4 Insights from Mark Zuckerberg that can help your business
Whilst price rises have broadly increased across the spectrum of products and services SME’s provide, the reality is that the true cost of inflation is almost certainly higher than CPI and as such has created margin pressures that affect the bottom line, cashflow and true financial health of your company.
Whilst SME’s have typically been prudent in managing the hire of new staff and cultivating their internal culture their certainly are lessons that can be learnt from the recent tech layoff’s of 2022/23.
In Mark Zuckerburgs most recent letter to META employees he speaks openly about their year of focussed efficiency. From this, here are 4 insights businesses of all sizes can learn from;
“Since we reduced our workforce last year, one surprising result is that many things have gone faster”
Whether it’s the fear of job security or removing the layers of process and management Mark Zuckerburg states “A leaner organisation will execute it’s highest priorities faster”.
At a time of decreased efficiency, growing financial performance concerns and necessary change SME’s do not have the time to be slow and cumbersome.
Instead, focus on efficiency and being responsive. Create a flatter organisation with executives and managers focussing more on deliverables that contribute to change rather than managing reports and layers of staff.
2. In-person time helps build relationships and get more done
“Our early analysis of performance data suggests that engineers who either joined Meta in-person and then transferred to remote or remained in-person performed better on average than people who joined remotely. This analysis also shows that engineers earlier in their career perform better on average when they work in-person with teammates at least three days a week”.
Whilst there is no doubt that covid has changed how we work and that ‘some’ people work better than others at home, there’s no doubt that teams work better when they’re together.
Whether it’s the synergy of bouncing ideas across the room, the camaraderie that comes from a shared purpose or the accountability and trust that comes from working around your peers and management. As an SME, when times get tough you want your team closer and in the same environment to drive change.
3. Profitability enables innovation
Operating your business more efficiently gives you the resources and confidence to achieve your long term vision. It allows you to attract top-tier talent and it allows you to invest in growing your business when others are fearful.
Mark talks about this eloquently as he talks about the new financial paradigm we may be entering;
“At this point, I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years. Higher interest rates lead to the economy running leaner, more geopolitical instability leads to more volatility, and increased regulation leads to slower growth and increased costs of innovation…
In the face of this new reality, most companies will scale back their long term vision and investments. But we have the opportunity to be bolder and make decisions that other companies can’t”
As an SME, many businesses have been run as lifestyle businesses, with an inefficient finance and accounting function and with staff that have never truly been through an efficiency change. Whilst you may not have the urge or desire to build a war chest to invest in your long term vision, now is the time to be bold or you may fall asleep at the wheel during this new financial environment.
4. Every company has accumulated bad habits over the past few years
Regardless of your size, what we can all glean from Mark’s candid memo on efficiency is that all businesses and people go through periods of inefficiency. Whether it’s our innate nature to go through periods of feast and famine or the inherent greed built into our capitalist economy, humans and businesses occasionally need to reboot and rewire.
Whether that’s looking at inefficient managing structures, contracts or cost controls the process should be seen as energising and pivotal. However, any organisational change is bound to cause uncertainty, therefore, managing that uncertainty with a clear long term vision is what’s needed to steady the ship and have everyone sailing towards one common goal.
