Coming from a science and engineering educational background I admit to being more than a bit of a synic over things where faith is required (never get me started on religion!). I once went to a coffee morning where a woman was doing “Angel Readings” – I didn’t participate. Similarly I’ve often felt that self help books prey on our insecurities, parting us from our cash in the hope that this book will contain the answer to all our problems. One of the titles that stuck in my mind was ” Feel the fear the do it anyway”. This week I decided to face up to one of my big hates – ringing people after I’ve sent them a mailshot.

I know it’s a completely illogical fear but I hate doing it! I decided that the only way was just to pick up the phone and do it! I decided to start with the people I’ve met at networking meetings where we can see opportunities to work together.  I’ve met up with these contacts and got to know them so at least they should remember my name.

I have to say I was pleasently surprised and actually enjoyed the chance to catch up with people. Steven Bourne of The Chartwell Practice (chartered accountants and business advisers) gave me some valuable feedback on the design of my flyer and invited me to a special networking event. Dave Barrett from DBLogic Ltd (software designers) and I were able to compare our notes on trying to win work with the public sector. I was able to put Dave in touch with Cathy Hipkin of  Nysactc who has a wealth of experience in the public sector. Talking this through with Dave gave me an idea for Cathy and I to work on together – more of that another time.  I was also able to catch up with Adam Thompson of Dains LLP, a valuable contact as his office is just up the road from my house.

I really don’t know what I was bothered about – we are all human after all!

Whenever I train people in facilitation skills I always talk about my “facilitation scars” and I’ve been known to say during an ice breaker “The one thing I’ve learnt is that it never goes according to the session plan”. I found myself in the middle of a classic example of this a little while ago.

I was running a workshop which was focussed on developing a plan for a 20% efficiency saving off the opex budget. The senior manager who had set this target was coming for an update just before lunch. Half an hour into the meeting the manager in charge got an urgent phone call. He came back into the meeting, asked if he could break into proceedings and promptly announced that the senior manager we were expecting at 11:30 had left the company and been replaced by an interim manager.

Cue gasps of astonishment all round and the obvious questions “Did he jump or was he pushed?”, “Who knows about this and do we need to tell our staff?”. All I was thinking was “What do we do now?”

I resisted the temptation to tear up the agenda, agreed to a break and sat down to mull over the situation. Being detacted was a real advantage – I wasn’t worried about my job or the future of my team. I could see there were opportunities here – if the team could impress the interim manager he might let us carry on with our work rather than start changing the goal posts.

When we regrouped we discussed tactics. The group felt that achieving the original 20% saving was going to be very difficult, they wanted to put forward a growth strategy to increase income rather than cut costs. I was able to structure the session to develop the outline of a phased growth plan, which could be explained to the interim manager. We also developed a communication to send out to staff giving them more information and reassuring them about the department’s position.

It was one of those cases where I really needed to think on my feet but the outcomes were positive and up beat rather than doom, gloom and disillusionment. A good day’s facilitating all round!

Earlier this week I attended a Southern Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce (SSCCI) breakfast meeting. There were alot of new faces there, which made it all the more interesting. Despite the gloom in the media, the mood in the meeting was optimistic and upbeat

For a change we had a speaker, who talked very informatively about a subject I’d never really thought much about – where businesses source their products from. Lawrie Elwell from Product Sourcing Services gave us some very well thought through tips on how to source items. Some of these struck me as also very appropriate in other business situations.

His first point was that the “specification must be tight” – one of the most common problems I see when I’m facilitating is that ideas have not been properly thought through, the thinking has been missed out and actions taken too soon. We’ve all seen the frequent reports on Government IT failures and delays, which also stem from a lack of clarity. Lawrie’s 3rd point was to choose safe and not to be a guinea pig – very wise words!

I was also pleased to hear Lawrie stress that you should be “in it for the long term”, “be practical to your incumbent” and “don’t stop buying from your existing supplier”. To me, listening to how some businesses operate, they don’t lift their eyes from the current deal to think about the longer term picture and can get into serious difficulties, leading to a fire fighting culture.

All in all, it was a thought provoking and experience filled talk, all before 9am in the morning!

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been to several events hosted by Southern Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SSCCI) which has given an insight into the efforts that are being made to keep businesses going during the downturn.

The first event was an open evening at the new SSCCI offices, very smart they are! It was great to meet the staff and to be reminded of the benefits of Chamber membership. I also got an insight into some of the Chamber’s plans and met up with some of the other regular networkers. Peter Ralphs, CEO of SSCCI, has some great plans and ambitions which was uplifting to hear.

The next day I attended my first SSCCI networking breakfast of 2009 – a bit of a shock to the system as it was a cold morning! The general feeling from the consultants I talked to was that winning business was hard, companies were reluctant to spend on anything but necessities. However, several people were involved with providing training through Business Link West Midlands and they are obviously going to be the spenders of the government money promised for training. All very useful information and I’m now part way through the process to get registered as a supplier to Business Link West Midlands.

The next day I attended a 1 day workshop at the SSCCI meeting room, designed to put delegates in the right frame of mind to start 2009. The morning was led by Dave Lees of Integritus Ltd, who explained how we could create an opportunity mindset and grow our business. Dave also stressed the importance of having a plan, a subject dear to me, and took us through a planning exercise. This really helped me to put things in perspective and give me some definite goals to aim for.

In the afternoon Hannah Sookias of The Write Solution imparted some of her knowledge of PR and marketing, giving out lots of tips and hints on how to market a business. We’re all surrounded by marketing and it was valuable to take some time to think about how it impacts and what impressions we form. As Hannah proved some of the most irritating adverts really stick – remember the Shake and Vac lady? Most people of a certain age can still sing the jingle!

All in all, the day was really inspiring and had the desired effect of motivating me to make a success of 2009. From my point of view SSCCI are keeping the wheels on BMCL, lets hope this becomes a more widespread effect

Although I tend to think that New Year’s Eve is over rated I love the clean new page feeling of New Year’s Day. It’s a chance to reflect on the previous year and plan for the one ahead. It’s also tempting to make impossible to keep resolutions which crumble in a few days and get pushed to the back of your mind.

From working with groups trying to bring about changes in business, it seems that the change process is not well understood. The basic reality is that change happens when people do things differently, be that staff adopting a different process or you getting up 20 minutes early so you get to the office on time. Change doesn’t happen by people making bold statements or waving a magic wand. Changes are delivered by hard work, addressing the little nitty gritty issues that stand in the way and by leaders being able to communicate their vision and make it applicable to everyone involved.

I’ve been fortunate in the past to facilitate for a leader with a vision of where he was taking his department. He could explain his vision to anyone he came across and he welcomed challenges and comments. When you met this leader he seemed quiet, modest and unassuming but his vision gave him a powerful rock on which to build everything he did. It was still difficult to deliver the changes across the department but at least everyone was aiming for the same vision

2008 was a real rollercoaster of a year and 2009 will inevitably bring further shocks and surprises. One thing we can be sure of is that Barack Obama becomes US President later this month.  He is a man who has painted his vision with great eloquence and elegance, I’m just one of millions of people willing him to deliver the changes the world needs.

When acquiring business software there are two general approaches that can be adopted – purchase of “off the shelf”/”best of breed” software or the development of a bespoke application.

Purchasing an off the shelf solution should be the  preferred route for any business wishing to automate/improve a generic process e.g. HR or accounts. This allows you to buy in to the accumulated experience that the supplier has built in to the application through numerous implementations. This should also allow a quicker implementation and lower overall cost, however, you will need to ensure that your business processes are adjusted to match those supported by the application.

The development of a bespoke application can be used to automate a business process which is unique to your particular business. This will allow a system to be developed which exactly matches your business process requirements.The down side is that costs can be higher and that you may make mistakes that others have already overcome.

The worst position to be in is to have purchased an off the shelf solution and then have it customised to meet particular business needs. This results in an ongoing cost every time the application is upgraded to ensure that the upgrade works with the customised functionality, that ‘new’ bugs are found in the application and that any application fixes need to be recoded to work correctly.

One company I have been dealing with have got themselves into just such a position. They have large amounts of custom code which is restricting upgrade options and is increasing application management costs.

The consultancy who supplied the system has been paid to install the system, paid to develop the code changes, paid to customise upgrades and patches. This consultancy, it could be argued, would like to perpetuate this situation, as it allows them an ongoing revenue stream.

The moral of the story – caveat emptor – let the buyer beware. Ensure that your are a smart procurer of systems. The consultants who advise you may prefer that you do not follow best practice approaches!!