Steve Roberts received the shock of his business life after attending a highly regarded training course.
He confidently expected to win the top award at the end of the Business Acceleration Program.
'We were asked to demonstrate what we had done within the business since the last session.
We presented the spreadsheets with our plans and waited to be announced winners.
'But we got nothing.
'It took me a while, but I realised that we hadn’t won because we hadn’t changed anything. Spreadsheets alone don’t produce change.'
Steve, who founded Darwin-based managed services firm One IT Services in 2012, set about transforming his business.
'The program taught me that our problems boiled down to people, and we were not making changes because of how the people would react. We were being led instead of leading.'
One IT Services decided the people had to change.
'I was told to put on my big boy pants, and it transformed the company.'
One IT Services has tripled its revenue in three years, and never had a more productive and happier team.
One IT Services recently announced that it had acquired successful Alice Springs business, Alice Onsite IT from Wayne and Cate Driver.
'Alice has its problems – everywhere does – but they won’t last forever, and the town has great potential for being a big part of a growing Territory,' said Steve.
'We shouldn’t rely on government for everything. We all must do our bit to support our home.'
The Business Acceleration Program, which was launched in 2018, is an initiative of the Territory Government and delivered by the Australian Centre for Business Growth. The program enables CEOs, managing directors and executives of Territory-based companies to identify growth opportunities, overcome business challenges and drive competitive advantage.
In FY23, Territory companies who had attended a Business Acceleration Program reported an aggregate increase of 11% in FTE jobs and 9% in revenue. The Program has enabled over 200 small and medium Territory firms to access internationally recognised business growth expertise. The Chamber of Commerce NT has proudly supported the delivery of the Business Acceleration Program since 2021 as a delivery partner.
For more information, visit the Innovation Territory website.