About

This practical two day course provides participants with new perspectives on how business principles can be used by public sector agencies. Participants are guided through a framework using real life examples with opportunities to apply business principles to their department. The course is useful to anyone who wants to develop their knowledge and use of commercial business principles as well as methods to deliver improved efficiency, effectiveness and value for money through improved policy making and improved service delivery

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS COURSE:
• General Managers
• Principal Policy Advisors
• Senior Policy Advisors
• Policy Advisors
• Policy Analysts
• Business Analysts
• Business Unit Managers

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course participants will:
• Understand the current context and how to respond to government priorities, departmental drivers and the current fiscal position
• Improve departmental value for money
• Create best value service delivery: Segmenting and differentiating services to ensure outputs deliver desired outcomes
• Reprioritise resources and align baselines having identified what you would do if this was your business?
• Adopt commercial methods in your department to deliver services that people want and are willing to pay for
• Implement sustainable techniques for improving efficiency, effectiveness and utilisation of resources

Outline

Implementing business acumen in government agencies

Understanding context:
• Current government priorities fiscal outlook and drivers for economic transformation
• Creating Value: What are we doing? What are we not doing? How to segment/ differentiate services to create value

Maximising funding sources
• Understanding current funding formulas and identifying opportunities and risks associated with new funding sources
• Business-like thinking: What would you do differently if this was your business? What is the opportunity cost?

Continuous Improvement         
• Sustainable techniques for improving efficiency, effectiveness and utilisation of resources

Adaptation: How to adapt current practices and bring it all together
• Evidential reporting: Proving the value of policy and operational changes, pre and post measures of financial/ economic impacts of realigned proposals on outputs and outcomes

The five steps for applying business acumen in the state sector

Business acumen step 1: Understand the current context
• The current context shield for creating value for money

Business acumen step 2: Imagine this is your business
• Establish and maintain your point of difference
• Analyse customers
• React quickly to changes in the marketplace
• Analysis tools for decision making
• Marketing campaigns

Business acumen step 3: Achieve best value service delivery
• What do we mean by best value service delivery?
• What business are we in?
• How should services be delivered?
• What is driving your business?

Business acumen step 4: Make sustainable efficiency gains
• Service delivery - internal improvements
• Service delivery - synergies from third parties
• Identifying new and better ways
• Identifying procurement options
• Making good trade offs

Business acumen step 5: Prove the value of realigned policies and operations
• Reviewing your current business measures
• Establishing the role of business measurement
• Introduction to financial decision making tools
• Cost benefit analysis
• Ensuring costs are fully costed
• Ensuring benefits are realistic
• Net present value modelling
• The time value of money
• Calculating net present value
• The economic modelling shield
• Measure outcomes
• Manage risk
• Analyse options
• Limitations of economic modelling

Facilitator

Kevin Lee, Director, Business Skills Training

Kevin Lee BA (Hons), Pg Dip, MBA, ACMA runs a consultancy for business skills development.  He is a Chartered Management Accountant with 20 years experience of Government Agencies, Corporates and SME’s.  Kevin is a member of the New Zealand Association for Training and Development, the Human Resources Institute for New Zealand and accredited as a Belbin Team Role facilitator.  His post-graduate qualifications include a post-graduate diploma in business administration with distinction and an MBA in which he majored in finance.  

Kevin specialises in helping managers and staff to develop practical financial skills and knowledge.  He is passionate about making finance relevant, understandable and fun.  He enables people to develop their business acumen and to apply financial management practices that suit their organisation’s needs and circumstances. 

Kevin’s clients include: Ministry of Justice, Department of Internal Affairs, ANZ National Bank, Meridian Energy, Auckland District Health Board and Auckland City Council.   

Kevin’s approach is highly practical, using only the financial theory that people need to know, and then building skills and knowledge through case studies, examples and small group work.  He is able to provide “real life” advice based on his experience in CFO roles and his experience of managing major Capex projects, implementing financial systems, improving financial processes and procedures and achieving ongoing efficiency savings.   

Kevin’s passion, enthusiasm and commitment result in excellent feedback from participants at all levels: Directors, General Managers, Accountants, Senior Managers, Middle Managers, Supervisors and Support Staff.     

Kevin Lee is also facilitating:

• Budgeting and Cost Control for Non Financial Managers
• Cash Flow and Liquidity Management for improved performance
• Effectively Managing & Organising Accounts Payable
• Effectively Managing and Organising Accounts Payable
• Essential Finance Skills for EAs, PAs & Administrators
• Finance & Accounting Skills for Managers in the Health Sector
• Financial Machinery of Government
• Managing Credit, Accounts Receivable and Debt Recovery
• Managing the Numbers: The Financial Skills for Non Financial Managers
• Practical Budgeting and Forecasting
• The Effective Accounts Assistant

In-house Training