Welcome to Amanda’s semi-regular blog, where she writes about how to improve business profitability
Is SpreadsheetAccuracyTheory a thing?
My family jokes that my ideal Xmas present is a spreadsheet containing errors that I have to find.
The grass isn’t always greener
When you’re stuck in the 9-5 grind of a day job, particularly one where your time is charged by the hour, it can seem very appealing to jack it in and become self-employed. That feeling that you could be working for yourself is alluring – you could charge less, and still be better off.
I wonder how many people in this situation have read The eMyth Revisited by Michael E Gerber? If they have, they might be more cautious about taking the plunge to self-employment or a freelance lifestyle.
Stuck prices requires a leap
Many years ago, I ran a software development house. I and a team of 4 other developers wrote and supported bespoke software for a range of clients. We were writing what would now be called an ERP system, without the finance bit.
Around the time my second son was born, over 12 years ago, the company finances were in dire straits.
What’s your pricing strategy?
Peter Cook, CEO of Thought Leaders Business School say that “we are all dysfunctional about money.” I think this is worth bearing in mind when it comes to working out pricing.
Managing Cashflow Requires Purposeful Pacesetting
Companies with a traumatic productivity culture must focus on cash flow. Rather like a marathon runner has a pacesetter to do a put in a good time, when trauma strikes, a business needs its own pacesetter to measure the pace of cash flow collection, because without cash, as we all know, a business will fail.
Going the extra mile
Some years ago I found myself on a project in crisis. If it could go wrong, it had. If we accept my premise, that the productivity culture of an organization lies at the intersection of people, process and price, this organization was in trauma.
When organisations lose their way
When we think about the promise, the commitments an organization makes to its customers, the very essence of for what it stands, it is hard to imagine a situation where nobody knows what this is.
Promise and expectation alignment
Every organisation, whether a membership organisation, a food manufacturer or a professional services firm, creates in its clients an expectation. It does this through the expression of its promise. This expectation may be written and specific, or unwritten and implied.
What motivates me, doesn't motivate you
I was recently asked what motivates me, and what are the drivers I see that motivate others. It was a real gem of a question (thank you!) and has caused me to reflect further.
To overcome lethargy focus on promise
Improving productivity requires us to change what we are doing, and do things differently. As humans we resist change. We often like the idea, provided it doesn’t affect us.
How goods is your pit crew?
We have a new game at home, it’s the F1 game for the PS4. I live in a male-dominated household where my boys have picked up on my husband’s love of F1 and are equally addicted.
Are your processes explicit or implicit?
Within all businesses, various operations need to happen to deliver the goods or services to the end-user. In very few enterprises are these formally documented.
Do you have a team of sherpas?
One of the challenges of growing a business is ensuring that the staff you employ are as productive as you used to be when you were delivering the products or services. I know when I used to run a software company, we were never as productive once I stopped writing code. There are so many reasons why this might be the case, and one of these lies in the engagement of the people in the business.
The impact of price
An often overlooked lever in productivity is price. The measure of productivity is a value (£), so price plays an important part. Productivity is not the same as efficiency.
What promise do you make?
Any business that has ever traded, will be known for something. Often, they are not known for the right thing. Your promise is at the heart of everything you do as a business. It is why people pay you; a form of contract, explicit or implied, that describes what you are going to deliver. If you live up to that promise, consistently, you will be loved, if you fail, it will result in unhappy customers, staff and suppliers.
Are you a pyramid, a frustum or an irregular polyhedron?
The most productive companies understand their economic engine as Jim Collins refers to it, and have it turning faster and faster. Those running them can make decisions quickly and are energised by their businesses rather than shackled by it.
What's distracting you?
Distraction is a state. Things that distract, divide our attention or prevent our concentration. The word itself has its roots in latin – ‘distractus’ meaning to draw apart. We humans have been suffering distraction for centuries, the word itself dating back to 1350-1400 in Middle England.