Every year NWES holds a "Strategy Week" where all of the staff members within the company are involved in helping set our strategy, objectives and action plans. We have just completed this years'. Many people and organisations wonder why we:
1. Allow staff a say in the strategic direction of the company
2. Spend a week a year on it
3. Bother having a strategic plan
To me the idea of involving everyone in helping set strategy is common sense. It harnesses the thoughts and ideas of everyone not just a chosen few, there is a greater diversity of opinion and those operating "on the ground" know just where strategy falls down! This is the most important week in the year as far as I am concerned as we have the chance to analyse what works, what does not, what we can change and what we should leave well alone.
Spending a week a year is only 2% of the annual time available and this means that we do not have to spend copious amounts of time, energy and cost in communicating our ideas to all of the staff members - value for money!
Without a plan the business drifts and having firmly driven NWES to the top of our profession I have no intention of letting us drift anywhere!
We have finished the week with a set of organisational strategic objectives, team action plans to deliver those objectives and most importantly the desire of the staff to achieve them. I do not set any targets - the teams do that themselves and they invariably set levels at the top end of expectations, and yet they always deliver.
I will return to this subject in more detail in future posts explaining what and how we do during this important week. It's great having wonderful staff!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
New Entrepreneur Scholarships
A subject which I have been meaning to touch upon for a while is that of the New Entrepreneur Scholarship Fund (NES). This programme has run for the last 5/6 years and has been funded by the Learning and Skills Council. Run by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA) in partnership with the Princes Trust and Association of Business Schools it has been one of the most successful programmes that I have had the pleasure of being involved in.
In brief, individuals from the most disadvantaged areas of the country go through a programme of training and 1-1 support combined with a £1500 bursary to help them start in business. They even have the opportunity to gain an NVQ 2 or 3 qualification. The figures are impressive:
- 75% of participants start up in business
- 86% are still trading after 3 years and 76% after 5 years
- the majority were unemployed or economically inactive when starting the scheme
- over 5000 businesses started
- all this for a unit cost of £6500.
Unfortunately this programme has now ceased due to lack of funding - and it was only £5/6m per annum. In a time when jobs are being cut, self employment is an increasingly attractive option and of course it has the added benefit of creating even more jobs via business growth. The logic of stopping this in the teeth of the worst recession for a generation seems madness when we are spending billions on untried and intangible new projects.
Let us hope that there is someone with a modicum of sanity at BERR, government or in the Conservative party who will champion the return and indeed expansion of this scheme at a time when the country desperately needs it. "Tried and tested" is a sensible policy to have when all around are experimenting and mortgaging our future. Just think what £50m a year could do to regenerate struggling areas. Then again who said logic ever enters any political decisions!
In brief, individuals from the most disadvantaged areas of the country go through a programme of training and 1-1 support combined with a £1500 bursary to help them start in business. They even have the opportunity to gain an NVQ 2 or 3 qualification. The figures are impressive:
- 75% of participants start up in business
- 86% are still trading after 3 years and 76% after 5 years
- the majority were unemployed or economically inactive when starting the scheme
- over 5000 businesses started
- all this for a unit cost of £6500.
Unfortunately this programme has now ceased due to lack of funding - and it was only £5/6m per annum. In a time when jobs are being cut, self employment is an increasingly attractive option and of course it has the added benefit of creating even more jobs via business growth. The logic of stopping this in the teeth of the worst recession for a generation seems madness when we are spending billions on untried and intangible new projects.
Let us hope that there is someone with a modicum of sanity at BERR, government or in the Conservative party who will champion the return and indeed expansion of this scheme at a time when the country desperately needs it. "Tried and tested" is a sensible policy to have when all around are experimenting and mortgaging our future. Just think what £50m a year could do to regenerate struggling areas. Then again who said logic ever enters any political decisions!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
You can't please all the people.......
Yesterday NWES was successful in winning a contract to deliver support for hard pressed businesses suffering from the effects of the recession and credit crunch. The contract was the result of many long and intensive discussions with the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) over many months and years. NWES and some of its key partners in Enterprise East had been working to convince EEDA that we are a credible delivery group, able to meet EEDA and client needs in a cost effective and high quality manner. This we have done through the delivery of many contracts over a number of years.
You would have thought that this news, that EEDA had managed to allocate £250,000 of funds to support businesses in a recession, would have been welcomed by all. Not quite! I am dismayed that a few fellow enterprise agencies are angry that "they have not had a slice of the cake". How wrong and misguided these people are. The funding is going directly to help businesses and they are our prime concern - not the self interest of a few individuals. NWES and its proven delivery partners who have worked together for many years will deliver this programme across the region in a very short timescale (by the end of March). It will help businesses in all areas of the region and we are delighted to work with credible delivery partners which are members of Enterprise East.
The people who are complaining now are those who choose to resign as members of the regional body, conduct a campaign of agitation and who sought to undermine the collective well being of other enterprise agencies. To complain now that someone has not "favoured" them is very rich. Having said that, at NWES we always believe in doing the best for the client and so we are prepared to work with a wider cross section of delivery partners as long as they rejoin Enterprise East (it was the hard work of a few individuals who won this contract), demonstrate their ability to deliver a first class client service using qualified advisors and meet the contract conditions. I hope that this shows those people how misguided they have been and invigorates them to seek to work together where they will be welcomed back into the fold and treated like the prodigal son!
In these difficult times companies in our industry need to concentrate on the client - not petty internal disputes. Those who do will thrive and emerge even stronger, those which do not will fail. Finally a very big thank you to those individuals at EEDA who have fought to get this money, helped to put the case for Enterprise Agencies and fielded the whinges that have come their way. Rest assured NWES will not let you down.
You would have thought that this news, that EEDA had managed to allocate £250,000 of funds to support businesses in a recession, would have been welcomed by all. Not quite! I am dismayed that a few fellow enterprise agencies are angry that "they have not had a slice of the cake". How wrong and misguided these people are. The funding is going directly to help businesses and they are our prime concern - not the self interest of a few individuals. NWES and its proven delivery partners who have worked together for many years will deliver this programme across the region in a very short timescale (by the end of March). It will help businesses in all areas of the region and we are delighted to work with credible delivery partners which are members of Enterprise East.
The people who are complaining now are those who choose to resign as members of the regional body, conduct a campaign of agitation and who sought to undermine the collective well being of other enterprise agencies. To complain now that someone has not "favoured" them is very rich. Having said that, at NWES we always believe in doing the best for the client and so we are prepared to work with a wider cross section of delivery partners as long as they rejoin Enterprise East (it was the hard work of a few individuals who won this contract), demonstrate their ability to deliver a first class client service using qualified advisors and meet the contract conditions. I hope that this shows those people how misguided they have been and invigorates them to seek to work together where they will be welcomed back into the fold and treated like the prodigal son!
In these difficult times companies in our industry need to concentrate on the client - not petty internal disputes. Those who do will thrive and emerge even stronger, those which do not will fail. Finally a very big thank you to those individuals at EEDA who have fought to get this money, helped to put the case for Enterprise Agencies and fielded the whinges that have come their way. Rest assured NWES will not let you down.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
What drives an entrepreneur?
At a recent Charity Ball I was talking to a successful local entrepreneur about what drives him on in business. I was surprised that he answered exactly as I would - fear! He was in his mid thirties and has built up a sizable property and building empire. Like me he comes from humble origins but had a determination to better himself. The main thing that drives him on in growing his business is the fear of losing it all and returning to the council estate where he grew up. Indeed he said that if he has a bad day then he detours to his childhood home to remind himself of what is at stake and this always remotivates him. I would be interested in what drives on other entrepreneurs. Often money, success etc is quoted but I am not certain that this is the motivating factor for the majority of our entrepreneurs. The desire to create a better life for the family is high on my list and that fear of losing it all is what drives me on too. Many people ask "what makes an entrepreneur" and determination must be at the top of the list.
This is a subject which I will return to in later posts.
This is a subject which I will return to in later posts.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Belief, Passion and Drive
I was talking to someone yesterday whom I have been helping on and off over the last couple of years. A fellow Enterprise Agency they were in some trouble having become reliant on a single Business Link contract for their income. A strategic change of direction was needed as their income line was at risk. In short they have embraced change, are looking at aquiring significant assets and their future looks much more secure now.
In talking I discussed with their CEO what drives them on. The reality is that a redundancy option was financially attractive but that their belief, passion and drive meant that they were willing to fight for what was obviously the morally correct outcome. This industry throws up many such people whose driving ambition is not personal fortune but a belief in helping others and doing the "right thing". In the public sector and much of the private sector this attitude is alien to many who cannot understand why someone would fight when an easier option is available.
As long as there are people like this CEO around then there will always be businesses such as ours and indeed in the teeth of what is going to be a really tough and prolonged recession perhaps we are about to see the rise of a new way of doing business - with sound business principles but where success is not measured on the crude bottom line but in what difference it makes to society, how it treats customers and staff and where there is a willingness to take the correct decisions not purely the most profitable.
I would hazzard that life and society would be much richer.
In talking I discussed with their CEO what drives them on. The reality is that a redundancy option was financially attractive but that their belief, passion and drive meant that they were willing to fight for what was obviously the morally correct outcome. This industry throws up many such people whose driving ambition is not personal fortune but a belief in helping others and doing the "right thing". In the public sector and much of the private sector this attitude is alien to many who cannot understand why someone would fight when an easier option is available.
As long as there are people like this CEO around then there will always be businesses such as ours and indeed in the teeth of what is going to be a really tough and prolonged recession perhaps we are about to see the rise of a new way of doing business - with sound business principles but where success is not measured on the crude bottom line but in what difference it makes to society, how it treats customers and staff and where there is a willingness to take the correct decisions not purely the most profitable.
I would hazzard that life and society would be much richer.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Celebrating Success
We all seem to know how to celebrate Christmas in our own way and few have any problems in marking the start of the New Year but why do so many of us have problems in celebrating anything else?
NWES celebrated its 25th Anniversary a year ago and we marked the occasion with a glittering Black Tie “Silver Ball”, set in a stately home, with 200 guests, fine wine, great food, a seventeen piece “Big Band”, a casino, entertainers galore and topped off by a speech from me! In planning this event I had many people questioning the cost, scale and the “message which it would convey”. I understand their argument but they failed to see the real point of the event which was to celebrate reaching a key milestone, thanking everyone who had contributed to our undoubted success and reminding everybody why we exist.
In making it a memorable night for all concerned, ensuring that we invited past and present Board members, staff and supporters we now have 200 happy and enthusiastic ambassadors for NWES. Word spread about how enjoyable it was, how successful we are, what a great job we do and how we make a difference to so many people’s lives. It would have cost a fortune to buy that sort of publicity and goodwill – much more than the Ball cost!
The point here is that it really is alright - indeed vital - to celebrate success whenever it occurs….a milestone, contract win, successful start etc. By doing so you remind all concerned the reason why you are in business and you set yourself apart from the plethora of curmudgeonly people who only seem to revel in doom, gloom, despair and dismay!
At NWES we are proud of our company, what we do and why we do it. Make sure that you make the most of every opportunity to celebrate success big or small and see the difference which it makes to your business. The challenge to you is to celebrate something before January is over.
What is the direction for Enterprise Agencies?
As we start a new year - which may be the most difficult in memory - how do Enterprise Agencies ensure that they survive and help our target market? Just before Christmas I heard from three different agencies that are either closing their doors for good or close to doing so. This is very sad news indeed and should be a wake up call for many of us - as if we should need it! In speaking to some of the individuals concerned I asked how they had come to this point. In each case they had predicted such a scenario up to 12 months earlier but had held on in the hope that “something would turn up”. I am afraid that I find this mindset very difficult to understand.
We would never advise clients to cling to forlorn hope or divine intervention and yet this is what several agencies are doing themselves. In the life cycle of every business there are downs as well as ups and it is how we cope with these that differentiates leaders from managers. I am returning to a subject that I have raised before but it amazes me how many agencies seem happier to close down rather than merge with neighbours or seek a “hub and spoke” type of arrangement to reduce operating costs.
Whilst some agencies are facing difficult times I am encouraged by how many are going from strength to strength and diversifying activity and income streams. Taking a football analogy – and don’t forget that I support Norwich City – agencies could perhaps be categorised as Premier League teams, Championship aspirants and Conference amateurs. This is not meant as any disrespect to agencies or individuals or that “Big is good, small is not” statement, merely an honest appraisal of where we are now.
It is incumbent on each of us – executive and Boards - to seek partnerships, explore joint working or merge rather than preside over decline. We have a proud history and I believe a glorious future but it needs people with vision, strategic direction and passion to deliver this. So are you an Arsene Wenger, Glen Roeder or a Mike Bassett? Have you built a strong team to propel you up the league or do you manage a group of overpaid, fading stars?!
One of the most pleasing things about being part of the NFEA is that there is so much mutual support, advice and assistance available when you need it; so my plea is that if the future is looking uncertain then speak to sister agencies or the NFEA at an early stage. The need for our services now is as strong as ever before so let’s ensure that we are fit for whatever challenges come our way.
We would never advise clients to cling to forlorn hope or divine intervention and yet this is what several agencies are doing themselves. In the life cycle of every business there are downs as well as ups and it is how we cope with these that differentiates leaders from managers. I am returning to a subject that I have raised before but it amazes me how many agencies seem happier to close down rather than merge with neighbours or seek a “hub and spoke” type of arrangement to reduce operating costs.
Whilst some agencies are facing difficult times I am encouraged by how many are going from strength to strength and diversifying activity and income streams. Taking a football analogy – and don’t forget that I support Norwich City – agencies could perhaps be categorised as Premier League teams, Championship aspirants and Conference amateurs. This is not meant as any disrespect to agencies or individuals or that “Big is good, small is not” statement, merely an honest appraisal of where we are now.
It is incumbent on each of us – executive and Boards - to seek partnerships, explore joint working or merge rather than preside over decline. We have a proud history and I believe a glorious future but it needs people with vision, strategic direction and passion to deliver this. So are you an Arsene Wenger, Glen Roeder or a Mike Bassett? Have you built a strong team to propel you up the league or do you manage a group of overpaid, fading stars?!
One of the most pleasing things about being part of the NFEA is that there is so much mutual support, advice and assistance available when you need it; so my plea is that if the future is looking uncertain then speak to sister agencies or the NFEA at an early stage. The need for our services now is as strong as ever before so let’s ensure that we are fit for whatever challenges come our way.
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