The parallels between business and Team GB’s gold medal winning cycling team was the subject of the latest Boosting Business event in Derby.
Adrian Blount, business development director at Baldwins accountants which has offices across the Midlands, was one of the guest speakers at the quarterly event at The Derbyshire Hotel in South Normanton.
He highlighted the vital importance of businesses – just like Team GB’s cycling team under Sir David Brailsford’s guidance – of finding small gains across a wide array of areas to run more efficiently and smoothly, leading to a more cost-effective operation.
The 60-strong audience heard from Adrian that even in the current economic climate, there are measures which can be introduced to improve each organisation – following in the footsteps of Team GB’s cycling guru.
Adrian said one of the secrets to the cycling team’s success in world competitions is the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ which can also be applied to business.
“Put simply it is finding the little things that can be improved that when added together can result in a big gain – like winning gold medals and breaking world records,” he said.
“In its most simplistic terms finding 10 one per cent gains in a business’s performance will lead to an overall 10 per cent gain in performance.
“In cycling; a world where differences are often measured in 100s or 1000s of a second small gains are the difference between securing a gold medal or finishing with nothing.
“In the business world this is about attention to detail and relates to things like watching the pennies because the aggregation of marginal gains is all about the little differences we make that add up.
“That can be achieved through ensuring the business receives regular management information, the quality of analysis undertaken and having an objective questioning system in place because at Baldwins, this is what we have started to do with our clients by re-configuring our management reporting packs to provide a more detailed analysis of each business which is easier to analyse and we can also attend quarterly management meetings to ensure the necessary objective questions are being asked.
“Team GB cycling has enjoyed unparalleled success since introducing this system and there is no reason why businesses in Derbyshire can’t also notice a marked difference in their profit margins by adopting a similar philosophy.”
