When Charlie Dorman started the social enterprise Connection Crew in 2005, he had "a lot of energy but a deficit of experience" when it came to providing top-notch service to the events industry, he tells Tim West in the latest episode of the Good Leaders podcast.
So he teamed up with business partner Warren Rogers and turned it into a community interest company, one that employs people with lived experience of homelessness as events and construction crewfrom building stages at festivals to managing sets for TV and film.
The secret, he says, is "focus on quality, stop getting wrapped up in the social enterprise narrative," and deliver the service.
"The impact bit is not something we do on a Wednesday for two hours, it's really embedded in day-to-day operations," he says.
Connection Crew was named among the UK's top 100 social enterprises in the 2023 NatWest SE100 Index, and has seen its best financial results ever, thePioneers Post reports.
"I've always been quite vocal about social enterprises being very sharp, lean and effective businesses," Dorman says.
"Focus on quality, stop getting wrapped up in the social enterprise narrative, and deliver the service."
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