Businesses need independent advisors

Having to create arguments and logic and provide supporting research means that only the best ideas will be implemented by the organisation.

I recommend this approach even in the smallest companies. If you are a one-man band, you probably have the best no man right beside you. Your wife is the best no man you will ever come across. If you meet with your wife once a month and tell her your ideas for the company and the reasons why, you will quickly gain an appreciation of the strength of your idea.

I often talk about running your organisational structure like you are BHP from day one. Hold a monthly board meeting – even if all you do is invite a couple of mates around and pay them in beers after the meeting, there is nothing better than someone external to view your company operations on a regular basis.

It also means you have to prepare paperwork on a regular basis. You need your P&L completed each month ready for the “board meeting” – and if you don’t like your mates seeing your profits then just prepare a financial report against budget. You do have a budget don’t you? Then you start to make sure the ideas you bring forward are aligned with your strategy document. I know you have one of those. Without a strategy document how could you possibly decide whether individual decisions are aligned to the company direction?

Of course, as your company grows just a little – and well before you have shareholders – it is a great idea to formalise your board and actually appoint people. You also want to encourage every single staff member to send ideas through to the board. Sometimes the best ideas are bouncing around in the minds of the guy at the end of the chain