Business improvement does not have to cost a lot!

Many businesses struggling along can be too afraid to seek help for fear of incurring huge fees and getting little tangible returns.

During a project for a company facing bankruptcy I implemented a new process that cost the business a total of $160 in "capital" outlay. Integral to the new process was a shift in employee responsibility and accountability. There was resistance at first, but quite quickly the new methodology was embraced wholeheartedly - and the returns to the company:

• increased staff involvement, which lead to further improvement suggestions
• decreased staff turnover as they became engaged to a greater extent AND
• dollar savings of $150,000 in the first year

Not a bad return for the initial investment of $160!

Combined with other initiatives I implemented this company achieved:

• revenue growth of 37%
• eliminated $1.2 million of costs
• transformed from bankrupt to achieving 5 times industry average net profits

My firm, Ivy Business Consulting, specialises in providing innovative, cost effective approaches to business turnaround, improvement and growth.

Are you an effective trainer / teacher?

Can't get your message across?

None of us want to think that the problem might be ourselves, but the question must be asked if people cannot follow your instructions, are you instructing in the right way?

Leading educators have found that people retain:

• 10% of what is read
• 20% of what is heard
• 30% of what is seen
• 50% of what is seen and heard
• 70% of what is seen and spoken
• 90% of what is said while doing what is talked about

Sounds simple but to be a good trainer / teacher you must have:

• thorough knowledge of topic
• desire to teach
• positive, helpful, cooperative attitude
• strong leadership abilities
• professional attitude
• exemplary behaviour to set positive example

And the basic principles of learning are:

• people learn best when they are ready to learn
• people learn more easily when what they are learning can be related to something they already know
  
• people learn in a step by step manner, take it slowly, enjoy the journey, not the destination
  
• people learn by doing, when at all possible make it hands on, see the point above - 90% is retained by doing!
  
• the more often people use what they are learning, the better they will remember and understand it, in other words use or lose it
  
• success in learning tends to stimulate additional learning
• people need immediate and continual feedback to know if they have learned, positive re-inforcement, possibly the one thing that gets forgotten most in the workforce
  

Point to remember, if your student one day surpasses you, instead of feeling threatened by competition, take pride in your talents as a mentor and teacher - it is a hard skill to learn.

Risk assessment

Why are some people prepared to risk it all and others spend their entire life playing it safe?


Business owners, their managers and supervisors are responsible not only for risks to the business itself, but also to staff.

Risk assessment consists of both a subjective and objective component and that these components are weighted differently. Simply providing data that proves a situation is “safe” can sometimes be insufficient to change a person’s mindset.

There are a number of factors can influence and bias an individual’s perception of risk, including:

• Knowledge. Not enough knowledge of a particular task may give a false sense of security as the potential risks / dangers are unknown.
• Situational awareness. Familiarity can bred contempt and a person who is very experienced or familiar with a particular situation, even if aware of the dangers, may become complacent and so take inappropriate shortcuts etc.
• Hazard identification. Having recognised one form of hazard, people may focus myopically on this and miss other hazards present in an area.
• Characteristics of the consequences. The more catastrophic or unpleasant an outcome, the greater is the risk perceived in the event. This ignores taking the frequency of the event into consideration.
• Perceived control. The greater the control an individual feels they have over an event, the less exposed they feel. Individuals who feel they will be supported by managers/supervisors will also be less threatened by an event, and even encouraged to contribute.
• Perceived benefits. The higher the return, the more likely they are to accept risks associated with that situation (maybe even minimising the risks).
• Individual personality. Level of education, cultural background, experience etc, will all influence how they respond to risk.

Good business practice would indicate that to overcome these influences and biases, and to maximise the effectiveness of risk assessments, adoption of the following principals would be effective in reducing exposure to risk by creating an efficient risk assessment and management process:

• Create teams with practical knowledge of the operation being assessed, knowledge of risk assessment and awareness of other factors that may influence the risk of the operation to carry out the assessment
• Ensure that risk assessors are trained to identify, understand and reduce the impact of known risk perception biases
• Encourage input from the processes operator in the risk assessment
• Monitor and review the accuracy of risk assessments
• Perform risk assessment prior to commencement of a project to enable implementation of assessment outcomes to be easily incorporated in that project.
• Empower personnel with sufficient authority to implement risk control measures
• Communicate known risk perception biases.

End of Financial - reduce your tax bill

With the end of the financial year fast approaching there are some decisions that need to be made which will determine how much tax you pay.

One of the biggest things for Australian Business entities to consider is the expected lower tax rates for next year, this offers considerable incentive to defer as much taxable income into the 2010/11 tax year.

Two main ways to do this:

1. reduce or defer income and
   
2. increase deductible expenses.

Also, those of you that qualify as small business entities, are you claiming the available tax concessions?

Introduction to IVY

I started Ivy Business Consulting after too many frustrating years in corporate life. It is a boutique practice set up to guide businesses of all sizes through various stages of the business life cycle.

Starting Up your Business

The main challenge throughout the start up stage is not to burn through what financial reserves you have. You need to learn how to service your clients needs most profitably and to continually monitor performance to keep your business on the right track.

Start-ups must focus on establishing a customer base and market presence along with tracking and conserving cash flow.

Ivy Consultants can assist new ventures by setting up where applicable:

• accounting and reporting systems
• cashflow monitoring
• payroll functions and processes
• sales reports
• customer relationship management systems
• website

Growing your Business

During the growth phase revenues and customers are increasing with new opportunities arising while also bringing to light many issues and possible threats. Profits are getting stronger but competition can also be elevating.

The biggest challenge growing companies face is dealing with the constant range of issues competing for more time and money. Effective and efficient management is necessary. Businesses in a growth phase must focus on running the business in a more formal fashion to deal with the increased complexity, sales and customers. A successful organisation creates value for the customer by focusing internal activities on customer oriented primary processes.

We can assist during this phase as an outsourced business support in functions such as:

• bookkeeping
• accounting
• HR
• compliance
• IT
• new project feasibility and due diligence

By outsourcing non income producing activities and leveraging off Ivy Consultants experience you can better utilise your precious time to focus on your primary income generating activities such as business development, customer service, product & services improvement and R&D, allowing you to grow your business without growing your internal headcount.

Establish and Expand your Business

Every business gets to a stage where issues of business complexity, competition, internal and market growth or other critical factors demand an injection of outside knowledge or resources to launch a new era of performance.

Ivy Consultants can provide:

• a full back office outsourcing facility focusing on finance and accounting functions
• improved business processes through automation
• efficiency improvement and/or re-engineering and business restructuring.
• develop strategies that can:
  

• assist your business to operate efficiently
• manage resources effectively
• utilise your competitive advantage
• grow your market share and build a financially sustainable business.

Exit
We can offer alternative exit strategies including full or partial sale of equity.