The subtle art of prioritizing

Stained job! This is the section where Oliver Schmocker answers your toughest questions [et les plus pertinentes] In the modern business world…and of course the quirks. Reading time Tuesday and the Thursday. Do you want to participate? Send us your question at [email protected]

Q: “I am the CEO of an SME with a hundred employees. There are two problems that preoccupy me these days. On the one hand, the acquisition of another SME, which will allow us to expand our service offering. On the other hand, there are a few small businesses with high potential. (For example, doing our website transactions.) I give my head everywhere, but I get the impression that nothing is progressing as fast as I want. Which file should I prioritize? – Eloy

A: Dear Eloi, you have a big dilemma here. Prioritize a large file (merger-acquisition) or several small projects that all sound exciting. And that is, because – this is perfectly normal – you cannot multiply yourself, and therefore you must choose strategically where to put your efforts; You as I imagine your employees.

In fact, the real question in your post is, “Is one volume more profitable than the other for the company?”

It turns out that two analysts from the consulting firm PwC, Aaron Gilchrist and Allen Webb, had just looked into the matter. They surveyed nearly 4,500 CEOs about how they allocate their companies’ resources, then looked at whether one of the most popular methods generated higher profit margins than the others. This allowed them to make an amazing discovery:

A large case such as a merger and acquisition is relatively profitable as a small case with high potential as a new design for a product whose sales are beginning to decline.

“This means that the repeated reaction of putting all his efforts into large files is detrimental to the files probably Less significant is a mistake,” noted the analysts, emphasizing that “the ideal is to pay too much attention to one another.”

According to Messrs. Gilcreast and Webb,” seemingly ordinary activities such as “seeding” (starting a new project, giving more funding to a promising project, etc.) and “weeding” (killing a project that eventually turns out to have low potential, etc.) pay the same Destiny – and sometimes more! – of the activities often considered more important (a wave of appointments at the head of a major department of the company that has experienced a series of disappointments, etc.) “.

Here are the three most important practical tips:

CEO, give your employees more freedom. Let them make some decisions for you, especially when it comes to small, high-potential files. This will give you more time for large files. This will pay off for the company, in terms of money as well as in commitment (what could be more motivating for an employee than feeling that they can make a real difference?). Of course, the idea is not to give them carte blanche, but to keep yourself an eye out for the little things.

CEO, Strengthening Organizational Flexibility. The idea is not to give employees a simple transition, but to provide them with the time and resources to be able to succeed without your constant supervision. This can mean, among other things, additional means, training programs, or even reorganizing the agenda of team members so that they can carry out a special file.

CEO, consider hiring a Project Killer. The analysts at PwC note that a common mistake is not to say “no” to projects often enough, for a thousand and one wrong reasons (“let’s give them a chance, even if it bodes ill so far”; “well, it’s a project they care about.” And it doesn’t cost us much, so it doesn’t matter whether they spend it to the end”; etc.). And they found a remarkable initiative from the New Zealand agri-food giant Goodman Fielder, which, to restore some order in 550 R&D projects, ended up appointing a “project killer”, who managed to finish smoothly two-thirds of them.

There you are, Eloi. If you really want to be more efficient at managing your projects, I invite you to take inspiration from the lessons of this study. Encourage everyone to show initiative, prepare your teams for success and watch them soar into the sky spreading their wings. While keeping an eye on her, just to help her get back to Earth, if necessary. Because this is how each of the most promising projects for SMEs will be managed at best.

By the way, the French navigator Eric Tabarly said in his book “Great Memoirs”: “Confidence is a key element: without it, no project succeeds.”