Target News

Blog March 2023: Milestones, Reflections and Momentum

As Michael Lawrence celebrates his first year as Target's Managing Director, he looks back at his time so far, how Target is evolving and why it's like we're doing the truck pull in The World's Strongest Man.

I have always been a reflector and use milestones such as the new year, financial year end or an anniversary to take time to stop and reflect. My one year anniversary as the new Managing Director at Target has come around very quickly and this month will also mark the end of our current financial year.

Joining Target was a big decision, I left a very successful business with a clear path for progression to a big fancy title that I had always desired. But I made the move for two reasons, firstly I wanted to run a business and embrace all the accountability and responsibility that brings - the good, the bad and the ugly. Secondly I wanted to work in a business where the culture and values aligned with my own – an open, honest and collaborative environment, a business people were proud to work at and was genuinely a ‘good place to work’

Reflecting on 2022

Being a business owner is tough – there have been sleepless nights in the last 12 months, moments of frustration and points where I questioned myself. But the highs feel so good – the big wins and more tellingly those moments where you can see plans coming together and actions having the desired result.

Target as a business has been through a lot of change, that was inevitable. We endured through tough market conditions at the start of the year along with the rest of our industry; we had to work through a lot of personnel changes and reset some of our plans and objectives.  What has never changed is our relentless drive to exceed our customers expectations and offer them more opportunities to be successful – we even do this to our own short-term detriment sometimes but I joined a business with a core belief and passion for exceptional customer service, at Target we genuinely care about our customers. For every change we have made, this was never negotiable and never will be.

Target has a core team of very special people that I warmed to immediately and at times its them that have kept me going. We’ve debated, argued and disagreed but we’ve also laughed, celebrated and grown together. My confidence in the future of this business is largely in part to them because when we go into battle I know that we always stand together.

One of my biggest challenges has been learning how the IT industry is structured. In security distribution the supply chain is very linear; distributors buy from manufacturers and supply the resellers or installers who work with end users - there are outliers, sure, but the model holds fairly true. In the IT sector it's very different and a lot more complex, your competitor is your customer and your supplier. The greatest conundrum is perhaps Amazon, whose power and influence is undeniable and, like many of the larger retailers, act as a daily route to market - a cheap and reliable source of supply and also the greatest competitive threat. I find the sector fascinating and on my personal development plan for 2023 I need to get more engrossed in this.

Momentum

I’ve always enjoyed watching World Strongest Man, at Christmas it was a staple watch in our house. The truck pull event provides a great analogy for momentum in business – it can take 10 seconds to get the giant weight to move an inch but once its rolling it and has momentum it takes some stopping. In 2022 Target pulled a proverbial truck… slow to start, tough market conditions, internal changes, cultural shifts and battling inertia but as we close our financial year the truck is rolling and gathering pace.

Market conditions have improved and there’re more confidence in the supply chain - Martyn our Purchasing Director talked about this in his update last month. We need to be in a position to capitalise on this and recent numbers suggest that we are. Our strength in developing our own brands has yielded benefits for us and some of the ranges like piXL and Prevo are growing in popularity, we want to do more of this whilst also working with established brands more closely.

Target in 2023

We have some exciting plans – our strategy will focus on growing our core business, doubling down on our customer focus mission and improving every process and interaction through all functions to be more effective. There are new services, products and solutions we will announce throughout the year – always focussing on where we can add value to our customers.

Being employee-owned is very important to us – it's more than just an ownership status, it’s at the heart of our culture and how we work and we will continue to focus on this. We spend a lot of time talking about communication and how each function collaborates with others – the better we are at working together the better version of Target we offer to our customers and our partners.

On a personal level I want to get out more and meet with more customers, suppliers and learn more about the industry and exploring new areas of business. My success and the success of Target are tied together now and I love that responsibility, so 2023 – bring it on!

What are your reflections from the last year and targets for 2023 and how can Target help you to be more successful?