Having spent a large amount of time over the last few years looking at management and marketing theory, and working inside a large (ish) firm, it would seem logical that I could identify people and/or practice that fits to theory and (although I dislike the concept) 'best practice'.
Yet often I struggle and from a few conversations over the last week, I am not alone.
These conversations were primarily sparked by yet another round of redundancies and the question 'why?'
Obvious answeer is that the business needs to cut costs because its not making its targets and the shareholders are the driving force behind any management decisions. So why are we meeting the numbers?
Acquisition targets are definitely on-track. Retention could be better but not affecting overall customer number targets. (Not that I am aware of what these are precisely...)
Costs - I am guessing that these are way over budget. But I don't know. There are no communicated targets in terms of costs nor are there targets in other areas.
Communication in total is relatively poor despite various efforts to improve. There seems to be very little vision and very little focus on anything other than short term cashflow. This is bad. This is very bad. Not the focus itself but the conditions that push a business into needing this in the first place.
Compeition is fierce and trading conditions whilst not adverse are challenging.
Public perception doesn't seem to be improving. There is little in the way of PR, advertising or any other promtional or communication channel other than our call centres, and they obviously are not our best asset at present. Of course they could be but performance whilst improved from the summer continues to struggle.
Money for investment that could change the perception ( I guess you could say Brand image) is not going to be forthcoming and I personally worry that in areas where we do have some strong leadership such as product development could suffer in the medium term, after all, any ntl products take time to get to market.
If I sound negative well I guess I am and more so than the usual doom and gloom merchant that I am. I have lost confidence. And I guess that means I should actively look to move on.
So, note to self - set personal objectives for 2005, brush up CV, get in touch with some contacts and look for a new role - somewhere that you can utilise your passion that so often has to be put away or wasted on furstration.
Any advice appreciated, especially on my CVs... my modern version CV is here and my traditional version is here
Posted by Paul Goodison at December 16, 2004 11:37 AM | TrackBack