|
|
|
|
| High level perspectives... | May 2010 |
|
|
|
|
Greetings!
May. A month of surprises in many ways.
Not least because it seems to have forced politicians into being more business-like, in at least two specific ways.
Firstly, establishing a coalition has meant revisiting the aims of the organisations involved, and trying to form a shared vision. We look at why that is equally important in business, not least because without common ground, strategy is difficult to formulate and harder still to implement.
Secondly, because it seems that financial reality has come home with both parties working together on the new 'age of austerity'. Reduced income means reduced spend or increased borrowing or a mixture of the two. In this newsletter, we look at how businesses can identify ways to cut costs, and live within their means. Whilst government can borrow the shortfall, they're beginning to understand they need to pay it back. Ask the Greeks and Italians, for example.
We take a quick look at how the parties managed the changes they've had to make, and the consequences of those different approaches.
And, of course, we must mention the volcano, because everyone else has and we don't like to be left out!
As ever, you are also welcome to share your views on these and other opinions on our 'blog, and read our latest utterances on twitter  . |
|
| Planning for the future...
Strategy. One word, and a whole host of meanings. It's a field day for consultants and gurus, and often serves to distract organisations from achieving their real goals. The one that works best for us, and a phrase that will be recognised by many of our clients is 'the allocation of scarce resources'.
The reason for its popularity here is that it immediately acknowledges the need to focus on ensuring you have sufficient resources, and the absolute need to use them in support of a shared aim. It reinforces the need for an agreed mission for the organisation - else the sharing of resources becomes confused at best, and destructive at worst. If you have that sense of direction, decision-makers can more directly focus on core issues and objectives - and allocate organisational resource to achieving those ends. The start is 'the plan'; the challenge is to 'do' - and the question is 'will you'.
It will be interesting to see how the coalition government fares on this. Noticeably, they have focused their early spending cuts and reallocated expenditure where they have greater agreement. The question for us is whether their shared vision will be sustained when they have to allocate still scarcer resources.
Again, the start is knowing what to do, and the key is doing it:
- Identify a vision that people can believe in - and a mission to follow:
- Write your strategy by allocating scarce resources to achieving that mission;
- Formulate a practicable plan to implement, with measures to make sure the focus remains
- Avoid the Knowing - Doing Gap - see this blog for a view.
We can help make things happen - call us on 08448 484853 to take those first steps. |
Cutting cost. Keeping capability.
 A dilemma already faced by many organisations, although still to be to be managed effectively by others - including the government. The challenge is keeping viability without destroying longer-term capability: for organisations that means having a clear vison and effectively allocated resources; for the country it's much harder, not least because every aspect of public spending will have its own advocates and pressure groups. And unions... There are many ways of reducing cost without reducing capability, and we can help you think those through before acting - call us on 08448 484853. As a taster, here are two options we will consider with you. One is to categorise costs by their relative importance to the business, viz: the essentials, or those things that directly affect delivery, without which you would not have the product or service to deliver; the 'nice to haves' - those things which make people feel good although can be dispensed with if absolutely required; the luxuries - those things or payments that are affordable when business is good; and the unnecessary - those costs which have evolved through time, and really are not needed. A different option is to bucket costs into these categories: core activities - those costs which directly add value to the organisation and its outputs; support activities which may not directly add value, yet are necessary to enable core activities to take place; and diversionary activities - those costs which occur because of failure elsewhere. We have and use different techniques according to the industry, organisation size, information available, and time agreed. Whatever you decide, please make sure you consider the true impact of having fewer people in your organisation. For example, unless you also think about process and overall capacity, your restructures have a lower chance of sucecss. Contact us to discover how you might reduce costs without cutting capability. |
Managing changes: communication
The most important lesson of all is that change is not ultimately about technology, or systems, or procedures, or cost. Change is first and foremost about people. Even when the change is due to the introduction of new technology, it is still about people, not technology. A change initiative that does not pay attention to people will almost certainly fail.
And so, make sure people know about the changes coming. Make sure they know why change is happening; involve them where you can, if only to ensure you've thought of all the options.
Above all, make sure that the story comes from you. In the absence of 'official' messages, others will fill the gap, and not to your advantage necessarily. Or at all.
So take control. At the appropriate moment, let people know what's happening. Tell them, tell them again, then tell them a third time. Let people ask questions, and give them feedback mechanisms - and listen to their responses. You never know...but they just might.
Interesting comparisons with the coalition: the LibDems held a Town Hall meeting very early to get their people onside; the Tories left it for longer, only keeping a smaller group informed. So far as we have seen, it's the smaller party with a stronger team act...
Talk to us if you're thinking about change. We can help you think through the need and the plan - and make sure it's delivered, effectively. Before you lose your most important assets - your people and their morale. |
|
We asked for our bank Cash back. They misheard...
 No newsletter would be complete without some comment about the biggest Business Continuity issue of the year: except for BP, the snow, the ongoing financial crises, the possibility of sovereign default...of course, the volcano. And it's only May.
Many have commented that organisations could not possibly plan for the valcano eruption, and that Business Continuity could not have helped.
Actually, a good Business Continuity plan would have been perfectly placed to help an organisation react. The two key steps are firstly to reframe the perspective, and consider the impact not the cause; and secondly to acknowledge that a good plan would ensure an organisation has an Incident Management Team to consider the initial business impact of the problem whilst invoking the plan.
So for the volcano, the focus would have been on the two highest consequences: people not being available; and supply chain disruption. And if they're important, your planning ought to have identified the criticality of the issue and considered various options to cope with the disruption.
Supply Chain Management is one of the most feared problems for this year, according to a BSI survey in October 2009. If you haven't fully considered Business Continuity planning around yours, talk to us.
You could start with a Self Assessment, available here, and decide whether your plans are adequate for the next unforseen event. Before it happens... |
|
Oakview Consulting Limited is registered at Companies House in England and Wales under Company number 6781824, and its registered office is at 71B High Street, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1AY
This email and any information contained within it or any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual(s) or entity(ies) to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient(s) of this communication, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or any action taken or omitted to be taken on reliance on it, is done so with any admission of liability on the part of the sender, and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately return it to the sender by replying to it and then delete the message from your computer. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. Oakview Consulting Limited does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version.
While we have taken every reasonable precaution to minimise the risk of software viruses, we cannot accept liability for any damage which you sustain as a result of opening this email. You should carry out your own virus checks before opening any attachment.
P Before printing this e-mail, please think whether you really need a hardcopy and do your bit for the environment
| |
|
|
|
|
