Beware the buffet approach to business
I have just come back from an all inclusive family holiday. The weather was hot and sunny, the accommodation comfortable and spacious, the food was excellent despite being served buffet style. The behaviour of some of the guests made me wonder whether this approach to meals offered any insights into decision making and how organisations function .Can you have too much choice? Is there a direct relationship between quantity and quality? And does this approach lead to increased waste?
I have experience of working in a number of large complex organisations where the way the budget process was undertaken was like a buffet. The CE would announce the need for budget savings and ask each directorate to prepare detailed proposals on scenarios based on a 3% reduction, a 5%. reduction and a 7% reduction. The board would examine these proposals to ensure they were viable. Once the budget position for the following year was clearer they would decide the level of reduction necessary . This would usually be worse than feared but not as bad as it could have been so for example 5%. However the board had all the options for 3,5 and 7% in front of them. They had concerns about some of the options in the 5% scenario considering them either too unpalatable or too difficult to deliver, they consider some of the options in 3% more palatable and thought a couple of options in 7% were drastic but a big pain now might be preferable to the alternative of having to endure a series of painful small cuts for several years to come.
The budget had become a pick and mix of options. Faced with so many choices it was hard to get agreement and the result was often a series of messy compromises which satisfied no one , reflected no clear strategic vision simply reaching target reductions at the expense of reduced quality as a smaller workforce with fewer professionally qualified people was expected to deliver the same level of service. Redundancies and redeployments resulting in a waste of talent.
Blair McPherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
