Not just a business, the realisation of a purpose.
Foreword
On the 17/03/2019 at 16:40:09 (according to the domain registration), my partner and I decided to start a new venture; combining all of the knowledge we had in our different sectors, and the best practice we had learned through years of experience in management consulting, wellness, and well-being market segments.
As a management consultant I am often implanted into a clients environment, culture, processes, and technologies; attempting to insight change or transformation within tight social and technical constraints. This was the opportunity to start from a ‘blank canvas’ in every regard.
The leisure, wellness, and well-being sectors have a hidden toxic culture (extreme hierarchical staff/member relationships, bullying, remuneration imbalance, etc.); and a general incompetency from leaders and mistreatment of staff that is often out of sight of the consumers of these services. We wanted to build an environment where these specific behaviours would be impossible to execute, even if the business was to grow to a sizeable scale.
Purpose
It sounds basic, but most organisations don’t know why they exist. They invent a product or service, find a market, and become established with their growth. And, often only suffer the lack of a ‘purpose’ later down the line. It can become a costly exercise to redefine or find your purpose years into operation. However, the value return of this is demonstrable by large organisations in different sectors making this investment, by way of example;
Harnessing the extraordinary power of technology to build a future we can all trust. — Thales Group, 2020
We believe in the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future in a technology-driven world. — PA Consulting
And, the benefits of a well established purpose;
“I intend to build further on Unilever’s century-old commitment to responsible business. It is not about putting purpose ahead of profits, it is purpose that drives profits.”
Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever
Beginning with this end in mind; we wanted to create a “wellness centre” where the members and staff are equal in their drive for renewal in a life of contribution and fulfilment. In essence, and environment where we acknowledge that a culture is the sum of individuality, and that ‘wellness’ is as equally unique. Therefore, after much debate we defined our purpose as;
Our purpose is to use our creativity and positivity to better the lives of those around us and inspire others through a quiet and inner strength.
Our identity
We then created a name that could be the embodiment of this purpose, that represented this individuality, and was unique to the paradigm of everyone who heard it. Essentially a brand that means something different to everyone, acknowledging neural diversity rather than trying to explain our view, our paradigm, of the world. This was inspired by Tom from Momentum.
That name is Re-flection.
Re-flection comes from the metaphor that chance begins from within; Furthermore, private victory starts with the ‘reflection’ of oneself. And that you must show flection, not just in physical movement — but from a current state of mind to become the best vision of yourself possible.
Our name Re-flection (pronounced ‘reflection’) is a wellness and mental well-being business, built upon the four dimensions of renewal;
Mind — Reading, Writing, Learning, Study, and Mindfulness.
Body — Exercise, Nutrition, Rest, and Stress Management.
Heart Build trust with those around you: through Kindness, Courtesy, Loyalty, and Respect.
Soul — Service, Clear Values, Inspiration, Meditation, and Nature.
It is understood that these four dimensions sustain humans. Each requires continuous renewal to remain in balance. To neglect one will negatively impact the other three. In the same way, to nourish each, all four will flourish.
We think win-win when it comes to our members mental and physical health, which is a frame of mind that helps us seek mutual benefit in all human interactions. This is the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody — that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense of others.
To achieve this vision, Re-flection will build a unique environment, furnished with a boutique exercise studio and wellness treatment room. We are delivering a personable and tailored experience. We are focused on providing a balance across each members’ four dimensions of renewal.
This last sentence led us to our tag-line, that without balance across your four dimensions, you are not truly yourself;
Being Balanced, Is Being You
Vision
We realised after many conversations with prospect suppliers that we needed a clear way to articulate the bridge between the products and services we would offer and the purpose we had created.
Following the principle of Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, the last thing we designed was the ‘What’; our products and services.
Why — The reason we exist, our purpose.
How — What we will do to realise; our purpose, the vision.
What — The Products and Services we offer, aligned to our vision, to achieve our purpose.
We then created three ‘pillars’ that act as the foundation for our vision;
Our vision to Re-Nourish your ‘Mind’:
Mind — Focus rooms, Aromatherapy, Treatments, and the Environment of the Wellness Centre.
Our vision to nourish your ‘Body’ and ‘Heart’ is through Re-flection:
Heart — Our culture and environment, the products we chose to use, and the reward of positive equal behaviours.
Body — Fitness classes and wellness rooms, with consultation rooms also. Yoga, Barre, Tai chi, HIIT, Personal Training, Treatments, Therapies, and Supplements.
Our vision for nourishing your ‘Soul’ is through Re-Connect:
Soul — We will build a community of our members, Coffee Mornings, Workshops, Events, Socials, and a Sense of Identity. Everyone is equal, and there is no hierarchy. Members are inducted into our culture.
Creating a transparent precedent — the ‘How’
From day one of our online existence, all of the content you have just read has been shared openly, we want to be held to account to execute this vision, and in return, we will promote the behaviours of individuals that are not in detriment to our vision.
Work to live, don’t live to work.
Pay or remuneration
This is a provocative subject, especially in the wellness segment. Contractor pay can differ between two identically skilled individuals based on nothing more than who ‘goes out for coffee with their manager more’, and the gender pay imbalance is evidenced at some large (not to be named) leisure brands at £15K for an identical full time role, I have seen both contracts that are identical other than the name and the salary. My solution was to introduce the Levels of responsibility as articulated by the SFIA Foundation directly into the contracts of Class instructors and Therapists, where pay is directly aligned to 7 levels of competency, which shouldn’t be a novel concept — but in this sector it is transformation. Furthermore, I published the contracts in one location on the website publicly, creating absolute equality.
As per our aforementioned purpose:
“We believe in an open, honest, fair, and transparent environment; to use our creativity and positivity to better the lives of those around us and inspire others through a quiet and inner strength — beginning with this end in mind; a wellness centre where the members and staff are equal in their drive for renewal in a life of contribution and fulfilment.”
Services and Pricing
I wanted to be disruptive; it is quite normal to have ‘memberships’ in this sector. Not at Re-flection. We believe in “the paradigm that there is plenty for everybody — that one person’s success is not achieved at the expense of others.”
‘Memberships’ create a sense of hierarchy and gaining something above someone else, “I am a gold member and they are only a silver member, so serve me first”- is a phrase I have repeatedly observed. Worse, as the business adapts to market changes, you may have pools of ‘member levels’ that have differing benefits and prices meaning your ‘A’ might not be the same as my ‘A’. This also does not identify the uniqueness of an individuals needs.
Therefore, we have adopted the ‘subscription’ model, and refer to anyone who personifies our culture as a member. We created smaller ‘subscriptions’ that offer specific benefits (wellness, fitness, well-being, therapies, health, etc.) across the four dimensions of renewal; allowing us to identify subscribers that may be imbalanced… these can be purchased in isolation or in sum to create a package of subscriptions that is unique to every individual.
Acknowledging the diversity of the needs of our members; this also removes any ability to be hierarchical, as benefits are outcome based, not pegged to currency. There is no ability for anyone to form comparisons, an individual might be the highest spender but consume a single subscription that meets their needs, and someone equally might have 10 subscriptions, that are a lower financial burden. Finally, this improves accessibility for those with a financial or time barrier.
Your perception of value, is individual.
This also provides us [as a business] the opportunity to adapt very quickly to the changing needs of the market and our members. Currently there are a finite number of subscriptions, until we have a more established membership who are inducted into our culture, and to remove the opportunity for confusion. beyond this point, we will surge the diversity of the offerings, and fragment them further.
This article is not exhaustive, there is more going on under the cover that is yet to be published. If any readers have any progressive ideas to develop this vision further contact me at alex@re-flection.com.
