It is often said, if you don’t measure, you can’t manage

There is some truth here but we believe it goes much deeper than that.

Structured leadership gives your business the opportunity to generate a ‘culture of advantage’ to support your business accurately and realistically.

A key part of sustainable growth is for the senior team to ‘grow’ too, in both the skills and required approach as the business evolves.

We talk to many businesses about their growth plans, all of which have many common facets to resolve before moving forward. Typically they have become swamped by their own organic process and didn’t notice ‘how we got here’.

• Business owners are often presented with more information than ever before which justifies a particular point. It is often presented very professionally but in a form that is difficult to unpick in a short time.
• Financial data is summarised and is therefore difficult to question on a detailed basis. Obviously, it is not meant to mislead but is a ‘blunt instrument’ that may mislead not by design but through interpretation.

The challenge is to provide information that delivers only what the business needs

So what happens next?

STOP now, it is never too late!

The business needs to become aligned once more and refocused on the ever evolving business plan.

Here are our top 10 tips for sustainable business growth

There are some essential considerations to become a natural part of the business culture.

1. Measure margin performance not turnover. Then you will understand account profitability.
2. Plan and measure against the top level financial numbers – if they are not achieved then they must be interrogated quickly. Do not allow slippage to take hold.
3. Measure both quality and customer delivery in detail. Deviation from what is required by your customers must be eradicated.
4. Always ensure the senior team “walk the job”. The years of experience will often sense problems that would require others to analyse over time. If something doesn’t feel right, challenge early!
5. Stay close to your customers, they will; if encouraged, tell you the truth which is invaluable to the future growth of your business.
6. Follow your instincts and insist you are presented with a sound case to prove you right or wrong. This will engender a culture of ‘accuracy and honesty’. This culture must be owned by the senior team and not allowed to be diluted.
7. Develop future leaders who have the ‘vision and passion’ to succeed. Remove any team members at whatever level; who drain the positivity out of the business. Accuracy, accountability and honesty create a winning team
8. Be prepared to admit errors and reward all equally, based on what they deliver.
9. Be market led in all things – failure to stay close to what your customers need will see a reduction in both opportunity and profitability.
10. Review business performance in multiple ways. Particularly using benchmarking and comparison to previous years to capture trends. Invite comments from your team on how to make improvements.

The key message is to not only measure your achievements but to follow through with sound management structure that engenders the entire culture of your business

How do we help you?

We help to change perceptions by assisting with improved working methods. We work to ‘align functions’ and increase your business ability and profitability.

…and most of all we are Independent Growth Consultants, on your side!

Contact us for a no obligation chat or to find out more gives us a call Paul 07742 955199 we’d love to hear from you