Pioneer

When an organization is still in the pioneering phase, there is not always a management layer between the DGA / Director and the operational employees in the "workplace". Where there is already a management team, it is often still largely focused on managing the day-to-day operations and it is often not expected that the managers in question will also contribute ideas or decisions on strategic policy. The distinctive entrepreneurship is mainly to be found at the DGA or CEO and he only expects the management team to implement and implement its strategic decisions.

If there is already distinctive entrepreneurship among the other management team members, then this is generally not fully exploited. They do not always have sufficient freedom within their organization to implement (strategic) improvements at their own discretion and can only apply the inspiration and knowledge gained within the EFBQ to a limited extent in practice.

The Benchmark Group of the EFBQ does not only consist of CEOs or DGAs, but is formed by all members of the management and / or management team. They all contribute to the Business Benchmark in their own field. Their best practices and areas for improvement are mapped out through the Business Qualification Standard® and they get the chance to be inspired and excel by participating in the Business Qualification Process. An important condition is therefore that there is a management team with a sufficient level of ambition that can contribute to the EFBQ Benchmark Group on a strategic level with its own best practices.

A number of places in the Business Benchmark Group are intended for developing organizations that can make rapid improvements by mirroring companies that have already experienced such a development and are willing to share their experiences, success factors and pitfalls. So if your company is about to leave the pioneering phase and a management team has been put together to operate at a strategic level, you can contact us via secretariaat@efbq.nl.

Growth

As soon as a company leaves the pioneering phase and is growing rapidly, there can be a great need in a short time for more structure and a development of the various aspects of business operations to a higher strategic level. The development of an organization is therefore almost always behind the turnover development.

As a result, the members of the management team are often very busy extinguishing fires during a growth phase and are constantly withdrawn from the operation. It is precisely the supporting processes that are so important for guaranteeing continuity in the longer term, such as HR, IT and goal-oriented business operations, that have to do without.

The question is, however, whether managers are given and take the opportunity to occasionally free themselves from the operation and pay attention to strategic considerations, focusing not only on doing things right, but also on doing of the right things. They can potentially make rapid improvements by looking in the kitchen at example companies from other branches and immediately taking the right steps through a better understanding of the pitfalls and success factors.

An important criterion for participating in the EFBQ is to seize the opportunity not only to deal with the daily worries, but also to stimulate and safeguard one's own distinctive entrepreneurship for the longer term with a focus on earning money, continuity guarantee and add value to the company.

Maturity

The management of an organization, which has already been largely professionalized and is more in a consolidating phase than a growth phase in terms of development, is probably looking for aspects where one can still make a difference and where an improvement or innovation can still be achieved .

The members of the management team must be careful not to rest on the laurels and fall victim to the law of the inhibiting lead. It is important that management consciously keeps a sharp focus by constantly benchmarking, and if this is not possible within their own sector, this is possible by gaining inspiration and insights outside their own sector.

The number of FTEs in my company is below 50

With an FTE of less than 50, there is not always a strategic management team that determines the policy together with the CEO or DGA. Moreover, the lines with this size are still very short and management is usually significantly different than with other companies. People only feel the need for further professionalization when the organization has reached a certain size and they expect to grow quickly.

A number of places in the Business Benchmark Group are intended for developing organizations that can make rapid improvements by mirroring companies that have already experienced such a development and are willing to share their experiences, success factors and pitfalls. If your company is still relatively small, but do you expect the organization to grow rapidly and if a management team has been put together to operate at a strategic level, you can contact us via secretariaat@efbq.nl..

Between 50 and 5,000

Your company falls within the bandwidth of the participating companies in terms of size and therefore has similar management processes. With further growth, there is a need for a next phase in the professionalization of the organization in order to remain "in control" as management, and this generally means that management also has the ambition to use the possibilities of the EFBQ.

More than 5,000

The number of (staff) employees at the head office can be an indication of how a company is managed and where the strategic decision-making power lies. In large groups, a significant part of the strategy formulation and decision-making authority can be decentralized (of course within the framework indicated by the head office or the holding company) and has therefore fallen to the various operating companies. In that case, the management team of one of those operating companies may be better suited to participate in the Benchmark Group of the EFBQ.

If the strategy formulation and decision-making authority is largely centralized at the head office of the group, it may be eligible for participation. However, there can be a significant difference with smaller companies in the field of management processes. For example, there may be a separate Strategy department and the (marketing and sales) budgets are generally many times larger. The strategic issues can then be of such a different nature that the organization does not fit well into the Business Benchmark Group of the EFBQ.

If you would like to discuss this further, you are welcome to contact the EFBQ.

The main objective of the company is to guarantee continuity

Guaranteeing the continuity of the business is generally an important objective for every organization and is often given a higher priority, especially in family businesses, than growing quickly or maximizing profit. Every strategic decision must be weighed and tested against its contribution to longer-term continuity. This requires management to have good anticipation and insight into the strategic risks of the company. By sparring with peers, learning from best practices and benchmarking against the best-in-class companies from other industries, you can stay sharp, review decisions and projects and better safeguard the long-term continuity of the company.

The main objective of the company is revenue growth

During periods of (rapid) revenue growth, an organization undergoes the necessary changes so that management can remain "in control" and the company is ready to accommodate and realize further growth. The management of the company is changing because the growing span of control of the managers has to be absorbed. Where one organization opts for an extra management layer, another can opt for self-managing teams in a flatter organization. By getting to know companies that have made different choices in realizing further professionalization, they gain insight into the success factors and pitfalls of the various options. Management needs this insight to make the right decisions based on well-founded considerations. The EFBQ methodology facilitates managers' inspiration and helps them to excel in their field and as a member of the management team.

The main objective of the company is profit growth

A focus on profit growth and increasing margins can lead to a focus on cost savings and / or price increase. In the first case the organization must function as efficiently as possible and in the second case the customer must experience a higher added value in order to pay a higher price. In both cases, management is generally expected to work together to achieve higher profits (margins) in a process of continuous improvement.

However, constant care must be taken to ensure that the profit is not only achieved in the short term, with negative consequences for the long-term continuity of the business. A consideration that is not always given sufficient weight in listed companies, but also with private equity investors as (share) owners can lead to value-destroying measures. How well management can handle this can largely determine how successful they are in realizing a lasting increase in value for the company.

The main objective of the company is social (non-profit)

The objectives and core business of a non-profit organization generally lead to significantly different considerations and different ways of working, as a result of which it is impossible or insufficiently possible to perform a benchmark on distinctive entrepreneurship. The underlying principles and resulting management processes of a non-profit organization often deviate too much from companies for which the focus is always partly on making money.

The development of our management team is currently still in the starting phase

A newly formed management team or a team that partly consists of new, perhaps less experienced, MT members, generally has a number of important steps to take to function properly as a management team at a strategic level. Working together in the realization of the general business objectives and the development of a helicopter view and anticipatory entrepreneurship require conscious and continuous attention, while meanwhile the daily worries continue to demand a lot of attention. Experience shows that MT members, who know that they can take major steps in their development and also have sufficient ambition, will generally make very active use of the possibilities of the EFBQ Benchmark Group. Reasonably new management teams can also add the necessary new insights to the Benchmark Group, because they are less often stuck in a certain way of working and are still discovering together how they can best manage the organization in the current environment and dynamics.

The development of our management team is currently at a reasonable level

The development of a management team is a continuous process, especially considering the highly dynamic environment that people are dealing with. So people are never finished learning and every manager should constantly ask themselves what their right to exist is, now and in the future. What role do they play in the company, what changes is this role subject to and what does this mean for the competencies that they need to develop within themselves?

If people ask themselves this question regularly, such a manager fits very well at the table, for example at the EFBQ Business Benchmark Meetings. During these meetings the manager (and company) of the future is regularly discussed. By actively participating in such sparring sessions, by taking successful colleagues from other industries as an example and by gaining inspiration by becoming acquainted with the best practices of other front runners, both the individual manager and the management team can develop further. Chances are therefore that people are willing to benchmark against and exchange knowledge with other EFBQ participants.

The development of our management team is currently at a very high level

A management team that is already functioning at a high level has a shared vision for the future, works well together and manages to manage the organization proactively in constantly changing circumstances. The anticipatory capacity ensures that the steering is adjusted at the right moment and the shared vision ensures that the noses are heading in the same direction and that no islands can form. One must be careful not to rest too much on the laurels. Even when one is at the top, one can eventually be overtaken by advancing insights. Moreover, the demands placed on a well-functioning management team are constantly subject to change.

So one has to constantly wonder whether the role that the management team plays still fits in with the organization, with the environment and with the chosen strategic direction. For the benefit of the EFBQ Business Benchmark Group, companies and managers are constantly looking for who can add best practices and are willing to share them with colleagues from other industries. In general, experience shows that people are more willing to "bring" something if they can "get" something themselves. However, this requires that as a team and as an individual manager, despite the already high level, people are still open to continuous improvement and willing to be benchmarked on distinctive entrepreneurship.