Working in the Business, working for the Business

As business owners or trustees of voluntary or charitable organizations, you take on the financial, moral and legal obligations that running a business or charity requires. So the only way to ensure that your organization remains sustainable is to “work for the business not in it”!

Here’s a great way to help you assess where you think you are in terms of spending enough time developing the business and not just fire fighting or dealing with day to day issues.

• Sit down with your management team or committee and estimate how much time you spend on operational, (day to day), issues and how much you spend on strategic business or organizational development. If you are spending more than 70% of your time on strategic development, that’s good but is it enough?

• If you are spending less than 70% of your time on strategic development, jot down the top 3 non-strategic things you are doing in terms of the time that they consume.

• Discuss with your team why you are using your time in this way and how you can either delegate or do things differently. This will allow you to concentrate on keeping the business on track with the organizational goals and making enough money to continue to be sustainable.

There are lots of ways to give yourself more breathing space to guide your organisation to a successful future, but you have to plan for it. We will talk more about this soon in our blog, as it seems to be a common problem in our sector!

…….But for now think of it this way……

“If you walk backwards down a street you are likely to bump into things, but if you look ahead to where you are going you can see what’s coming and avoid obstacles”

If you are not working for the business, you are walking backwards! ….

Ouch