Last week in one of my training sessions I heard a familiar refrain: the main purpose of business is to make a profit.
If that’s what you want, it certainly can be.
Yet whether your contribution to life comes from a Profit & Loss account or some other way, finance is always talked about in business. What does not always get the focus it deserves are the steps to you there: unsurprisingly there will be a number of them.
What brought this to my mind followed a short session I ran with the Professional Speaking Association, using Kaplan & Norton’s Balanced Business Scorecard and adapting it for use by professional speakers.
The Balanced Business Scorecard is just a tool: I think it is a really great one, but I am also aware that others have different views. Those who are less enthusiastic have tended – in my opinion, not backed up by any data – to have been victims of its overuse rather than disliking the tool itself. But then I wouldn’t like a screwdriver if someone jabbed me in the backside with it.
Kaplan and Norton have written extensively about it’s use: it is frequently adapted and customised to an organisation situation or desired position. Tesco’s use it and call it a Steering Wheel (they put an extra spoke in it too).
What highlighted the importance of balance though was the call I had from a fellow PSA Fellow who asked me about his use of it in a different, customised but unique form for a development programme. We talked through the principles and how it could be adapted. We debated whether to introduce it upfront or at the end: I suggested upfront to provide a framework for the learning, as well as a management tool for continued use.
When using it I frequently show the model and ask what the most important word is: it’s not finance, or even people. Its Balance. Successful business becomes successful by being good in multiple areas.
What are you focussing on this week – and are your priorities all aligned with where you want to be? Sure, make some money – but what else will you deliver while you do?
Check your balance.
Buzzword of the Week – Guarantee
Definition – A formal assurance (typically in writing) that certain conditions will be fulfilled, especially that a product will be repaired or replaced if not of a specified quality. An undertaking to answer for the payment or performance of another person’s debt or obligation in the event of a default by the person primarily responsible for it.
Alternate View – A work of fiction. An invention of the marketing department, without them consulting anyone else in the company. A word uttered to impress, but with little behind it. Which is not to say that something guaranteed will not happen – it might. But just attaching this word to something does not mean it WILL happen. In short: do not believe this word if you see it. Proof? Search “Equitable Life Assurance”.