Measurable Return on Your Investment

If you are like many, you attend a variety of business, personal and professional development programs.  While you may come away with a lot of information and contacts, do you really have a way to measure your return on your investment?

The StrategicTable-of-Ten gives you just that!

While discussion of ideas is very useful, the implementation of those ideas is what makes the difference between those who succeed and those who are the also-rans...

The Business Improvement Project you complete through the ten months of the program allows you to measure at least one return on your investment of time and energy into this Program.

Below is an overview of the Business Improvement Project.  You will not only be guided through this project and process, you will also have the opportunity to bounce ideas around with the other members of your Strategic Table-Of-Ten as part of your Peer Mentoring & Coaching Experience, as well as tap into the expertise of your Facilitators .

Project Guide

As part of this Program, you will need to complete a Business Improvement Project.

This project can be anything of your choosing but needs to be something that will improve your business in some way - whether large or small.

It could be -

• Coming up with a more effective database of potential sponsors for events;
• Re-organising the layout of the office to eliminate distractions;
• Devising a more effective way of dealing with the paper-flow

or anything else you believe would provide a benefit to the organisation.

Coming up with a project idea

One of the easiest ways to come up with a project idea is to ask yourself one of two questions:

1. What processes or systems either don't work as well as they should? or
2. What works well but could be improved?

Once you have a project idea, you need to run that idea past your manager to obtain their approval.

Writing the Report

You will need to put your thoughts together in a written report. There is no upper or lower limit as to how many words this report should contain. You will be the best judge of that.

When you are putting your report together, remember:

A good written report:

• Is clearly defined
• Is easy to understand
• Is accurate and up to date
• Answers most of the reader's questions
• Is clearly written and presented

Purpose of Business Reports

Simply stated, business reports assist YOU to make informed decisions. They provide an assumption or idea, background and research around that assumption, conclusions and recommendations.

Business reports differ from essays in that they are highly structured and focused, make use of headings, sub-headings and numbered points, are targeted at a specific audience and focus on facts, not personal viewpoints.

Steps in Obtaining the Information

Clarify your Purpose
Consider why you are writing this report and what you want to achieve.

When coming up with an objective for your report, ensure that you state this objective clearly. "Consider the effectiveness of the Department" is not a clear objective. A clearer objective would be "To increase the effectiveness of XYZ Department in their handling of ABC by 10% over the January to March quarter".

When you have established your objective, you will have the opportunity within the Group to run it past your partners, ask them to play 'devil's advocate' and see if they can see any areas where your objective could be made more specific.

Determine the Scope of your Project
Often business reports are too general, too vague or too wide reaching to be effective.

When you choose a topic for your project, determine the specific factors you will include - and what you will not include.

For example, is your project to look at the operations of the company as a whole or just your area of the organisation?

Consider your Audience

When you are writing your report, think of all the people who may read it, particularly if you are writing the report with JV partners or Angel Investors in mind.

Do they all have the same level of technical knowledge, thereby allowing you to include terms and acronyms that others may not understand?

Will you need to include a glossary with words and abbreviations that may be foreign to some readers?

Consider how much background your audience will need in order to understand and to act upon your report.

Collect your Information

Now that you have a clear understanding of the purpose and scope of your report and of your audience requirements, it is now time to commence gathering information.

There are many areas where you will be able to obtain the information required for your project. Here are just a few examples:

• Within your own Business
• Books
• Internet
• Other companies
• Industry bodies
• Magazines
• Journals
• Newspapers

Additionally you can use a variety of methods to obtain information such as:

• Questionnaires
• Surveys
• Experiments
• Observation

Remember always to quote the source of any information - and it you use any of the methods listed above, it is a good idea to include that actual questionnaire etc within an Appendix.

Analyse your Information

Now that you have obtained your information, you need to analyse it in relation to your objective - and remember not to include any personal bias. You will have a chance to add your viewpoint when it comes to Recommendations at the end of the report.

There are many ways to organise your material - from chronologically to geographically, logical progression, most important to least important and so on.

You will need to see if the information you collected supports your original assumptions, whether any new information has arisen and how this information compares to historical data.

Present a Cost/Benefit Analysis

* Here is where you get to actually measure your ROI!

With any business report it is essential to state the cost (both in dollar terms and in psychological terms such as morale) and the benefits that the project may deliver.

There are many ways to present this information with the most basic being to simply state the amount of resources (money, time, physical resources etc) required to enact the project compared to the estimated benefits (money, time, physical resources etc).

When one is taken from the other - as in a basic mathematical equation - you will be able to see whether, on the surface, this project looks as though it will be a positive or a negative as far as the return on investment (ROI) is concerned.

When you are dealing with internal costs such as photocopying you may think that, because there is no direct outlaying of money that these costs do not need to be included.

Remember that any outlay that is required by your project needs to be incorporated into your cost/benefit analysis. This includes people's wages for any time spent on your project (and this information should be obtained from your wages department and include all on-costs, not just the amount they receive in their pay packet each week).

Determine conclusions

Based entirely on the information obtained, you will now be able to present conclusions - not recommendations.

The difference between a conclusion and a recommendation is that a conclusion is simply what the facts tell you. A recommendation what you believe should happen and is based upon what the facts tell you and upon your own interpretation and experience.

Present Recommendations

Based on your conclusions, your analysis of the information and upon your experience, you will now be in a position to make a recommendation or recommendations in relation to your objective.

Remember that your reputation may be at stake based on your recommendations so ensure that, if you make a recommendation that is contrary to the conclusions in the report that you express sound reasoning in your report for you're the discrepancy.

Writing the Report

Now that you have all of your information, you will need to present that information in a well-structured report.

Here is a suggested list of headings:

• Title Page
• Summary (an overview of the project)
• Contents (with page numbers)
• Objective (what you intend to achieve)
• Background Information (what lead you to choose this project topic)
• Procedure (what you did, why, when…)
• Cost/benefit Analysis (how much this will cost versus what the benefits are)
• Conclusions (what the data gathered suggests)
• Recommendations (what you suggest should happen as a result of the conclusions and your experience and knowledge of the area)

Use of Graphics

Often you will be discussing an element in your report that would be effectively illustrated using graphics such as a chart.

Ensure that each graphic is numbered and refer in your text to each graphic by its number and remember that the graphics are part of the flow of your report and should be represented accordingly.

Physical Presentation

It is up to you in what form you choose to present your report.

Consider again your audience. Is it important that this report be durable enough to go through many hands?

Should it be in colour?

Should it be bound or distributed as an electronic report?

Monitoring the Result

Now that you have completed your report, it is essential that you don't let it die. Keep track of who has the report, when they expect to have finished reading it and when the report can be implemented.

As an added bonus, you will have the opportunity to present your project to the Group.

...and if you are like many people who fear public speaking more than death, don't worry - we even give you training and coaching in being able to present your ideas with confidence!

As you will understand, each Strategic Table-of-Ten is unique and needs to comprise people from non-competing busineses. As such, we request you complete this form and we will contacy you personally to answer any questions and discuss your specific requirements.