Lancashire business leaders reap Good Dividends at Lancaster University workshop

Lancashire business leaders took inspiration for plotting a better way forward at a special Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) event.

Help to Grow Management Programme participants and new enrolees from Lancashire, Cumbria and across the North West came together for a Good Growth workshop led by Professor Steve Kempster.

Professor Kempster leads the Good Dividends project. Its objective is to enable organisations to develop business models towards realising ‘good dividends’ and becoming regenerative, focusing on growth alongside making a positive social impact.

The 25 present and future Help to Grow leaders were encouraged to reconsider their impact on society.

Professor Kempster said: “It is not a question of either/or with profits and social impact – that is where we have been with an outdated model that is leading us to deep trouble. Ideas around realising good dividends and good growth takes us to a very different place.

“It was fascinating for the managers and leaders to place themselves on a continuum starting at a conventional business logic through a green, sustainable and restorative approach, towards a truly regenerative way of running our economy.

“The workshop helped us share our views of alternative futures and new ways of framing growth whilst still allowing profitability. Everyone left with a heightened awareness of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the importance of connectivity with the local business and community ecosystem.”

Help to Grow is a 12-week programme open to businesses from across the UK. It provides business leaders with the ability to develop a growth plan to reach their full potential following the uncertainty of Covid-19 and Brexit.

LUMS delivers Help to Grow in association with the Chartered Association of Business Schools and the UK Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

LUMS Help to Grow Programme Leader Dr Radka Newton said: “Help to Grow provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of business, from strategy, innovation and marketing to finance and operations. We provide insights into key concepts based on management learning, and we debate the approach our local business leaders can take to advance their growth strategies in a systemic way. The concept of Good Dividends complements this perfectly, and the event was a very worthwhile extension of the programme.”

LUMS’ next Help to Grow programme starts in March. For more information, visit https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/business/grow-your-business/help-to-grow/