{"id":1354,"date":"2010-02-15T09:20:30","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T09:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localenterprise.wordpress.com\/?p=959"},"modified":"2010-02-15T09:20:30","modified_gmt":"2010-02-15T09:20:30","slug":"why-idb-is-not-so-smart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2010\/02\/15\/why-idb-is-not-so-smart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why IDB is Not So Smart…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business Link is built around a proposition called IDB. \u00a0I<\/em><\/strong>nform, D<\/em><\/strong>iagnose and B<\/em><\/strong>roker.<\/p>\n

Providing access to information, diagnosing problems, and brokering in people who can provide relevant specialist\u00a0help.<\/p>\n

As well as facing some tricky practical problems (making brokerage effective and impartial being just one) there are more significant problems with this approach. \u00a0It focuses on problems and weaknesses and assumes that these can best be managed by\u00a0introducing\u00a0the owner manager, or the management team, to an external consultant with\u00a0specialist\u00a0knowhow.<\/p>\n

In spite of some very practical problems in making this work (has\u00a0anyone\u00a0got a brokerage platform that really works yet, or <\/em><\/strong>a methodology for diagnosing that is used\u00a0consistently,\u00a0objectively\u00a0and\u00a0effectively\u00a0by all brokers?); the main problem is the occasional failure to get to the nub of the issue – \u00a0the make up of the entrepreneurial team and the managerial imbalance that, more often than not, is the root cause of the problem.<\/p>\n

If a business is struggling with some aspect of its development, this is a clue that there maybe a weakness in the management team in that area. \u00a0It maybe a lack of knowledge. \u00a0Or a lack of passion for the specific activity. \u00a0It maybe that the knowledge and passion was never\u00a0present\u00a0in the management team (we don’t do enough to help entrepreneurs build a robust management team before they start up). \u00a0Or it may have just been lost over time as one, or more, \u00a0of the management team becomes complacent or jaded. \u00a0 More\u00a0often\u00a0than not the underlying problem is in the current\u00a0competence\u00a0and passion of the owner manager or management team. \u00a0But this gets overlooked in our rush to broker in a solution.<\/p>\n

A specialist is brokered in and the problem addressed. \u00a0Temporarily. \u00a0Often with limited success.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because of the nature of the underlying\u00a0problem. \u00a0There is no-one in the management team who really cares about this aspect of the business who has the passion and the tenacity to implement the\u00a0recommendations of the\u00a0specialists. \u00a0Giving marketing advice to someone who is not passionate about marketing is unlikely\u00a0to lead to a roaring success.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0client\u00a0often does not need brokering to a supplier of a one-off\u00a0specialist\u00a0solution. \u00a0They need to be helped to\u00a0confront\u00a0the structural weaknesses in their management team that allowed the problem to arise or the opportunity to slip by.<\/p>\n