Developing skills
I'm sure none of you will be surprised to hear that the development of skills within the SME sector is just as important as it is in the professional service organisations.
Last night I attended a networking event and spent some time talking to the MD of a business in the environmental/energy sector. The business has experienced revenue growth at a rate of 100% year on year over the past 3-4 years and the MD is predicting continued significant growth given the sector they are in, their particular specialism within it and their profile.
"Fantastic!" I said, "scary!" the MD said. He was, of course, delighted with the growth and looking forward to continued growth, success and personal wealth. Why was it scary? Largely because the business is out growing the capability of the team. The MD is still hands-on in sales as he possesses the technical knowldege and he hasn't been able to effectively share this knowledge and develop the other Directors and Managers.
It raises a number of questions and I am looking forward to meeting more formally to determine what support I can provide.
How would you deal with such issues? How would you deal with supporting the development of the team to ensure they could 'keep up' with the business? Have you been in that type of situation personally, either as the person with the knowledge/experience/expertise or the person trying hard to keep up?
Your clients might be facing similar situations and as business advisers part of the job is to help, isn't it?
When you have five minutes jot down and submit your thoughts.
Staff management
Very timely point Peter. The profession seems quite split on this. Most practitioners seem to manage directly or indirectly from what's on the timesheets, whereas the accountancy gurus often suggest jettisoning this approach and manage by wider objectives. Being newly set up in my own practice and not having direct staff yet it's not a problem I've had to face, but I would be grateful for the views of anyone experienced in this.