management development programme

27Jan09

I am currently participating in our ‘Management Development Programme’ along with a group of 20 other owner-managers of small businesses in Kilkenny-Carlow. The Programme is delivered by Blaise Brosnan, Management Resource Institute. As Blaise says the aim of the Programme is to:

 ”initially understand and then challenge and empower our existing potential to significantly increase our performance capability, so that our objectives can be achieved.”

Well to date, Blaise has certainly been provoking us all to have that ‘felt-need’ to change the way we currently manage our businesses and do things more effectively and efficiently. I would like over the course of the next few weeks to share (briefly) some of the many nuggets of advice imparted.

The Programme has been running one night per week (Wed evenings) since last September and will run to the end of next March (2009).

According to Blaise – the ‘job’ of all owner-managers of small business is to: first of all decide what needs to be done; then cause it to be done; while all the time measuring what is being done. I think this sums it up rather well.

It is critically important to measure business performance - have key performance indicators (KPI’s). If we don’t have KPI’s – how do we know we are succeeding, or how do we know what action needs to be taken? Furthermore – “What gets measured gets done!”

But its just as important to have the right measures. Business performance must be judged on output rather than activity, otherwise we could all become busy fools!  For example, contacting potential customers by telephone is an activity but conversting calls into actual sales is output.

And we need external measures (be able to benchmark performance against others), as well as internal measurements (e.g. comparing performance one week/month/year with last week/month/year; etc.)

Ask yourself – “what measurements or KPIs do I use in my business?” If you feel you need help to review how you currently manage your business, now might be a good time to contact us at Kilkenny CEB. Tel: 056 7752662. www.kceb.ie

Sean.

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