Please note this article was published before OEE Consulting and gobeyond joined forces to become Gobeyond Partners.

The Service Excellence Network recently met at Williams in Oxfordshire to explore what lessons the service industry can take from Formula One.

We heard from Richard West, who shared his experience of working in Formula One, whilst Allan Goldman shared examples of how he had translated key features of Formula One operations into his own workplace. There was also a chance to look at the development of cars through the years as we toured Sir Frank William’s private Grand Prix car collection.

• Richard West shared twelve key business lessons built on his experience of working in senior commercial positions at Formula One, and latterly as a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield School of Management
• Allan Goldman, a paediatric intensive care specialist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, discussed how he had used aspects of Formula One pitstops to improve the patient handover process for children entering and leaving the operating theatre. He has since driven a number of improvements based on insight from other high-risk industries through Risky Business conferences; he shared the highlights of these with us
• In the afternoon, the group of 80 delegates split into smaller groups to discuss how they could apply Richard’s twelve business lessons into their own industry. Conversation around the tables was varied, covering outside-in thinking, innovation platforms to circulate new ideas, and visible, accessible leadership

By focusing on what service-sector businesses can learn from Formula One, key themes from the day included:

• Purpose and goal alignment
• A blame-free culture – ‘get better, not bitter’
• Making quick decisions and learning from them

At the next event, the Service Excellence Network will be visiting AXA to hear how they have been updating their processes through efficiencies and robotic process automation.

Find out more about joining the Network.