 |
 |
||
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
3.4 Managing Expansion 3.4(a) Leading staff through growth
(i) Taking on staff - the options
If you're running a business and you want to expand, you'll need to consider the best options for meeting your new needs - these could include outsourcing or training existing staff or taking on new staff.
Taking on people - whichever way you choose to do it - will always mean some form of investment for your business. But it's equally important to remember that taking this investment seriously can make it more valuable.
If you decide to take on new staff, or replace someone who has left, this guide will help you understand the different ways of taking on people to work for you - and how to choose the ones that best meet your needs.
* Recruiting new staff
* The best ways to take on extra people
* Full-time or part-time employees
* Fixed-term contracts
* Employment agency - temporary staff
* Freelancers and outside contractors
* Directors and managers
(ii) Lead and motivate your staff
Strong leadership and a sense of direction are hallmarks of almost all successful businesses.
Effective leaders and managers engage with their workforce to build commitment. In a business environment, this motivates employees to improve the volume and quality of their output. People are not only motivated by personal gain - they can be motivated by feeling part of the business and contributing to its goals.
Good leaders motivate their staff using a variety of skills, learned through training and experience. You can develop these skills to get the same results.
The set of tips described below shows you how to lead and motivate your staff in order to improve business performance.
* The importance of leading and motivating
* Giving direction to staff
* What motivates employees
* Use leadership to create a motivated workforce
* Team-building
* Lead your staff through change
(iii) Reorganizations, restructurings and other major changes
When your business reaches a new stage in its development, you may need to change the way it is organized. For example, as you come to the end of the start-up phase and focus on developing the business, you may need to create a formal structure so that the business is better positioned to achieve its objectives.
In a start-up, staff numbers tend to be limited so employees take on multiple roles. As the business and workload grow, it makes sense for employees to focus on what they do best. Many entrepreneurs choose to bring aboard professional finance and sales and marketing personnel, for example. Introducing a solid organizational structure will help you stay in the driving seat while your business expands.
The set of tips described below examines why businesses decide to restructure and considers the implications of such change. It offers advice on how planning, training and communication can ease the process.
* Reasons for changing the way your business is organized
* Different business structures: by function and area
* Different business structures: by product and project
* The importance of planning and communication
* Managing people
* Implementing change
* Systems for delivering change
* Financial considerations
* Special considerations for change
(iv) Develop your management team
All businesses need a range of skills to be able to survive and grow. As the owner of a small business it is likely that you will be called upon to perform several roles out of necessity. You will probably find that you are better at some roles than others.
If you want your business to grow it will reach a stage when these necessary skills need to be improved and extended. Getting the right mix of people to complement and reinforce your business is essential. Having an effective management team helps you to create a more efficient and capable business.
The set of tips described below outlines the thought processes and methods that will help you when setting up a management team. It also highlights the advantages of developing an effective management team for your business.
* The role of the management team
* Management team skill sets
* Building the team
* Training and development of managers
* Professional performance measurement
* Personal performance evaluation and rewards
(v) Skills and training for directors and owners
As a business owner or director you need many different skills for your business to succeed.
You may be a first-class engineer but unless you can sell your product, your business could fail. Likewise, you could be a wizard financier but unless the people you employ are well managed, your business could collapse.
Running a successful business means being able to access many skills. As your business grows, the range and complexity of skills your business needs will grow too.
The set of tips described below outlines the kind of skills that businesses need to function successfully and outlines the skills required by those heading a business, eg people-management, leadership, team-building and strategy-setting.
It will advise you on where to go to find help and training to ensure all these skills needs are met in your business.
* The core skills all businesses require
* Skills required by growing businesses
* Key skills for owners and directors: leadership
* Key skills for owners and directors: strategy
* Key skills for owners and directors: delegation
* Key skills for owners: building a management team
* Key skills for owners and directors: managing your team
* Skills and training for company directors
* Sources of leadership training
(vi) Turn underperformance into high performance
Whatever the size of your business and whichever sector you operate in, to be successful you need to identify any areas where you can improve your performance.
Developing the skills of people working in your business is an important way of doing this – new skills can improve your productivity, competitiveness and profitability. Comparing the skills you have with the skills you need to achieve your business goals is an important step towards improving your performance.
The set of tips described below explains how to assess your business performance, how to identify skills gaps that might be holding you back and where to begin trying to fill these gaps.
* Benchmark the performance of your business
* Identify skills gaps holding you back
* Make the most of the skills your staff already have
* The importance of leadership
* Use staff training to improve performance
* The benefits of qualifications and accreditations
* The Investors in People Standard
* Practical considerations
3.4(b) Managing risk
(i) Managing risk
Every business faces risks that could present threats to its success.
Risk is defined as the probability of an event and its consequences. Risk management is the practice of using processes, methods and tools for managing these risks.
Risk management focuses on identifying what could go wrong, evaluating which risks should be dealt with and implementing strategies to deal with those risks. Businesses that have identified the risks will be better prepared and have a more cost-effective way of dealing with them.
The set of tips described below sets out how to identify the risks your business may face. It also looks at how to implement an effective risk management policy and programme which can increase your business' chances of success and reduce the possibility of failure.
* The risk management process
* The types of risk your business faces
* Strategic and compliance risks
* Financial and operational risks
* How to evaluate risks
* Use preventative measures for business continuity
* How to manage risks
* Choose the right insurance to protect against losses
(ii) Crisis management and business continuity planning
Unplanned events can have a devastating effect on small businesses. Crises such as fire, damage to stock, illness of key staff or IT system failure could all make it difficult or even impossible to carry out your normal day-to-day activities.
At worst, this could see you losing important customers - and even going out of business altogether.
But with good planning you can take steps to minimize the potential impact of a disaster - and ideally prevent it happening in the first place.
The set of tips described below will help you to identify potential risks, make preparations for emergencies and test how your business is likely to cope in a disaster.
* Why you need to plan for possible crises
* Crises that could affect your business
* Assess the possible impact of risks on your business
* Minimize the potential impact of crises
* Plan how you'll deal with an emergency
* Test your business continuity plan
(iii) Managing risk in e-commerce
Barriers to entering e-commerce are comparatively low, but new opportunities can be accompanied by new risks.
Risk assessment means listing all of the risks a business might face and assigning varying degrees of importance to them. Risk management means prioritizing these risks and formulating policies and practices that can balance and mitigate them.
Every business can benefit from conducting a risk assessment of their e-commerce systems, although smaller businesses may not need to implement some of the more sophisticated techniques described in this guide.
The set of tips described below explains the risks that you need to be aware of or ask your e-commerce developer about. It also explains how risk assessment and management can help in recognizing and quantifying the risks and how to balance them against the potential gains.
* Identifying risks in e-commerce
* Quantifying the risks
* Developing a risk-management framework
* Risk avoidance and transfer
* Reduction of threats and vulnerabilities
* A ten-point plan for effective risk management
(iv) Manage the risks of exporting
Exporting can be a great opportunity to develop new customers and increase profits. However, trading internationally presents extra risks and challenges. You can't eliminate these risks altogether, but you can manage and minimize them.
The set of tips described below helps you identify the key risks involved in exporting. It looks at how you can control the risks, and the different risk management and insurance services you might use. It also highlights the importance of understanding your overseas market, and how international agreements can reduce financial and legal risks.
* Risks of exporting
* Minimize the risks of exporting
* Risk management and insurance services
* Knowledge of overseas markets
* Agreements with overseas markets
(v) Manage the risks of importing
Importing can be an effective way of finding low-cost supplies, reducing your costs and making your business more competitive. It might even allow you to branch out into a whole new product line, selling something that isn't generally available in the UK.
But at the same time, importing is more complex than buying from a UK supplier. And when things go wrong, sorting them out can be more difficult and expensive.
The set of tips described below highlights the key risks you should be aware of, and how you can control them.
* Manage country risk for imports
* Assess the reliability of overseas suppliers
* Ensure imported goods meet your requirements
* Minimize the impact of import delivery problems
* Avoid payment problems with imports
* Manage foreign exchange risk for imports
(vi) Identifying and managing IT risks to your business
In a competitive business environment, every organization operates in a climate of risk. It is never possible to remove all risk from a business, but it is important to assess and reduce risk to an acceptable level where possible.
Assessing and minimizing IT-related risks has become increasingly important as dependency on technology increases. As the IT environment changes rapidly and new IT-related risks appear, it is vital that business owners understand and control risk.
The set of tips described below will help you to identify and assess the risks facing your business. It will also give ideas on how to reduce IT-related risks and their potential impact.
* Examples of IT-related risks
* Risk management procedure
* Identifying risk
* Risk assessment
* Risk mitigation - risk reduction
* Risk mitigation - impact reduction
* Contingency plans
* Practical actions for business managers
(vii) Assess and minimize your IT risks
It is vital to recognize the risks associated with using IT in a business environment. These can range from accidental damage caused by employees to deliberate attempts from outsiders to illegally access data held by your business. There are many ways in which your business can be compromised if you don't undertake careful analysis of your business practices and security systems.
There is also a tool that will help to understand the main dangers to your systems and information posed by insufficient safeguards and training, and what to do to minimize their effects on your business. It should take about five minutes to complete.
(viii) Business continuity planning in IT
The more your business relies on its IT systems, the more you need to consider how unexpected disruptions might affect your business. These disruptions could come in many forms, from fire and floods to theft or malicious attacks on your systems, such as hacking.
Business continuity planning improves your business' ability to react to such disruptions. It describes how you will restart your operations in order to meet your business-critical requirements.
The set of tips described below explains the importance of business continuity plans to the success of your business, and how best to develop them.
* What is business continuity planning?
* The benefits of business continuity planning
* Risk assessment and impact analysis
* Components of a business continuity plan
* Testing your IT business continuity plan
* Education and training in IT business continuity
* Key steps in developing a business continuity plan
please write here |