Business support for a small business
Supporting growth of a fitness business with new premises and a bigger team
Understand
We worked with a small fitness business, run by a very passionate and creative individual, with a team of instructors and great ideas of how to grow. However, she had a lack of standard processes, and no clarity on the cost and margin on different products. She also had a very subjective view of the business and found it hard to make objective decisions using data.
Create
We worked closely with the business owner to create a system to show costs and profit margins for each product, so she could make effective decisions in the future about where to focus her efforts. We also introduced clear and simple processes to support filing, data collection and consistency across the business. A library of business policies was created and shared with the team, which also helped with the welcome process for new clients and new instructors.
Implement
We met with the business owner regularly, to help her keep to the plan and sort out any issues with the new processes. Different people within the team were made responsible for each process, and we worked with them individually to help clarify what they were responsible for.
The main benefit to making the business run more smoothly was that any new ideas could be considered objectively, as well as creating headspace to focus on the future.
Business improvement
Helping a large construction company consistently demonstrate improved performance
Understand
We worked with a large construction company with plenty of processes but they were used inconsistently across different projects. Despite great project delivery, the performance reported to their client didn’t reflect this.
The company needed to be able to consistently demonstrate their performance across multiple construction projects, and for the evidence to accurately reflect the project delivery. This would then give the client performance data that matched the experience of their team working on the project.
Create
We worked with the senior management to create local processes linked to their company ones, and then these were communicated out to all the construction project teams.
This coupled with clear and simple templates for documenting all activities in a consistent manner made sure that all project teams were working in the same way.
This was summarised into a library of evidence, and based on their client’s requirements, we created a standard four-weekly calendar to give the project teams clarity on what evidence was needed and when.
Implement
We shared the processes, templates and expectations with all staff at a launch event, as well as visits to all construction sites to brief each project team in more detail, and answer any project specific questions.
After every submission, all project documentation was reviewed, and we gave the project teams feedback so they could make the necessary changes before everything was submitted to their client.
We carried on supporting the project teams to make the process as painless as possible, and we also worked closely with senior management to prioritise and deliver improvements.
Project Management
Using visual management to improve collaboration between multiple contractors
Understand
We were brought in to manage and improve the integration between multiple contractors delivering a project to completely remodel a large mainline train station. There was very little integration and a confrontational relationship between contractors and also with the client. Each contractor’s programme had unrealistic timescales, and several key milestones had already been missed.
Create
We set up routine meetings between all parties involved, including all their key decision makers so that progress could be made in each meeting.
We also set clear expectations for behaviour and contributions required from all the different people, and the biggest key to success was to hold everyone to account for behaving and contributing as agreed.
Implement
Within the first week of routine meetings, it was really clear that the different programmes were misaligned and lacked quality detail. By having the right people in the meetings, we could hold them to account for any delays, collaboratively agree actions needed to sort out any issues, and commit to realistic timelines to keep the project on track.
