Human Capital Magazine, Issue 5.1

Business Strategies International

Industry Sector: Finance and insurance

Turnover 2005/06: $15,000,000

Turnover growth: 61.59%

No. of employees: 79

Biggest HR challenge: Creating the concept of 'team' in geographically dispersed locations

Biggest HR mistake: Employing people unable to work as part of a team

Business Strategies International (BSI) consists of four key business units: Core BSI, People, Learning and Incubator Funds. The core business works with the incubator funds arm to help companies raise capital and access government grants due to overseas trade and licensing, as well as advisory work. BSI People is the recruitment division of the company, which came about after the acquisition of two recruitment agencies (Apex People and Learned Friends). BSI has subsequently also acquired a registered training organization (RTO), now known as BSI Learning. This arm is involved in industry training.

For Alan Milwidsky, principal and director, part of the success of BSI has come from thinking like a big player when it comes to business, but having the personalized touch when it comes to people. “One thing I’ve realized is that no matter how big you are, you’ve got to be able to behave like a large company but think like you’re small when it comes to people,” he says.

“People want to be focused on, and their needs have to be met. I’m a firm believer that in small companies everyone should own their career – they must agitate at one level for what they want, and the business needs to give them the things they can afford as long as it fits with where the business is going.”

To that end, BSI has ongoing commitment to building the skills of employees, and across the board the company works closely with employees to understand how further study and skill development will help them in their current roles and into the future. BSI then pays for that extra study and provides support and time to help them achieve their goals. “We’ve had a lot of people who have gone through and studied at the Securities Institute, which is almost like a master in finance, and we pay for it. It’s commitment to ongoing education in terms of their skills area,” Milwidsky says.

The HR function is handled by the head of each business unit, which Milwidsky strongly believes is a key to success. “I believe the success of the business exists because the guys who run the business units or companies are hands-on with the people, and they foster the culture and make sure teaming is in place. They’re the ones who critically make sure everyone is properly remunerated and looked after,” he says.

Along with a flat management structure that is open to employee-driven ideas and initiatives, BSI encourages employees to share good news. “We believe in people putting their wins on the intranet, and talking about success openly. So we communicate with our people where we’re winning in the marketplace, and about what type of clients we’re getting. We try to build enthusiasm around that,” Milwidsky says.

Although BSI is always looking for opportunities to grow, Milwidsky believes the company has been through the hair-raising growth spurt to achieve scale. “In a finance company there are three levers to grow: you can grow geographically, so you can put different offices in different areas; you can grow through service line skill and what your core offerings are; and you can grow through industry expertise. We’ve done the first two, and now we’re building industry expertise, because that helps you open doors,” he says.

“However, I’d have to say we’ve only been able to grow because we’ve had the people policies and procedures in place. In other words, I don’t think you can retrofit, and I don’t think you can have explosive growth without HR policies, practices and behaviours. You need to have them in place to enable growth.”