I was MD of Edo for 7 months. The most intense, tough 7 months of my life, culminating in an even tougher few weeks when Edo went into administration in February.
But if I rolled back the clock, had the opportunity to become MD again knowing what I know now, I would welcome it with open arms as I did. Why? Because it’s been an incredible personal journey for me and I have an absolute ton of learnings which I want to share.
I don’t want to bury my head even though I’m a leader of a company which, on my watch has gone into administration.
I have learnings that come off the back of what I observed and evaluated as MD, what I changed, planned to change and would have solidified if I’d had more time. The areas below became very clear to me whilst managing in challenging circumstances. Obviously Edo failed. I’m not saying I have all the answers but this is my personal interpretation of what I believe needs to be in place to run a successful business.
The purpose of sharing this article is if one thing resonates with you, you take that thought or idea, you act on it and become more successful. That’s success for me.
Sort your sales culture out. This is such a big area and so hard to get right. Sales can’t sit with one or two people in a medium sized business, it’s not sustainable. Disseminating a sales culture across the business is vital because without a sustainable sales pipeline, you won’t exist.
Building a strong sales culture across the company should be at the forefront of every companies plan. Invest in training, build sales accountability into most agency/consultancy roles and when people aren’t delivering work, they should be getting out there, seeing clients, building relationships and solving their problems.
But don’t underestimate how long it will take to change mindsets and for a strong sales culture to get going. Everyone at Edo tried hard to close sales but we ran out of time to build a strong enough pipeline to sustain the business.
Profitability. Track and forecast profitability clearly, simply and regularly. Understand how your business is made up: your operating costs, cost of overheads, utilisation, your margins. Understand what areas of your business are profitable and which aren’t. You need to act if areas of the business; clients or projects aren’t making you money or even worse, draining your profits.
This was the first area I evaluated as MD and remodelled the business off the back of what I discovered, scaling down technology and pivoting to provide more of our profitable consultancy services.
Financial forecasting. Look at least 6 months into the future and take a pessimistic view of what the financial picture looks like rather than an optimistic one because at least if it looks scary, having 6 months to act gives you time to make changes.
Accountability & performance. Make sure you’ve got the right people, they are clear on what they need to do to do their job effectively. Handle underperformance in the here and now, don’t let it drag on, tackle it.
This is amplified at leadership level. Underperforming leaders will have a big impact on your business. Make sure the dynamics in the leadership team are balanced, you’re in tune as a team and are all heading in the same direction by working on one or two key projects together.
Your people. And when you do have the right people in place, you have that amazing team, really value them. Everyone talks about empowering people to do their job effectively but it doesn’t need to be complicated. Treat people like adults, believe they can do a better job than you, let them try and fail, just be human. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerability because if you do I believe you’ll get more respect. There were tough messages I had to relay where I couldn’t hold back my emotion but I’m confident it did more good than harm.
Specialise. Stand out. Focus on what you’re excellent at and grow that. Have a clear proposition that people in your organisation understand and can talk about. Things are so tough in the current economic and political climate, you’ve got to stand out and shout about what you’re excellent at. Make sure you’re in tune with clients, what they want and what they think of you, they can help you adapt your proposition.
Be brave and act. Leading a business is incredibly tough. Knowing what to evaluate, where to focus, keeping people motivated and headed in the same direction, knowing what to change, what to keep and drop is a tough task. As a leader be brave. Don’t spend too long thinking about what you’d like to change and what the opportunities are. Obviously don’t shoot from the hip but evaluate, pivot, make changes and seize opportunities because despite tough times, they are out there.
Be realistic. But if you are going to make significant changes within your business, be realistic about long they will take to embed, to change fully, and the impact it will have on people, culture and costs. Big changes, especially cultural can take years rather than months.
Look outside your own business. Companies can become too focused internally and too set in their ways. I very quickly got to know the people I trusted, admired and sought advice from outside Edo. They helped broaden my perspective, openness to change, new ideas and ways of thinking. I encouraged people at Edo to do the same, to meet and be mentored by people outside of Edo.
Final thoughts. I stand tall and I’m proud of what I achieved. I was brave, made tough decisions and changes in a short space of time. I pivoted the business, made people redundant who I loved and admired but for the sake of the business. People remained loyal, committed and motivated in tough circumstances. Everyone at Edo knew what the picture looked like and why decisions were being made.
Each and every person in the Edo team are ridiculously talented. As a group, Edo achieved a huge amount together: people stepped up, stepped out their comfort zones, were brave and gave their best selves to try carve out a new Edo.
If you’re looking for talented Project Managers, Consultants, Technologists, Marketing Director and other roles then get in touch as I’d recommend each and every person in the Edo team. And if you’re thinking about adding a non exec director to your board, I know just the person.
My heart aches with sorrow and loss now. It’s also filled with huge positivity and pride and that’s how I’ll feel in the long term.
Thanks for reading this, I wish you all bigger, brighter and more successful futures.
