Small Business Blog from Atlantic Canada

I was just on the Facebook group that opposes the sale of NB Power. While I was unimpressed with quite a few participants on the radio shows on this topic, I was equally unimpressed with the quality of comments on the Facebook group. They boast of 27,000 members but the quality of dialogue leaves a lot to be desired. Again very few intelligent discussions on the topic. It appears that politicians are whipping up an already disgruntled public into a frenzy over the deal. I am not sure as to why the Shawn Graham and his New Brunswick liberals make a rookie project mistake (or is it?) of not involving all stakeholders early on during the negotiations with Hydro Quebec. But I am not here to discuss politics. I am trying to determine if the proposed MOU is favorable to all parties involved. I made a case for the sale of NB Power in my previous post. Before we go about dissecting the MOU, it helps to understand the context in which this deal is about to be consummated.

Ever since the governments of New Brunswick and Quebec announced their MOU late October, the media and the people have been having a field day denouncing the deal. There are actually two decision points here. The first is to determine if NB Power needs to be sold, while the second is how to structure a deal, if it needs to be sold. Based on my analysis, I think selling NB Power might just be a good idea. Seriously guys, if you have any objective reason to oppose the sale of NB Power, I am willing to listen.

Successful strategy formulation requires business sense, shrewd industry and competitive analysis. On the other hand successful strategy implementation requires strong leadership, proper resource allocation, business processes and policies that support the strategy and a very high level of focus. It is an operations activity. Here is strategy explained by a few individuals in 140 characters or less.

Just as you cannot solve a problem without identifying one, you cannot plan for risks without identifying risks. So whether you are managing a project, program or business, it is prudent to spend some time identifying the risk drivers. Without getting into jargons, let’s discuss a common sense approach to identifying risks.

The Mawhinney group of companies in Saint John, NB recently closed its operations. While I have not researched it, it probably is a safe assumption that there are number of businesses out there who have ceased to operate. While most leaders cite lack of financial resources, credit crunch, etc., I keep wondering if that is the root cause of their business failures. Is it truly the paucity of funds or is the leaders’ management that forced them to cease operations?

If a risk has already occurred in your business and you are looking at solutions (i.e.; reacting to the risk), then it is an “issue” - a “problem”. It is no longer a risk. Risk is the possibility that something good or bad is likely to happen in the future. So when a risk has occurred, there is no such thing as probability then – the risk has turned into an event. Risk management is a continuous and iterative process in which you are constantly evaluating your good and bad risks, its probability of occurring and plan what you would do if the risk occurs. If you have not thought about a particular risk and it occurs, then you will immediately switch into a reactive mode and take decisions that you have not thought through. Risk management is all about being proactive. But do not undertake a risk management strategy exercise without a strategic plan in place.

The decision to undertake a project must be taken only after:
1. You are clear about the project objectives; the objectives must further the strategic objectives of the business.
2. You develop a business case for undertaking the project; i.e. the benefits must outweigh the costs
3. You are clear on the project deliverables, and
4. You have stakeholder buy-in

Here is a time saver. Often times you just do not have the time to hunt for the information. With so many blogs out there, which ones do you read; which ones provide real value? As I browse the web, I come across a number of outstanding blogs that I subscribe to and read regularly. I am going to share them with you.

But as I look down my feed reader, I realized that there was no way I could include all of them in one post - the list is just too big. So I am going to list them in groups of five. I hope to eventually cover them all in this series and WHY you should also be reading them.

After all, the goal of any business is to make money, right? Wrong! The goal of a business, including small business is to create value.

We have all been introduced at some point to have SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. If it works for you - great. If not then you might want to consider START NOW framework. This framework was developed by Sandy Piderit. Sandy is a professor (any surprise?) with expertise in workplace flexibility, organizational [...]