Help! I need somebody!
There comes a time for every business when the question of quality raises its head and demands attention. Ideally, this happens before your first product/service failure, but sadly it is often the first failure that forces the issue. Either way, understanding quality and getting advice about an actual strategy for quality is something you will need to address sooner or later.
As your business grows, you tend to reach out and seek help and advice on any number of things. The steeper that growth curve, the less likely you’re going to have the time to juggle every aspect as you used to. At some point you must start working more on the business rather than in the business and you’ll wish you had more hands to spin all those plates. You seek systems, processes, tools and experts to help with accounting, resourcing, HR, project management, sales pipelines, networking, etc. but what about quality? Well, quality can help you manage all of this, it can connect the dots and streamline the processes. It can talk to all the disparate ends of your business and bring them together on your mission. Quality can be the oil that keeps the cogs turning and the glue that holds the machine together. It’s the difference between hoping it comes together in the end and knowing how it will come together, and when.
Having realised you need to get on the quality train, it can be a bit daunting trying to pull all these threads together yourself. That’s where we come in. You can’t start applying quality half way through the change process, you need to have a plan right from the beginning and this is the time to hold your hand up to the class and ask for help. Our consultants can advise you on the most effective use of quality tools and techniques to manage your change or drive your growth - and the faster that growth, the more at risk your product or service becomes from changes. Now you find yourselves in the classic Time vs Cost vs Quality conundrum. Whilst the first two are probably well in hand, and have been since the start of the business, we stand ready to advise you on the latter. How to apply it, where to apply it, its impact in being applied and the consequences if the other two bullies are allowed to run free in the playground.
So how do we do that?
It all starts, as the best things do, with a conversation. Once you realise you need a hand, pick up the phone and talk to us about what’s happening (or not happening) with your business and what you feel you need help with. Our most important engagement with you happens right there - we listen. You’ll find a sympathetic ear willing to hear your woes and struggles, who understands (as a fellow SME) the challenges you may be facing, and who has the experience and knowledge to guide you out from the wilderness. Depending on the type of help you require, we can tailor our engagement to suit your needs.
We offer a long-term retainer solution which ensures your access to our experts for a set amount of days across a set period of time, depending on your needs. This is great for those who feel they’d benefit from a mentor in this world, or if you need someone to advise on your business’ future quality strategy. We can offer a consultant to help keep the ship steady whilst you find a new Quality Manager. If you have one but they need some support in their role, we can be there to hold their hand. If your incumbent is too theoretical then we can balance that with some pragmatism.
For those whose need is more urgent or specific, we can offer a PAYG service. This is ideal for when you need to troubleshoot your way out of a problem, need a peer review of a document, or want to bounce some ideas to deal with a problem from a quality perspective - this may be a sensitive subject where a 121, off the record chat will help illuminate the path ahead. If you have a difficult change or decision coming up, we can help you figure out it’s effect on real quality issues, change management and any unforeseen risks.
Sometimes a different, outside perspective is all you need to set your feet on the path ahead. And to be honest, we love quality. We love talking about it, helping with it, implementing it and evangelising it. We’ve got enough experience under our belts to know what really matters and what really impacts an organisation. So pick up the phone and talk to your friendly, neighbourhood quality consultant.
- Need a chat? Dont worry, we don’t charge for that!
- Sound-boarding
- Mentoring
- Strategising
- Peer Reviewing
- Troubleshooting
- Free initial consultation.
- Guaranteed, scheduled consultant time.
- Cash-flow friendly
- Longer term engagement
- Free initial consultation.
- Pay for what you need, when you need it.
- Short term engagement.
- Targeted help.
- Large network of managed consultants.
- We’re an SME, too, we know what it’s like!
- Industry-specific, technical know-how, business intelligence.
- Scalable project management services.
- Toolbox like a Tardis.
- ISO 9001 certified.
