What if some of the expertise Oxfordshire businesses need is already here? Not necessarily sitting inside another consultancy or looking for another full-time executive position – but living locally, with decades of experience and still wanting to make a difference.
That is the opportunity Tim Grier of Oxfordshire Business Consultancy Limited believes Oxfordshire businesses should explore as he spoke with B4’s CEO, Richard Rosser.
Tim’s idea is simple: connect businesses facing challenges with experienced people who have already encountered many of those problems during their careers.
They might act as mentors, coaches, advisers, non-executive directors or chairs. They might work with a business for a few hours a month or help solve one particular challenge. “There are many people around Oxford who have experienced so much in their careers and still have plenty to give,” says Tim.
Through OBCL, Tim wants to make that experience easier for businesses to access.
A Different Kind of Business Support
The idea isn’t to create another traditional consultancy. Tim envisages something much more flexible. A business might need an outside perspective on its culture. Another might need somebody to mentor a leadership team. Another could benefit from an experienced chair, non-executive director or specialist adviser. The starting point isn’t selling a predetermined service. It’s listening.
What is happening inside the organisation? Where is productivity being lost? Are people pulling in the same direction? Are good employees leaving? Is the leadership team hearing what people really think?
From there, OBCL can identify the experience most likely to help.
Tim’s ambition is to create something approaching a one-stop shop for experienced business support in Oxfordshire – somewhere businesses can turn when they encounter a problem and need somebody who has been there before.
Are We Talking Enough?
Central to Tim’s thinking is a concern that many businesses simply aren’t talking – and listening – enough. Hybrid working, digital communication and AI have transformed the workplace. There are enormous benefits, but Tim believes something has also been lost. People can spend their working lives moving between screens, emails and scheduled calls without having the informal conversations through which problems, ideas and opportunities emerge.
“People aren’t getting together enough in a relaxed environment to talk about the issues collectively in their business.” Tim compares it to a sports team preparing for a new season. Before racing into the next quarter, businesses might benefit from asking their own teams:
How do we want to play? What are the challenges ahead? What are people hearing from customers? What is frustrating the team? What would employees change if they owned the company? Do we have some wonderful ideas to explore together?
Sometimes the most valuable thing an experienced outsider can do is create the environment in which those conversations happen.
An MOT for the Business
Tim says the process may be recognised as a culture audit or needs analysis. Another way of looking at it is as an MOT for the business. Bring somebody independent into the organisation. Let them meet people at different levels. Listen. Observe. Ask questions. Then establish what’s really happening beneath the surface and together build a shared plan
From those conversations might come recommendations around mentoring, coaching, leadership, sales, culture, training or bringing in a non-executive director. But the first job is diagnosis.
Two Eyes, Two Ears and One Mouth
Tim spent much of his career in senior leadership, including running an organisation employing around 2,500 people. One lesson has stayed with him. The higher you climb, the harder it can become to know what is really happening.
“Being a CEO or MD can be a lonely job. People start telling you what they think you want to hear.”
If Tim was visiting a factory, his first conversation might be with the security guard. He’d have a cup of tea, take some biscuits and ask what was happening. Then he’d talk to receptionists, PAs and others throughout the organisation.
Why? Because they often knew things the boardroom didn’t. Tim sums the philosophy up simply: “Two eyes, two ears and one mouth – use them in that order.”
It’s about understanding the real temperature of a business.
The Star Who Isn’t Speaking
Tim also believes organisations frequently overlook talent within their existing workforce. Someone sitting quietly in a meeting may have the answer to a problem.
A younger employee may have spotted an opportunity nobody senior has considered.
“There is generally a star in the room who isn’t speaking out.”
The challenge is creating an environment where people feel able to contribute.
Tim calls this “action at the point of control” – advice he received during his career.
The people actually delivering the work often understand better than anyone where improvements could be made. Are businesses listening to them?
Experience Without the Corporate Machinery
Oxfordshire has an extraordinary population of experienced executives, entrepreneurs and specialists. Some have sold businesses. Some have retired from corporate careers. Others have stepped away from demanding executive roles but don’t want to stop contributing. They may not want another forty-hour week. They might, however, enjoy spending ten hours a month helping a business solve a problem.
Importantly, Tim isn’t simply looking for consultants searching for their next contract.
“I work with people who want to give back. People who still care about getting things right.”
Nor does experience have to mean somebody in their sixties. Tim sees enormous potential in developing a multigenerational network of people in their thirties, forties, fifties, sixties and beyond.
That could be particularly valuable for Oxfordshire’s start-up and scale-up community, where brilliant entrepreneurs may have exceptional technical knowledge but encounter commercial, leadership or people challenges for the first time.
The Experienced Player in the Dressing Room
Tim uses sport as an analogy. Why do successful teams sometimes sign experienced players when they already possess exceptional young talent? Because experience changes the dressing room.
The senior player doesn’t have to play every match to make a difference. They can show younger players how to prepare, respond when things go wrong and maintain professional standards. Just look at the ‘elder statesmen’ that Richard’s team Chelsea have recruited this summer. The same principle applies in business. You don’t necessarily need somebody with thirty years’ experience for forty hours a week.
Perhaps you need them for ten hours a month. Maybe you need them mentoring a future leader or simply saying: “I’ve been here before. These are your options.”
Relationships Still Matter
Tim is already putting the philosophy into practice. He has delivered sales workshops alongside Alan Smith, encouraging teams to research customers and build relationships before trying to sell.
He also works supporting Ben Dudley at ODS, helping build relationships, identify opportunities and act as an ambassador for the organisation. The principle is consistent: get to know people, understand their world, ask questions and identify where you can genuinely help.
It’s also why Tim values B4. Technology can provide extraordinary information, but it cannot replace genuine human curiosity and relationships.
Are You Getting the Best From Your People?
Recruitment is expensive. Losing good people is expensive. Poor productivity is expensive. So before automatically recruiting another person or investing in another piece of technology, Tim suggests asking a more fundamental question:
Are we getting the best from the people we’ve already got?
Through OBCL, Tim wants to connect businesses with experienced people who can help answer that question – not because they need another corporate career, but because they still have experience, energy and ideas to contribute.
As Tim puts it: “The people actually delivering the job often know how to do it better. Are they being listened to?” For business leaders who aren’t sure of the answer, perhaps it’s time to sit down with Tim over a coffee and find out how he and the OBCL team could help make your business – and the people within it – the best they can be.
Join Tim at his forthcoming Corum Six
Corum members can join the conversation about The Experience Economy at Tim’s Corum Six at B4 HQ in September.