In rude health...

This week’s blog by necessity is slightly shorter than usual due to a scheduled encounter with the NHS. However it was a good opportunity to observe first hand the largest organisation in the UK, and the following are some random unscientific thoughts from a paid up member of enterprise Britain.

The patient facing staff are by and large amazing. When you think of all they have to put up with (including a stream of agency staff who cost multiples of what they earn coming in to plug frequent staff shortages) their attitude and willingness is impressive. The NHS is fundamentally a people business and it is good to see that people skills are there in abundance.

I am amazed though at the number of people who appear to be employed by the NHS that wander aimlessly around NHS premises. I am guessing they are employees (or contractors) as they have all the accoutrements of employment such as uniforms, passes and keys. I am sure that they have valuable roles but they don’t appear to be patient facing so it is difficult to work out what they are actually doing.

£20 a day for parking is totally unacceptable as the people who invariably have to pay it are those who are receiving the more serious treatment. It is something that particularly penalises parents with hospitalised children who of course are going to stay with their offspring as long as possible. Yes I know that you can ask the nursing staff for a reduction but I suspect they (and you) will feel that dealing with such trivialities is not really a good use of their time.

During this short engagement with the NHS important paperwork went walkabouts twice. This led to us waiting around for many hours. The speed of the pharmacy in fulfilling prescriptions left a lot to be desired. The catering also seemed unable to cope with the diets required by the patients following their operations which meant that relatives had to run down to the M&S café to get the correct post-operative food.

This lack of joined up back office support is the one area that stands out. I think part of the problem of any public sector entity (or any large organisation for that matter) is a budget fixation. The belief that there is not enough tends to create a “can’t do” rather than a “can do” attitude.  

Entrepreneurial small and medium sized business know that if they want a budget to do something they have to create it, normally by selling either products and services to customers or a bright future with great cash returns to investors.

Part of me would like to work in the NHS one day. It would be a fascinating challenge and an opportunity to make a real difference. But I know it would not be easy and you have to respect those that have to deal with that challenge every day of their working lives.

We wish you…..

Wandering around the shops on Saturday morning it didn’t feel like a last Saturday before Christmas. Then of course I realised that next Saturday was Christmas Eve, and that this weekend was merely the busiest day at our airports for people looking to escape the UK, something that implies that for many the Christmas break has already started.

This year we do have quite a long run up to Christmas which may be just as well (especially for our hard pressed retailers). However that also increases the time available for contemplation, either as to what strategy is right for our businesses in the year ahead, or achieving the targets that we may have already set ourselves for 2012.

At Orchard Growth Partners we have always tried to have a little fun during December by offering business tips with a seasonal theme. We originally called it our advent calendar, inviting people to open up a new tip every day on our website. Last year we decided to use that great Christmas tradition pantomime as the basis for our tips (who do you think we cast as the big bad wolf in Little Red Riding Hood?).

This year we have based our tips around our own top ten of classic Christmas pop hits. These songs have enabled us to pass on information on topics such as the loneliness of leadership, the importance of cultural awareness, the opportunities available through being a green business, and the idea behind one of the world’s best known pension funds.

I hope you have all had time to have a little fun this Christmas. We certainly need it after the barrage of economic gloom that hit us in the second half 2011. However many entrepreneurs and business owners are a breed apart displaying a degree of optimism that is often infectious.

Those of us who work with such people, particularly as their Finance Directors, view this approach with a strange mixture of hope and experience. Experience tells us that not everybody will succeed, but deep down we hope that everybody does.

In spite of everything there is much to look forward to in 2012 and well run businesses with great people who know their market and customers and keep tight control of their finances will find opportunities to develop and prosper.

For those you who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a Merry Christmas, for those of you who don’t I hope you enjoy the festive season in your own particular way. Above all, here is to working together to make 2012 a year that confounds the gloom merchants and typifies the indomitable spirit that is Enterprise Britain.

Jobs for the boys and girls…..

Another day, another set of statistics to pour over. This time it’s the unemployment ones, including the worrying fact that around one million 16-24 years olds are looking for work.

Interestingly enough on the same day that these statistics were issued another article was published which suggests that an increasing number of graduates are shunning the traditional job route and are going it alone by setting up their own businesses. Self employment in general has also reached a record high, a further sign of the changing nature of the employment that has clearly been given impetus by the current economic situation we are in.

However it is the unemployment story which dominates the headlines. No doubt the usual complaints are already being trotted out such as the educational system and how it fails to prepare young people for the world of work, and the unrealistic expectations of young job seekers.

However I rather think that the system is also failing to educate employers as to how new entrants into the workforce need to be treated, and their understandable limitations when they enter the workplace. It seems that too many employers seem to expect new entrants to be the finished article, conveniently forgetting that we all need to start somewhere.

“Yes but we don’t have time to do this” comes the response. Aside from being false economy it would be genuinely scary if today’s fast moving world simply did not allow organisations the time to induct, train and develop their workforce.

It is also said that today’s school leavers and graduates don’t have the right work ethic. This is rubbish. Leaving aside the question as to whether they ever did (go on be honest think back 30 years or so), school students today are assessed and monitored more frequently and intensely that they were in the past.

Grade inflation is another issue. There may be more As and A*s being awarded but it does not reduce the pressure and effort required to get them. A majority of Bs and Cs might have been acceptable years ago. Seemingly they are not any longer. Changes to exam modules are frequent and it is arguable as to whether there is a level playing field between students of the same generation let alone those of different generations.

The increasing desire of young people to start and manage their own businesses is one of the real positives of the current situation. Older people don’t have the monopoly on the skills necessary to be successful business people. Financial and business education is one area that the school system has yet to fully address and it would be good to see this becoming a core element of what passes for the national curriculum.

You may have gathered from the above that I have children which are at the exam stage of their schooling and that there is an element of self interest in all of the above. Perhaps that is the case but I do genuinely believe that we as members of Enterprise Britain should look at what we can do to improve this situation. This is something we are genuinely “all in together”.

The customer is not always right…..

The late and very lamented satirist Willie Rushton once suggested that the prerequisite for suggesting that the lady in your life may not be entirely correct was a very stiff drink. At this point I hasten to reassure my fellow Enterprise Britain blogger Colin Perriss that I never need alcohol to suggest to my wife that she is mistaken, mainly on the grounds that she never is.  However for most consultants it does take a certain amount of courage, Dutch or otherwise, to tell a client, the person who let’s face it is paying your bill, that they are er ever so slightly er wrong.

In an ever changing world, where all the old certainties have long gone, and that most businesses are still struggling to come to terms with, it is not easy to tell somebody, who may have done very well in the past that they are no longer doing what is necessary to be successful in the future. There is a particular danger in owner managed firms that any such criticism will be seen as a personal attack.

However it has to be done. When you have been taken on board to add value the worst thing you can do is offer tea and sympathy. You have to be bold and point out where things are going wrong and where they can be changed and improved. That does not mean you go in with all guns blazing. Not everything is bad. Tact and discretion can be just as effective as bluntness. It is OK to call a spade an earth moving implement if it gets the job done. Encouragement is part of the process. Evidence to back up your proposed solution is also necessary.

A recent example of this was an owner managed business that had previously been very successful purely by word of mouth referral. In the good times the phone had just rung and orders had flooded in. It had never actually had to go out and sell. However this was no longer the case. Competing products had provided a viable alternative and customers were ebbing away. There was still a high value niche market to go for but that required a change of approach. A sales function had to be developed. Employees had to be remotivated and refocused. But the owners did not seem to want to change their approach and found it difficult to engage with key members of staff. It took a mixture of persuasive logic and tough talking, coupled with hard work alongside the senior management team to change things around and get the business working on the changes required.     

It was not a pleasant situation and one that could have meant a rapid termination of the engagement. However there comes a time when you have to take that risk. Clients may well be paying your bills but they are paying for your knowledge, experience and expertise not your subservience. There are times when the customer is not always right…..

The future is bright, the future is risky…..

Last week’s media was full of a survey that 20% of the working population fear for their jobs. This was naturally presented as a problem and another probable sign of imminent double dip recession.

Actually I want to turn this around. 80% of people in jobs obviously feel secure then. They believe that they are likely to remain in employment. In how many other countries of the world does this percentage of the working population have the luxury of knowing where their next paycheck is coming from? As you can see statistics can be used to make any point you want.

Naturally the figures above only tell part of the story. A number of people in employment obviously do feel insecure. However there is another group of people who know what insecure really means – people who are self-employed and/or running their own business. These have increased rapidly in number over the past few years as traditional employment routes become harder for many to follow.

A pattern is emerging. Things are changing. The old rules don’t apply anymore. Risk is becoming an increasing factor in people’s lives, even those who don’t seek it. This a complete reversal of the post war political and economic consensus (as I look at it that looks such an outdated term – for those that are not sure which war I mean it is the second world war). Uncertainty is back.

I can personally identify with this. Having gone down the freelance route I know that there is a big mental adjustment to make once that monthly salary no longer hits the bank account with metronomic regularity.   You have good times. You have not so good times. You deal with it and manage it. You learn to be flexible and organise your life and finances accordingly. Same as if you run your own business.

Young people are certainly learning this lesson. Get a degree and get a good job? End up with a large debt and no job at all more like. Job security? What’s that? Pensions? Don’t make me laugh. More and more of them are rejecting the secure employment lifestyle (assuming that they can find it) that their parents aspired to. They know that in order to survive in the future a new attitude is required. 

Post war British government has been based around de-risking life by introducing a wealth of social and employment protections. However life isn’t like that anymore. Risk is something that has to be recognised, embraced even, and managed. The next generation is starting to learn and adapt to this. And this ultimately has to be good for Enterprise Britain.

And the point is……?

 I am sure my fellow Enterprise Britain blogger Tony Drury will sooner or later have some fun with the Wikileaks revelations by discovering one or two that may have eluded the press thus far. However the one that particularly stood out for me was the revelation that Bank of England governor, Mervyn King had criticized the Prime Minister and Chancellor, prior to their election, for their lack of economic experience and their tendency to think of economic issues in terms “of politics and how they might affect Tory electorability."

And his point is? That it is a surprise that Dave and George thought only in terms of politics clearly reflects more on Mervyn King than our leading political duo. They are first and foremost politicians and in today’s world that means their focus is tomorrow’s headlines and staying in office. I am not saying that public service and making a good fist of running UK plc doesn’t fit with their objectives but these are likely to be secondary to their main goals.

That does not mean the current set up has a lot to recommend it. No management book would advocate the cabinet structure that runs UK plc. To have somebody with no real knowledge or experience of their departmental activities or suitable financial and management skills being expected to manage an organisation spending billions of pounds and employing tens of thousands of people seems mad when you think about it. Add to this the likelihood that they will be moved on at just about the time they have garnered a sense of understanding as to what their department is actually all about to another department and you have a system that seems totally bonkers.

OK I will accept that leadership, communication and interpersonal skills are important qualities that many politicians have. There are also career civil servants to provide some stability although senior civil servants are often be promoted based on administrative experience rather than departmental expertise. That still does not make it right.

Having said that is such a situation that unusual outside of politics? Perhaps large corporate bodies with their frequent internal reorganisations are not a lot better and these will also lack the steadying continuity that the civil service is there to provide. One of my ex-bosses noted as he departed that in his four years with the company he had had three bosses, so the law of averages dictated that he would get one with whom his face did not fit.

We are constantly told that when recruiting to fill a role in a business, we are looking for competence, aptitude and ideally some relevant skills and experience. And yet at the very top of the UK we are managed by people with little relevant experience whose main concern is and always will be getting re-elected. And you sometimes wonder why we’re in the mess we’re in?