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Balancing Technology, Management, and Leadership
"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to
preserve change amid order." -- Alfred North Whitehead, 19th
century British mathematician and philosopher
As Achieve (my first consulting company) was working with our
Clients to...
"Find Your Passion"
REPRINT GUIDELINES =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= You are free to publish the following article in it's entirety in your eZine or on your website. Our only condition is that you MUST keep the information about the...
Reasons for individual, corporate and national success and
Reasons for individual, corporate and national success and prosperity. from Diane M. Hoffmann How would you like to be a person who had earned your credibility through writing 35 books and producing more than 300 audio and video learning...
Things will never be the same again.........
I have some important news to share with you. Every once in a blue moon, something comes along that changes the world forever. February 9th, 2004 was one of those days... It's the day my friend, Stone Evans, sent an announcement to his...
What To Do When Successful Training Fails
Why Successful Training Failed Elizabeth M., Human Resources Director for a mid-sized furniture manufacturer, earnestly shared with me her hopes for developing a skilled cadre of supervisory personnel who would effectively lead their work groups...
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How to Get the Best from Outsourcing
To maximise profits, it has become fashionable to place some of your support
requirements with 'experts', to allow you to focus on core activities. Especially for small businesses this can work well, but with larger organisations, unless you get it just right, it can be a lot more trouble than it's worth - and cost you a lot more.
There's a great little article ('Business Lifeforms') on the back pages of the UK's leading management magazine, Management Today each month. It's a spoof (at least I think it is!) about some fictitious key player in a fictitious organisation. For January, it's about Ken, who's a 'Facilities Manager'.
Now Ken has seen it all and truly worked his way up from the bottom to the top. Until, that is, a couple of years ago when new MBA-armed suits took over and decide to slash Ken's department (until now, running very, very smoothly under Ken's watchful eye) and Ken himself. Of course it all goes pear-shaped and the top dog has to come grovelling back to Ken, offer him loads of money and a big car, basically to ensure that the toilets aren't 'backing up' any more!
This is in direct contrast to Michael Gerber, in his fascinating book The E-Myth Revisited. There he talks about working 'on' the business and 'in' the business, making it clear that if you do too much of the grindstone not-my-expertise stuff yourself, you lose track of what you are really good at, and what you went into business for.
In a past life, I too experienced challenging outsourcing. At one time I had a great little local cleaner who I trusted (he even opened the store up for me - hmmm, that was a long time ago!). He did an excellent job and was on hand for emergencies. Then a new senior director decided to consolidate and outsource, for 'economy and consistency'. It was cheap - but the service was awful. Each time I got a new 'centrally sourced' cleaning company, they came with great intentions for the first 3 months and then dribbled off (with our money!) until it became unsustainable and another 'excellent contractor' came along.
The moment of truth for me, was when the director for one of these contractors, came along for the first time in a brand new £60K Merc (and it's a few years ago now). Then I knew where my money would be going. I went through 6 contractors in 5 years, even though my
hands were tied by 'Head Office' contracts!
To solve this problem? There needs to be strong leadership at the start. Very clear standards required from outside contractors and severe penalties (yes, stop paying them even!) for under achievement. Corporate central contracts agreed there, but implemented and managed locally, leave a lot of space for waste.
And yes, in a small business, don't even think of doing the bookkeeping yourself as soon as you can afford not to - do what you do best, value it and get on with creating the business you love, not like struggling Sarah in the book. But, get someone who you trust and who will deliver. Chris Barrow, of Million Dollar Coaching Practice fame, suggests that the very first thing anyone going into a consulting business should do, is get a PA. And that modern day evolution, a VA (virtual assistant) has made this a real, low cost possibility for many.
Moral of the story?
If you are going to outsource, especially if your business is big enough, where it's not only the fashion, but it can have economic and logistic value, take the following steps:-
- Find the best on the market, not the cheapest.
- Set the standards yourself, and don't take theirs.
- Be very clear on expectations and outcomes if standards aren't met.
- Keep in very business-like, however much you like/know/are related to them.
- Have clear timescales for regular review.
- Have a named and senior contact in the organisation for whom there will be pain if they lose the contract.
- Keep contract length manageable.
- If things start going wrong tackle them early, before too much money is wasted.
- If 'Head Office' agrees the contract, don't chase your own tail over non-delivery - get someone from there down as soon as there is a problem - you have enough to do.
- Don't get involved in the problems any local operatives might have - refer them back.
About the Author
© 2005 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com. (Note to editors. Feel free to use this article, wherever you think it might be of value - with a live link if you can).
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