This week I came across a video for the book, “The 4 hour workweek“.

Now, may I be the first to suggest this is not suggesting that working 4 hours a week is on the cards, or even possible for us mere mortals. Let’s face it for many folks, 40 is normal and sometimes more I suspect.
However, the video did tweak an interesting idea, the concept of relative value.

To explain I am going to illustrate with something close to home. Should I cut the grass in front of my house, or pay to have someone do it for me?

Of course, I normally mow the lawn myself. This is usually on a free afternoon, at the weekend, with the grass normally at ankle height!
It is a bit of a chore and not that much fun. It is just something that needs to be done (albeit halfway through an audiobook, which is a plus).

But back on campus

However, now let’s assume we are not at home during a lazy weekend, but at work on a Tuesday in a busy week and the lawn outside the building needs mowing. Would you do it? Nope, most of us would likely outsource it.

Cutting the grass at work, requires investment and maintenance of machinery, training to operate and some skill to make it look good.
Also, then if invest in all of this, it would soak up valuable work time. Time which could be being used to earn revenue and help customers elsewhere.
I could be actually losing money, by trying to save money.

Most of us do not work on campuses anymore, nor do we run gardening companies, but how different is this example from many other tasks we do at work. For example, running an operation or call centre, decision science, collections strategies, business intelligence, finance, HR or even credit risk, each of these tasks can be outsourced

Why would I even do it?

Of course it feels good to have a large team around you, develop your own software and be in control of all elements of strategy. It is a bit of a comfort blanket, the idea of self-sufficiency making one feel somehow safer.

However, unless we are running a sheep farm in rural Patagonia, the reality is we are already pretty interconnected these days. Most businesses run on this interconnected interaction between people and systems, whether you are inside the company or not. Unfortunately, any sense of self-sufficiency is largely an illusion I fear.

By considering outsourcing of processes or process elements, it can free up time to focus on other revenue-generating areas, in your core area of expertise.
If you get this judgment of relative value correct this can result in more revenue, cash flow, as funds to invest in greater customer satisfaction/return.

When not to do it?

Of course, let’s not be naive too. If the process you are looking to outsource, is also your strategic advantage and USP, then maybe outsourcing this to another company, is really not such a great idea. (as arguably Dell discovered outsourcing computer part production to ASUS in Taiwan, who then ate their lunch, becoming a competitor).

The other reason for caution is if actually are sitting around doing not much, then the sunk costs of doing some of these tasks (off the side of a desk) falls to zero. Sometimes we just need to get one with it, and who knows if you get good at it, maybe you can do it for other people… a new product line.

Get time back, maximising your relative advantage

However, if you have processes or sub-processes that are shrinking in size or no longer offer a strategic advantage, or processes and technology which has become commodified, then this is well worth considering.

Fundamentally this comes down to, what am I good at, and where I am not can I get time back or an increase in relative value by outsourcing to someone else.

Certainly something worth thinking about Monday…. but for now it is still the weekend, so in the zero sunk cost zone, which means I still have to cut the grass… sigh.

Have a good week everyone.

This week, being the end of summer, was the last hurrah for the holidays and the experience that comes with it.

• Sitting in holiday motorway traffic discovering the ‘wonder’ that is techno rap
• Re-discovering the joy of putting up, taking down and packing tents only to find, once again, that they never quite seem to fit back in the bag they came in
• And, pretending that the meals you prepare ‘al fresco’ on an underpowered camping stove are really actually quite tasty – before being forced by hunger pangs retreat to the pub for a proper meal

Time to reflect

However, summer does normally grace us with a little more time than normal to think and reflect. This year was no different. So, these were the ‘big’ questions of Summer 2021.

• Are the gardens in Yorkshire actually better tended than the rest of the country? It certainly seemed that way, maybe it is worrying sign of getting older…. what is next growing vegetables!
• Why have people stopped wearing masks so quickly? Everything seemed super busy, and many seemed to just not care much anymore
• Have I become sensitised to large crowds? Crowded streets, and restaurants all still seemed to tweak some pandemic anxiety… it does no bode well for the 6:57am commute to London Euston, which is normally chock-a-block
• And, with the English seaside so busy… I wondered was this what seaside towns used to be like before mass airline travel?

Back to work

Of course, with all things being connected, thoughts also strayed back to implications for work too.

• Does all this activity mean that the UK economy will bounce back more quickly than expected?
• Many of us last year talked about a massive wave of debt. Will this be in fact little more than a large ripple, on what was already choppy waters anyway?
• Are employees be also going to be feeling similarly nervous about commuting, crowds and being with lots of people?

Based off the discussions this summer, it does seems some of this may indeed be the case.

Certainly, for businesses that made it through the last 18months, the summer trading seems to have been good.

Many I spoke to, especially in hospitality industries heavily hit by the pandemic, were reporting it as super busy. Hopefully, they will have made up for at least some of the lost revenue. Of course, for those that did not make it (and there were still many closed stores), the outlook is no doubt less than favorable… but on balance it seemed like things were somewhat bouncing back positively at least.

Less Doom and Gloom?

For those of us in Collections, we are always expecting the next big event, getting ready for it, making sure we can manage the risk. It is kind of the job. It is also easy to always talk about and think the world is falling in.

In this case, hopefully, the impact will be indeed less than some of the grim scenarios we expected. I have little doubt it will be more nuanced.

But, time will tell and next month, with the end of furlough support, will be a critical time to watch, track the data and monitor for impacts (it is still worth getting ready now)

As for the commute and people’s anxiety, we just need to be respectful. It is just everyone is not necessarily fully comfortable yet. With time (and improving COVID infection/outcome numbers) it will gradually improve… but, one step at a time.

Have a good week and welcome back everyone.

With all the craziness going on in the world this year, from COVID, food supply chain stress, climate change and forest fires, the turmoil in Afghanistan only seemed to add to the general sense of anxiety many of us have been feeling.

By comparison, the familiar world of Credit, Collections and Receivables management, while not exactly cuddly, has felt safe and predictable at least. In many ways, we have been fortunate.

Managing change

This being said even here, we have seen some dramatic changes over the last year, enabling remote working, creating digital portals, new forbearance processes and strategies. Indeed many people stepped up, and the work has been hard (or people have worked hard to find work), but in the end hopefully rewarding.

Now it is feeling like much of the upheaval is stabilising, even the industry news seems quieter now. So, has the rate of new change slowed? are we in an island of stability?.. it is certainly starting to feel more like BAU.

Taking a break

Maybe all of this is just because it is the summer. Frankly, many of us needed a holiday and a change of scene… and, judging by just how busy the beach was in North Yorkshire last week, many of us did (it was lovely by the way!).

Whilst change can sometimes be stressful, it can also on the other hand be exciting and exhilarating. By suddenly taking this away, by comparison, what is left can feel dull and malaise can set in. It is a danger we need to guard against.

Reinvigorate, reinvent

Back at the office most of us really do not want to live in a permanent crisis mode day after day. However, a little bit of positive change does also keep things interesting.

Obviously, things still need to be done, the day-to-day business still needs to be run, but here are a few ideas to make the most of the lull… before the next storm!

• Get some rest, use your vacation allowance. It is hard to pick up speed if you are still tired.
• Operationalise those projects. All the hastilly implemented projects from the last year, now need stablising and converting to BAU. Use the time to tidy processes, to be ready for any future change
• Implement those system changes. Work with your vendors to dovetail functionality with existing systems, learn the product and how to use all the new functionality available to you now
• Spend time with your team(s). People time is important time, new insights, new ideas and fresh perspectives. Work on their development (and your own), so skills are strong in the future
• Plan and scan. Think about whats ahead. How can processes be made better? What is a good customer journey? Are we resilient for future change? What are the latest developments on the horizon? What capabilities do we need now?
• Make some decisions. Lastly, there may be time to make considered decisions on issues, lining up a few complex questions, that may have been put off for a while could be beneficial.

The world has not changed… that much

Despite how it may or may not feel, the world has not changed that much. Thought processes, how to prioritize and get things done are all still the same, just some parameters changed.

So, on coming back from vacation, now could be a good time to take a step back. A step back in order to be able to move forward with a new sense of momentum for the rest of the year.

Have a good weekend everyone…