• Making It
• Flogging It
• Counting the Beans
“Making It, Flogging It, Counting the Beans” – Operations, Sales and Administration. These must each be directed and managed, and coordinated together. In my stories you will find examples of how these bases are covered in many businesses. Despite the proliferation of fancy job titles in modern times that can obscure purpose and accountability, everything in your business is covered – completely – by making it, flogging it and counting the beans.
Some common ripostes… “What about the transport manager?” or “What about HR?” Depending on the role transport plays in your business, the transport manager is either in Operations (Making It) or Administration (Counting the Beans). The same is true for HR.
At Board level – and there may be just two of you – accountability for all three pillars has to be assigned. Joint responsibility is the same as no responsibility so one of you will hold two of the pillars. In larger businesses the pillars are commonly divided – there could be a Sales Director and a Marketing Director (Flogging It), a Technical Director and an Operations Director (Making It) or a Facilities Director and a Finance Director (Counting the Beans).
Another permutation is that the Managing Director may also be the acting Sales Director, or the acting Operations Director or indeed the acting Finance Director. The reasons for forcing the clarity become more apparent the more you endeavour to grow; failing to address this issue can leave pillars ineffectively directed.