Starting Right

I've been looking up a few clients today - it seems to be officially the first day back from holiday in most Chambers.

In between hearing about holidays and adventures and quite a bit of drinking in the sun, I've had a couple of discussion about the things to focus on when just back at work. From a management point of view, this is a good time to check some of the basic - Risks, Staff, Marketing & Processes. Yes - it sounds a bit boring, but now - before the work of chambers winds up properly - is a good time to get some of these things done.

So - let's just have a quick look at these four areas. There are some things that you can check quickly...

Risks

Check your Risk Register - you do have a Risk Register, don't you..? Make sure that your list of risks is up to date and reflects any changes that have happened since the last time you checked. Make sure that your Risk Team/Group/Committee think about all the risks and have thought about how Chambers might react if the incident or event happened (and, of course, you do have a Team/Group/Committee...). Then see what you could do now to reduce the possibility of the incident or event happening. Simple.

Staff

Are the staff motivated for the year ahead? Do they know what Chambers is trying to achieve (and it really isn't obvious, I assure you). Make sure that they know the Plan (you do have a Plan..?)  and make sure that you have spoken with them about their role and Chambers' expectations. Talk with them about their expectations - you're likely to be pleasantly surprised. Are the staff happy? It is well documented that happier staff are more productive staff, so it is one of those rare win-win situations where everyone ends happy.

Marketing

Check your marketing plan (you do have...) - is it still appropriate and does it address the needs of Chambers. Have you got the required resources and budgets and to all the right people know what the plan is,, what they can spend, what they should spend and how they and the plan will be measured. Make sure that members of Chambers know what their role is and what they will be expected to do - and how they will be measured. Make sure that the marketing is part of the members' practice reviews.

Processes

This is the most boring one, sorry. If Chambers has some standard ways of doing things (we consultants like to call them processes because it sounds more complicated that way) then members of Chambers and staff will finding doing those things a little easier. Things like Petty Cash; Expenses; Marketing Spend; Practice Reviews. If the standard ways of working are available in a process then everyone can do them in the same way, be measured in the same way and know that their 'thing' will be done fairly, just like everyone else'.

Simple - honestly.

Of course, I would be delighted to help with any of this. See my web site for more details - http://www.mar-aon.co.uk.