On a Mission

Radical change

So the other day a friend asks me: ‘Are you a missionary now then?” I nearly died. But I get the point. Being part of Tear Fund is radically different to anything I have done before in the professional field. Quite a few friends and colleagues are asking me why I made such a life change and I do want people to understand why I took the leap.

Why Tear Fund?

I joined Tear Fund because they have fantastic values and I just have to be part of that vision. No I’m not a missionary but yes, I am on a mission. A mission to transform Tear Fund Finance, I.T and Craft to a point where we are best in class. I want us to be the best because I know there’s room for people to be even more fulfilled than they ever have been are and more motivated than ever before.

Long term hunger

Long term I have a hunger to see the corporate world to become more involved in Third World issues. To that end I see myself as being a link between Tear Fund and the corporate sector. I’m not sure yet how I am going to do it but that’s my mission. Watch this space.#

Next week

But before I go here’s a preview of next week’s blog about ‘How I came to Tear Fund’:

“I was working for the FD Centre for 7 years and absolutely loving it but feeling that, for some reason I was working very hard for someone else’s agenda. It came to a point where I had to decide if I wanted to become a shareholder in a purely corporate vision or share in a humanitarian vision. Then, when we were on holiday I prayed with Pete, my husband, about my career because I was just thinking that it might be time for something new. Ten minutes later I got an email from a Christian friend of mine asking if I knew of anyone who would be interested in being the Finance Director at Tear Fund. I thought you have got to be joking!”

Ali

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People Value

Who we are and what we do

I’m not sure I’ve worked in an organisation where ‘who you are as a person’ seems pretty much as important as ‘what you do as an employee’. But just a few hours into my first day with Tear Fund I found myself embracing that culture by explaining who I was, not just once but three times, to my three teams.

I called each team together and basically said who I am, what my style is, why I’m at Tear Fund, what my faith is and what’s important to me. So I showed them a photograph of Peter and told them I have been happily married to him for 27 years. Then I talked about my great kids before letting on that I’m from the North of England, so I tend to be a bit blunt, noisy, spend a lot of my day laughing. I even told them that I have been a Christian for 18 years, that my God is a God of love and so my philosophy also is love powered.

Tear Fund Finance Team

Then I talked about how much I want the Tear Fund Finance Team to be seen first internally as the best finance department that exists, and that then I want us to be recognised externally as the best finance department that exists in the Charity sector.

Everyone spoke a bit about who they were and we learned so much about what makes us tick as people. I even prayed at the end of it, which I had never done before. For me that’s just wonderful.

Ali

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Big News

First 90 Days

My last blog post turned into a rave about ‘Have a Little Faith’, an amazing book I’d read on holiday. Well, just to clear the book shelves I’m having another rave this week about one more holiday book that knocked my socks off. The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins. This book came into my hands with such perfect timing as I was just weeks away from: Big News - taking up a new post as Finance Director at Tear Fund! About which more later – lots more in fact once I’ve settled in a bit.

Work out your strategy

But for now back to that brilliant, brilliant book. I took lots of business books on holiday; I took the Harvard business review books, three books on managing yourself, leadership and managing staff. But this book is all about how to really make an impact in the first 90 days of your new job. It is all about making sure you don’t get knee deep in the detail from day one, but you step back and you think about the strategy and you think about what impact you want to make. You think about what differences you want to make. You plan for what your annual objective is and then you break it down into more measurable actions.

So listen, here’s my plan. Well actually why don’t you order this book (No, I’m not on commission), read it, and then come back next week and I’ll tell you how my first day or two went at Tear Fund as I began to implement my own 90 day action plan.


Ali

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Heroes Throw Down The Gauntlet

Shock of the new

I was chatting the other day with a business friend about Help for Heroes, a charity that’s just come from out of nowhere to becoming one of the most effective in the U.K. Years back, when I was working for Dell Computers, we came in and knocked the socks off IBM and Compaq because they’d just stuck to the ground on which they’d originally built their businesses - Main Frame Computers. Then Dell came along. We were nimble, we moved fast and we knocked the socks off them – taking the rug from under their feet in terms of the PC market.

Wake up call?

I wonder how the old established charities are reacting to the Help for Heroes model. It may be that there’s a certain amount of outdated practice in the charitable sector just like there was in IBM and Compaq. That would mean that those established charities may no longer be the best in class. I think there’s a lot to be said for having people with corporate experience coming into charities and removing any layers of dust that may have settled there. But I’m aware of the debate around whether corporate culture and charitable organisations can push and pull on a two handed saw to good effect.

Heaven on earth?

At the end of the day any organisation has to be able to tell the world what its end goal is. Charities might well be able to demonstrate what they are doing and why they are doing it, but the fact that they’re working on a seemingly never-ending task with limited funds may, understandably have caused them to lose sight of their original goal. But I was pretty taken with Tear Fund’s five year strategy when I looked through it recently. I guess any charity’s ultimate goal would, bizarrely, be to close itself down due to the fact that they’re just not needed any more – job done so to speak. Now doesn't that sound like heaven on earth.

 Ali

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Pay Your FD Ten Times Less!

I hear stories of Financial Directors who are always busy doing the accounts and overseeing the company payroll. That’s fine if you like delivering concrete in a Rolls Royce, but if you are running a business to make a profit it’s just plain crazy. So make sure you know what an FD is for before you buy one.

Forking out £120k for a financial director is a no-brainer for companies turning over in excess of twenty million, but given that an FD can dramatically transform small companies too (see my post on taking time out), how can they get hold of one for the money they have available?

The answer? Pay them ten times less! You'll save a stack of money and they'll make you a stack of money - I can't believe I'm writing this!

So how do you buy a Rolls Royce of a Finance Director for silly money? One whose experience will instinctively enable them to install the systems, controls and procedures that’ll transform your business? One who will grasp the bigger picture in a way that an accountant or financial controller is just not equipped to?

The answer is to engage one of the best FD’s in the country from the Thames Valley FD Centre. Pay them for just one day per month but have them on call and available as an invaluable company resource 365 days of the year. That’s only £12k per year for a brilliant FD who’ll make sure you taking the right decisions to drive your business forward in ways you never imagined possible.

Ali

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Are You Small (business) Minded?

There is a small business mindset that prevents the most promising companies from reaching even a fraction of their potential. I’m reminded of those fabulous Bonsai trees which live out their lives in a tiny pot. Beautifully perfect, yes, but they could be so much bigger!

Part of that mindset holds that Finance Directors are a requirement only for really big companies. But actually, any company that is looking to grow will benefit from partnering with an FD and also enjoying the reduction of risk that they bring with them to a small business.

Turn over a new leaf

I’ve just been working with a company that had a very modest half million turnover. We transformed that into five million through putting in place the systems that would help them to grow. It meant that they didn't reach that blockage which small companies often reach if they started out as a sole trader on their own. Typically many small family businesses whose owner is more than happy pulling in a 50k salary and with a pension sorted are those that get stuck. Their accountant is doing a great job monitoring their progress and ensuring they are on an even keel but the company runs aground and stops moving forward. Stops growing.

Get growing!

But if a business wants to grow; it needs to think again. It needs to think out of the pot! Because it’s at that point, where they are stuck at the one to two million turnover level that they need to say to themselves: ‘Let’s get some expert financial help on board and start moving forward again - now”.

That’s where a commercially minded part time Financial Director will come alongside them and take them through the growth steps in a smooth, planned way. Effectively re-planting them in the great outdoors where they have the room, vision and strategy to reach their full potential.

So how does a part time Financial Director do that? Stay tuned!

Ali

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