MCIN

So by March 2006 we had 3 businesses streams identified. ICT services had started to market and sell its products, we had developed a business plan for Learn Net which was still doing the rounds and was almost complete by October 2006 although if we are honest it probably never will be finished. We started to trial the first ideas as to what the Web Connect product and services could be in March 2006. These trials identified that some things that we thought would sell well did not and other things appeared which we had not previously identified. The final list of products was created in April 2007 and still going through revisions. However, there were other challenges

Financial Information

This was an area we thought we really good at. Up to September 2005 we had operated as a project organisation and received grants. As such we were used to monitoring monies. We still have grant funding and still needed to monitor that way. However, as a result of the changes we needed to have more of an idea of how each of the business streams was doing and so needed to allocate each grant to the different streams. For example we may have one grant for 10k but 3k needs to go to Learn Net and 6k to Web Connect and 1k to Circuit Riders. How can we do this and at the same time be able to deal with audit trails and project monitoring reports? Working with the Community Accountancy Service and our project support manager we changed the way we managed the accounts. We allocated all staff and costs to each of the streams rather than producing budgets for the entire organisation which is what we used to do. This change was important as it allowed us to start costing out our products. Just after we completed this task my project support manager who was working on this and manages all our financial information decided to leave. This left me with a difficulty. Who would manage our finances in the futore? how could I ensure we don’t recruit someone and then they leave in 6 months? and what skills do we require as we develop? we decided that we needed more advanced financial skill’s.We realised that we already work with Community Accountancy Service who are a social enterprise specialising in accounts and finance for the charity and social enterprise sector. They already do our audits and payroll and have helped out on the cost allocation project. So they were a natural partner. We approached them to see if they would be interested in an outsource contract to manage all our finances. They agreed and also agreed to move in with us an added bonus. We know have access to 3 trained accountants and can even say we know have a finance director. Our level of financial information has improved and the board and staff have more confidence in that information. We are still trying to come up with a system for allocating grant funding to the different streams and is still proving a challenge. It appears to be possible to do but the question is how much work does it take to do.

Marketing

We recognised that MCIN’s marketing was poor. We were perceived as Manchester Community Information Network and closely identified with Manchester. This was a barrier to our developing beyond Manchester and into other Greater Manchester areas or even regionally or nationally. We had been talking about re-branding but were still thinking about what the new name was going to be and how this may effect the business stream development. So we did an interim re- brand to MCIN rather than Manchester Community Information Network. In true VCS tradition we went to a man we know who does graphics and to be fair had done good work with us in the past. He redid our logo and suggested a number of strap lines. He then disappeared and we struggled for 6 months to get the logo from him. However, we did re-brand in the end. Did it help ? Not really. People still associated us as MCIN a Manchester based organisation, we still needed to explain what MCIN was so had to say the full title anyway. It did however mean we had a more modern logo, new marketing material and a new web site. So something good came of it. However it did not resolve our fundamental problem. We needed a step change. As with allot of things once we identified the problem opportunities presented themselves.

We were approached by Greenhouse Creative who had been referred to us by Manchester City Council. They were a private sector marketing company who had limited experience in working with VCS organisations and social enterprise. Perfect. Just what we needed. Someone who knew nothing about the sector and could look at us with a fresh pair of eyes. We started working with them on our web site and a leaflet and found them very professional and very flexible. They had a great copy writing service, which really challenged us and helped refine our products and services. As a result of this work we made a decision that it would be best to work with one marketing company in order to increase there knowledge of the organisation and be able to support us in future marketing material. This was a sound choice and we are still working with them today. We are know exploring the whole issue of brand with them and they are providing us with invaluable advice.

Staffing

One of our biggest problem is finding someone to lead Web Connect and take it forward. We know we wanted someone who understands what we are trying to do and buy into our social objectives. We felt we needed a person who has passion but can translate that passion into achievement. We were fortunate with ICT services and also with Learn Net but am struggling to find anyone for Web Connect. We were reluctant to go out to recruitment as we did not have the confidence in our recruitment process that we would find someone at the right level. The other problem was we were not entirely sure we were clear about what it was we wanted. We thought we needed someone who is prepared to take a risk, someone to work with us to develop the common vision and challenge the way that we do things. We tried someone who was more of a project manager and unfortunately that did not work. Maybe we need more clarity of the job? maybe we have someone inside the organisation who has the correct skills? Do we need someone with social enterprise business experience? do we need someone who is more of an operations manager? and /or someone who has a good network of contacts that we can plug into. What’s interesting is that we did not have these difficulties with Learn Net and Circuit Riders. Is that because we have a clearer vision of what it is we are trying to do? So maybe the problem with Web Connect is not a staffing problem at all but actually a problem of lack of clarity of Web Connect.

Managing the Organisation, Managing Change and Letting go

Well the title says it all. The most difficult part of developing the organisation is letting go. Will the people who have the responsibility continue the vision? Will they develop the business streams? what’s the role of the director in this changing environment? The importance of having the right staff is key. The business development manager and operations manager for Learn Net have really risen to the challenge and developing the partnership in ways we have not thought about. In terms of ICT services or Circuit Riders as we know call it. The business development manger has also really risen to the challenge. New contact and new businesses is developing. Trust in both of these seems to have paid off. The director still keeps an eye and provides the strategic direction and the leadership so there has not really been any major change yet.

Survival and Support.

We realised that if we carried on with 17 staff then we were in danger of not being able to maintain the organisation. Fortunately a number of staff left and we did not replace them. But we were still to large. This lead us to unfortunately having to make a number of staff redundant as projects came to an end. But our costs were still to high.? we needed to move premises. Community Accountancy Service were know part of the organisation and the idea of shared premises was part of the deal for the outsource. This meant that costs for rent etc was less but still the cost for premises was to high. In addition, I was aware that we needed more support in order to develop. By support I mean that day to day support that you need. You know the sort of questions you can ask someone. Like, not quite sure about this, what do you think of that etc. The problem was there was no forum for us to explore these issues in. We had extensive networks and some very good people who were around but the problem was that they were to busy or looking inwardly at themselves, just trying to survive. So we needed to find someone who could offer us more support and also a place to rent that was cheaper than we have at the moment.

One of our partners in Learn Net was 4CT. They run the Grange Community Resource Centre and had a similar ethos and approach to us. They are also developing as social enterprise and have the same entrepreneurial spirit as us. We approached them to see if they had space and the answer was yes. We picked up our bags and along with CAS moved in October 2006. This move not only reduced our costs and improved the amount of support but also linked us up with a different network and gave us access to another organisation who could help us. We now chat regularly with 4CT and CAS and offer each other support.

Structure

These changes raise the question about what is the future of MCIN? what is its relationship to the 3 business strands? is there a role for the director as we develop the 3 strands and what is the relationship between the board and the strands? should we have 4 boards or keep it as one. Should we make changes now or wait? Should we worry about structure when we are still developing the stands? The board view is lets not make this a barrier. Lets continue to explore and investigate. The current structure is fit for propose for the moment. Maybe we just promote each of the strands and not promote MCIN as much. In terms of the role of the Director. The board feels and the chair in particular feels that there is clearly a role for someone to coordinate and develop the strands so the role is still important. The boards view is that they have no idea what the role will be in the future. So lets wait and see and in the meantime lets get on with it and see what happens.

Know that we are almost up to date. I think the next set of blogs will look at each of the business strands and talk more in depth about each.