It might be convenient to tell yourself it will all be OK, but if you don’t have the appropriate resources – it never ends well.
Principle #5: Appropriate Resources is a quality principle.
Your architectural/design practice needs to provide all the appropriate resources required to adequately deliver your services and ensure the practice’s commercial sustainability for the long term.
You don’t want to realise (when it’s too late), that your practice IS in a commercial gun fight! Because if you are inappropriately resourced, all the talking, pretty diagrams and good intentions ‘can’t turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse.’
You need to have your appropriate resources aligned, integrated and operational – ready to go and capable of being scaled up (or down).
Appropriate resources are the resources that are most suitable for the circumstances, so it may not need to be the best or most expensive, they should simply provide the optimum performance. Your commit to resources is more about value for performance
Unlike your Core Values, which draw a line in the sand you aren’t willing to cross, your business and quality principles are more aligned with Captain Barbossa’s explanation in Pirates of the Caribbean ‘there more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules.’
Appropriate Resources is a quality principle you should formally adopt.
Your resources can be grouped into the following:
- Human Resources (competent personnel with the appropriate education, training, skills & experience).
- Infrastructure including;
- Buildings, workspace and associated facilities & utilities.
- Process equipment (scanners, 3D-printers, etc),
- Supporting services (office administration, etc) NB: As financial resources are mission critical to your practice, they are controlled through a dedicated ON-business fundamental function – Financial Management.
- IT – Information technology and communications including:
- Hardware
- Software
- Knowledge including data, records, files, libraries, reference material, materials, etc.
Resources Management is one of your 7 ON-Business fundamentals.
It generates most of the practice’s expenses, in the form of salaries, wages, rent, utilities, communications, IT and other essential consumables.
Resources Management is responsible for matching and managing all resource performance through both the effectiveness and efficiency of all resources to be integrated to maximise the practice’s potential performance.
Covid has forced many practices to pivot (are we sick of this buzzword yet?) to allow/improve WFH and/or the hybrid workplace, Your Resource Management function is responsible for making this possible.
Often, this is an area that evolves without a plan, driven by on-demand necessity rather than strategy. Actions are taken in isolation – with limited (or no) integration, creating competing functions with overlapping (or unidentified) responsibilities.
Your Next Level Programme provides a means to review what you currently have in place for Resources Management, assessing both its strengths and weaknesses in performance. Then define and implement a prioritised action plan to improve that performance within your constraints of time and funds.
Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.
This is one of the key principles that are integral to your Quality Management Systems.
So you can step-up to your Next Level and expand your project-passion into Sustainable Prosperity, transforming your striving into thriving.
