Collective wisdom can be a powerful thing. Not only does it give multiple perspectives, but it can also bring the most talented people in their respective fields together to share knowledge and expertise, allowing companies to work more efficiently and effectively than ever before.
In today’s turbulent world, collaboration is often one of the best ways to achieve your goals. By combining their efforts, companies can bring new solutions to their clients or design strategies that help further their cause in new and exciting ways.
In this article, we’ll take a look at why we are collaborating with LIFT Ireland, the Agile Executive, Sandyford Business District and the Local Enterprise Office in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown to create innovative solutions that are changing the game in Sandyford, Dublin 18. Here’s how it works..
The FULL Programme
The FULL Programme is an exciting new economic development initiative by the Local Enterprise Office in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. This forward-thinking programme provides practical training in three critical areas. These are essential for your company’s long-term growth:
Mentoring in Financial Management
If you are one of the many business owners who lack the basic financial skills required to understand what is going on in their company, you are not alone. The Financial Understanding section of the program is designed for you, with the goal of providing long-term mentoring from a seasoned financial expert from the Agile Executive for one hour per week for up to six months.
Positive Culture Leadership
Empowerment, which comes from having a strong culture, is central to any growth, and this is where the second part of the full programme focuses. Lift Ireland uses a time-efficient and well-proven system to transform culture in local businesses.
Lean for Leaders
The third component of the program is our Lean For Leaders, which is aimed at senior management in companies with more than 30 employees. This programme introduces critical thinking at the leadership level into companies with the potential to transform their future.
Mentoring in Financial Management and Lean for Leaders are heavily subsidised by LEO DLR and further details can be found here.
“The FULL programme reflects the Council’s desire to make DLR, including Sandyford Business District a highly attractive place for business to locate and thrive. Any business that commits to upskilling on a FULL programme will quickly see real benefits. We are funding a suite of programmes that will elevate businesses in key areas in a highly time efficient manner.”
Siobhan Broughan, FULL Programme Manager, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
The Agile Executive
The Agile Executive was set up in 2019 and provides CFO (Chief Financial Officer) as a service to Small & Medium size businesses. In addition, they provide mentoring and training in finance, strategy, marketing, digitalisation and innovation. They work with Enterprise Ireland, InterTrade Ireland, Local Enterprise Offices throughout Ireland, Education & Training Boards, Solas, Small Firms Association (SFA), the Irish SME Association (ISME) and Skillnet.
Why your company should work with the Agile Executive?
- You will have access to an experienced Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to assist your business.
- This CFO is an external resource who examines your company’s financial processes from an objective point of view.
- Furthermore, this CFO carries out a review of your business plans.
- The Agile Executive provide financial coaching for business owners and management teams.
- In addition, they contribute to your business strategy.
- They will evaluate your company’s financial strength.
- As well as providing guidance on business financing, they also advise on what grants are available to you company.
- Planning for Financial Succession has become increasingly popular and the Agile Executive are able to provide their expertise in this area.
- Finally, this company is a seasoned sounding board with extensive finance and business knowledge.
Scaling Up
At 10 employees, many businesses can feel like a well-oiled machine. As you scale up, however, communication and project management strategies must evolve to accommodate hundreds of new players—no matter their roles. Finding effective solutions to these dilemmas is essential to keeping your business running smoothly while adding more pieces to your puzzle. Scaling up a business is something that the Agile Executive do very well.
First of all, they look at your company’s background, vision and mission. Next, they gain a clear understanding of your business goals and agree what business owners would like to achieve from their mentoring process.
After assessing your goals and your particular situation, they develop plans to achieve these goals. It is at this stage that they advise how your understanding of your financial performance can have a strong impact on your financial capability to scale up.
Finally, the team work with you to evaluate your capability and any gaps in your team’s financial understanding. By understanding your key drivers, they help you to identify and track relevant KPI’s to help drive your company forward.
LIFT Ireland
LIFT Ireland is a social enterprise dedicated to increasing positive leadership in Ireland. The movement was founded in late 2017 and officially launched in May 2018 at LIFT OFF, an inaugural event attended by some of Ireland’s most prominent leaders in business, arts, education, and sport.
LIFT, which stands for ‘Leading Ireland’s Future Together,’ was founded on a desire to improve the country by changing people’s perceptions of leadership. It intends to accomplish this through an eight-part group learning process. LIFT’s program is being implemented nationwide through a volunteer facilitator network, with the goal of reaching 10% of the population by 2028.
LIFT Ireland was founded by Joanne Hession, a leadership expert, along with her brother, David Hession, and Sonya Lennon of Dress for Success Dublin. LIFT is also supported by an outstanding advisory board comprised of some of Ireland’s most influential community representatives and business leaders.
LIFT’s journey to reach 10% of Ireland’s population with leadership value training began with 23 Founding Partners. Each of our Founding Partners committed to LIFT, to participate in the learning process, and to facilitate further discussion on the value of positive leadership within their entire organisation.
Why your company should work with LIFT?
- LIFT provides a clear understanding of Good Leadership.
- This training is a process for both professional and personal Development. 88% of participants experienced real positive change that improved their personal and professional development.
- Furthermore, LIFT connects teams and builds trust, which is critical to attracting and retaining staff.
- LIFT encourages everyone to take accountability for their work and behaviour.
- This programme is for everyone in your organisation, from entry level to MD/CEO.
- Finally, LIFT participants approach problems in a creative, solution-oriented manner.
ETAC Solutions
ETAC Solutions was set up in 2006 to provide automated solutions to organisations burdened by unnecessary paperwork. Our plan was to apply workflow tracking knowledge from our engineering and electronics backgrounds to new industry sectors.
Our goal is to engage and develop your staff’s capability to improve your operational processes. We work as a team to meet the needs of our customers and to assist businesses in growing and succeeding.
Lean for Leaders
Do you frequently feel overburdened as a business leader? Finding the time and energy to focus on your personal well-being can be difficult, but it is critical.
You will learn tools and techniques from the ground-breaking “Lean” movement that will help you lead better and save time in our Lean for Leaders program. You will go through an organisational situation simulation, complete assignments with practical application in your business, and receive 1:1 mentoring from industry experts.
Lean Leadership is designed for leaders and senior decision makers. The programme focuses on the role of the leadership team in the business approach.
Our Lean business simulation provides an understanding of Lean Tools. The Shingo Model serves as a framework for the role of leader. This begins with a clear business direction that can be translated into meaningful and measurable goals for your business.
Why your company should work with ETAC Solutions?
- Provides a model for a sustainable culture of organisational excellence.
- A practical introduction to Lean Principles and tools to enable a Lean culture.
- Build a Lean Culture in your organisation.
- Develop and put into action effective leadership strategies.
- Align your organisation’s work and behaviours with the company’s vision.
- Visually communicate your organisation’s goals.
- Build the processes and people in your business.
- Achieve better staff engagement and increase employee morale.
- Develop the skills required to boost your team’s work productivity.
- Assist you in reducing employee turnover.
- Build a strong and united team.
- Analyses case studies of best practice.
Each participant will define their role in the lean approach and how it differs from traditional management styles.
The overarching goal is to build capability and capacity within your organisation, and we will investigate the challenges and potential solutions to achieve employee engagement.
You may also be interesting in listening to Eilish Henry talk about Lean Leadership at the Dublin Lean Network webinar in January 2022.
“Sandyford Business District is delighted to be supporting the FULL programme in collaboration with LEO DLR, ETAC Solutions, LIFT and Agile Executive.
We look forward to rolling the FULL programme out across the district to help give companies, large and small, practical training in increased Financial Understanding, Lean Thinking and Leadership for a positive culture to ensure sustainable long-term growth.”
Niamh Egan, Business Development Manager, Sandyford Business District
Conclusion
Do you want to ensure your organisation is able to reach its full potential? To compete and grow even during uncertain times? To be able to build strong teams and achieve excellence?
Training your team on financial management, culture leadership, and lean management can give your company a competitive edge. Join our FULL Programme today to equip your employees with the skills they need to propel your company forward. All details can be found here
You may also be interested in reading about How to Foster Innovation in a Lean Organisation and Why Every Business needs a Strong Lean Culture All our blogs are available to read here. Please connect with us on Linkedin and Twitter