Disruptions and crises are part of entrepreneurship

One challenge for companies is dealing with unexpected events that are difficult to predict - both internally and externally.

We had to experience this with Corona and the Ukraine war. But even everyday things can lead to difficult situations: When an employment relationship is terminated, it is possible to react in terms of the notice period, in the form of a new hire or reorganization of the work. But what happens when two or three people resign at the same time and sick leave is added?

In such situations, good quality management provides a set of tools that enables the most objective and rapid orientation possible for important and sometimes existential decisions. In our case it is the monthly creation of a management report.

Management Report

What exactly is behind this influential document? Each department regularly provides a one- to two-page summary of predefined data and key figures. The total length is about 15 pages. The data entry process is partially automated. This means that the compilers work directly into the report. There is no sending of Excel files back and forth and no manual typing of figures. This is important in order to use the data quickly and efficiently. In addition, timeliness is a prerequisite to ensure comparability - a must when it comes to interpreting trends over a longer period of time. Our management analyzes and interprets the data accordingly.

Since each department provides data, the report is meaningful in all respects: liquid funds, machine utilization, warehouse capacity, personnel situation, sales by customer and business area for prioritization, material usage, productivity and, of course, profit, to name exemplary contents.

Endurance test passed

The advantage of our method is that decisions can be made on the basis of facts. It is true that an experienced manager is very often right, even without a management report. Experience and intuition are still a competitive advantage. But the subjective review of the past can be distorted without reliable figures. That is human, but should be taken into account when it comes to assessing opportunities and risks. And what happens when responsibility is passed on to a younger generation or the management itself suddenly drops out?

The past two years have been a real endurance test for our resilience. Our management report played a major role in ensuring that we came through the crises in good shape. Without our data, some decisions would have turned out differently. That's why we are continuing to develop the Management Report as a tool. On the one hand, at the content level, and on the other, we are improving the training and integration of personnel in decision-relevant processes. After all, any data basis is only as good as the people who create it.