How Phil Taylor, Founder of Phil Taylor Consulting is working with large and small companies and using his 41 years of experience to install his horizontal approach to business.
Phil Taylor, Founder of Phil Taylor Consulting, is giving insight into his 41 years of helping businesses, particularly in Italy, develop new structures for their businesses and daily lives that have enabled them to improve the companies on a horizontal scale.
Taylor began his consulting journey when he was studying management at the University of Cambridge. He participated in a project where external professors were brought in to speak and guide students on what business management should look like. Taylor learned that good business management all starts with people having a good strategy and vision. He says companies have to embrace the creativity from their employees while maintaining a strong understanding of administrative needs.
Taylor’s success has led him to consulting with one of the leading brands in Italy’s Motor Valley, which he has been working with for the past 16 years on 75 continuous consulting projects. He has worked closely with the CEO and, throughout his time working as a consultant, he has developed a strategy focused on breaking down departmental silos in the workplace. According to Taylor, when companies become siloed, it leads to people staying in their comfort zone and becoming uncomfortable to suggest new ideas that will help grow the company.
To guide companies away from a siloed and vertical work environment that doesn’t foster creativity or growth, Taylor implements a horizontal approach to the companies he works with. Thisl approach involves bridging the gap between lower-level employees, managers and C-suite executives, as well breaking down the siloed departments and getting them to collaborate. This results in departments and employees of all levels working towards one goal with a shared value.
Taylor partially credits his success in consulting to his work with a professor at an Italian university. Taylor was contacted by a professor of engineering who wanted to become a vice chancellor, enlisting him to be his campaign coach. This engagement led to Taylor becoming part of a small group of people working towards modernizing the entire university system in the country. Taylor and the group he worked with were able to bring universities from across Italy to work together and foster collaboration, which has been highly successful.
The university collaboration has been able to garner significant funding from the European Union and produce innovative teaching methods. Taylor found that the barriers between the universities were beginning to collapse. Working with the universities gave Taylor valuable tools to use in transitioning companies towards a horizontal approach to their business models. He says it’s important for managers and people in leadership roles to have a high level of self-esteem, which they can project into a company. This creates a workplace atmosphere that gives employees an incentive to work in collaboration with each other and create new products or ideas to further the growth of a company.
Another important aspect of Taylor’s consulting practice is participative management. This is a practice he learned in the 1990s from an important mentor, who he worked with over a span of 11 years, nurturing a common vision based on giving time, space and encouragement to workers of all levels across many industries. This will bring about another dimension of productivity. Workers with increased productivity will give managers and C-suite leaders the ability to put more focus on administrative duties. He also emphasizes that managers refrain from using slide presentations and communication strategies that don’t hold the attention of employees.
Taylor says the heart of his thinking comes from the eight years he spent as Director General of a top fashion institute in Florence, Italy.
“I can only compliment them for having had the courage to hire an engineer from Yorkshire to lead this institute, which is among the top 10 in its category in the world. Creativity rarely comes from a single brain, but it almost always comes from the clash of conversations from unpredictable sources.”
Taylor began his career at a young age when he was six years old by helping his father who worked in a factory. He later immigrated to Italy from his hometown of Bradford in Yorkshire, England. Upon arriving in Italy, he had no money and just the clothes on his back. With the help of the Italian community he was able to transform himself into a highly successful entrepreneur.
“It’s never been about making a lot of money or getting a reward from helping large corporations make changes that see their workplace drastically improve, but it’s really about changing the way companies operate by helping collaborators feel more engaged and involved. Because at the end of the day they are suggesting to senior managers, pathways to improvement,” says Taylor.
