Some of my veiled hints in this blog may now be making a little more sense! This is the week that Lane4 launches a broader service offer to the external market.
We have spent the last twelve months or so developing, planning and testing these ideas, encouraged along the way by clients and friends who we have bounced ideas around with. I have the responsibility of leading these business streams, which I am doing alongside my Commercial Director role. I am really enjoying the variety this brings, and fortunate to have great teams in each one of the business areas to make this possible.
The most critical part of the jigsaw has been to ensure that we can deliver the same quality in these new areas (Training, Communications and an extended Diagostics offer) that we deliver in the Consulting space. The same rigour around research-driven insight, recruitment, development, delivery quality and client service have been par for the course from the start. This doesn’t necessarily make it easy to launch a new service offer quickly into the market (we started planning these changes last August) but it will make it easier to do it right.
My favourite week on this journey so far came 3 weeks ago. In the course of the same week, we delivered the design of a performance management process to a pharmaceutical client and started to help them think through how they might land this in the business in a more engaging way (‘Diagnostics’); we kicked off the first module of a significant programme of work for a retailer with twenty cohorts in one week across the country (‘Training’); and we supported a financial services client with aligning their sponsorship to their group values (‘Communications’). We also proposed a three year plan for a sponsor of London 2012 which cuts across each area of our service offer.
Another step along the road for Lane4 as a business. It's great to finally be able to 'go live'. I'd love to hear your feedback.
Regular readers of this blog will know that I particular enjoy writing about sport, business and how change happens. This blog covers all three.
I am spending a lot of time focusing on my running at the moment. One of the newest developments in the UK running world has been a new phenomenon which takes up the challenge of delivering sporting experience for the masses. Don't switch off if you're not a runner, because here is the real interesting bit ...the best and most initially puzzling thing about this new venture is its business model. Competing is totally free.
This concept is called ‘parkrun’. At its heart, it is very simple. A central website and brand is essentially licensed, and no charge, to local individuals who wish to organise a 5k run in their local park. Costs are funded centrally by core sponsors – including Nike and Lucozade Sport – who are excited by the opportunity to engage with grass roots runners in cost effective and scaleable way.
I heard about parkrun from a friend and decided to enter at the last minute on the Friday afternoon before a Saturday afternoon race. After a 2 minute registration process online, I am now able to simply turn up and run a race any Saturday at one of 30 sporting locations across the UK by simply bringing along a personalised bar code. The event itself was very low key – some 130 attended, from elite club runners to those for whom this was a very first ‘race’. The bar code was read at the end to record a finish time, and I received a personalised e-mail by the end of day on the Saturday registering his finish time, finish position and pointing me back towards the parkrun website for free available photos from the event and a race report provided by the race organiser. Better service than I have had at races I have paid 20 pounds to enter.
The following Thursday a chatty, friendly parkrun newsletter arrived in my inbox – updating on the growth of the phenomenon, promoting some of the newer races, gently emphasising the need for volunteers to make the runs happen and thanking the sponsors whose funding made the events happen.
These two final elements of the jigsaw are critical to the parkrun model. Firstly, volunteers are the lifeblood of the event in order that participation can remain free to charge. An ongoing points competition between athletes rewards volunteering as well as competing. Secondly, sponsorship funds ensure that investment in the technology platform which delivers such a compelling experience can continue.
Keep an eye out for parkrun. Whether you are reading this in the US, Australia or the UK, parkrun will be coming to a green space near you, soon. When you head for a coffee after a first race and are asked how you heard about parkrun, I hope you might say 'I read about it in a semi-regular blog I enjoy reading'. Maybe you might feel able to send the felow runner who asked you the question the url for this blog. Welcome to how change happens in 2010!
http://www.parkrun.com/
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