time and the money to do it is not easy. This leads to the obvious question – how can SME business owners build these elements into their businesses in a manner that is going to increase value across the board. When trying to crack this chestnut it is better to step back and look at the problem from a holistic perspective. A business is made up of a significant amount of cause and effect. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Actions when carried out in a well thought-through way usually end up with a good outcomes. Actions undertaken in a hasty or un-thought-through manner can lead to any number of poor outcomes. So what is to stop SME’s from starting to look at the way they work and build el-
ements of quality, environmental and worker well-being into the way process steps are undertaken? To be brutally honest. Not a lot. We are seeing increasing numbers of SME in New Zealand realising the value of delivering outcomes in a more measured and pre-determined manner. A good example recounted by one of Telarc’s clients, highlighted their business dilemma, the approach they undertook to remedy it and the results of taking the steps they did. Below are the high-level events that were the key elements of the story. Current state – about five years ago - A family business that had been passed through to the 3rd generation - The previous generations had long standing relation-
ships with a number of the then-clients - 20 percent of the historical revenue base required 80 percent of managements time to resolve price, delivery and invoicing related issues - The revenue from the 20 percent in the item above was being made at an overall loss to the business - The same 20 percent was absorbing time that would have preferably been spent on improving worker competency and improved company performance - The same 20 percent was limiting the ability of the business to grow new opportunities and to improve existing profitable client opportunities The decision – about three years ago - The clients who made up the 20 percent of revenue above were advised that
the business was unable to support the requirements going forward - Priority One was to lift operational performance through the establishing of working methods that empowered workers and supported a continuous improvement mind-set - Priority Two (once Priority One was ingrained in the business) was to then grow existing and new (profitable) business opportunities - The approach deemed most suitable to deliver Priority One was to immerse the business in the ISO framework of Plan “Do, Check, Act” - And the standard chosen as the mechanism to deliver the change was the internationally recognised Health & Safety standard ISO45001 - Going down the ISO45001 path required
NZs Preferred Nationwide Certifier of ISO standards Want to manage and reduce risk, increase productivity and profitability? Telarc has the right standard for you to achieve this. ISO 9001 - Quality, ISO 14001 - Environmental, ISO 45001 - Health & Safety, ISO 55001 - Asset management - ISO 27001 - IT security
Contact us to find out how standards will improve your business
0800 004 004 info@telarc.org www.telarc.co.nz safetynews.co.nz 31
MANAGEMENT
October 2021 - January 2022
