The UK's Liveliest Small Business Newsletter
Old archive | New site
|
|
Brick No134: A bad way to deal with change
By Matt Weston, Thursday 3 March 2005 Some body Some body put me in a bad mood this week. In fact, it was several bodies: the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). On Monday, the Government announced plans to extend maternity and paternity rights. The plan is to up paid maternity leave from six months to nine. And, after the first three months, it could be the pa, not the ma who chooses to become the paid daytime carer. Once the new regs have kicked-in (2007), there are plans to move from nine months to a full year (2010). I'm not nailing any political colours to the mast by saying this, but I happen to agree with the move. It's pro-family legislation, a move towards the Scandinavian model. And many small businesses, mine included, involve, include or affect families. But change like this starts the lobbying merry-go-round, AKA a chance for the FSB, BCC, and the CBI to air their dark clouds, get publicity in the Daily Hell, add more members, and pay for more lobbying. It works like this: the mouthpiece that gives the bleakest soundbite gets the best coverage. This time it was a dead- heat between David Frost, director general of the BCC, and John Cridland, deputy director-general of the CBI. Oh, and somebody called Sylvia Tidy-Harris. IMHO, (1) This makes like small business owners are all anti- change, anti-family, selfish, and vulnerable. It paints you and me in completely the wrong light. (2) Paying some body to employ an official mouthpiece to lobby against change is a bad way to deal with change. You may or may not agree with me about the politics of maternity and paternity rights. But that's not really the issue today. I understand why some small business owners might want the FSB et al to give them a collective voice. Nobody could be more in favour of small business owners acting collectively than me. But I question whether the right way to do this is to employ mouthpieces to lobby the Government on our behalf. My take on acting collectively is that we should club together, share ideas and pool projects. (See today's Bric-A-Brac.) At least in this instance, the only voice I hear is anti-change. And, again IMHO, that says more about the institutions, federations, and confederations than the small businesses they represent. It speaks of change as a threat. It doesn't speak of the wider benefit to families, or the opportunity. It doesn't speak for me. Bric-A-Brac (1) Have just updated the list of Reader Meet-Ups for March. See the homepage for upcoming dates, like Coventry, Clapham, Lancaster, Glasgow, Liverpool and Nottingham. Or check the meet-ups page for the full-list. (2) I've written a piece on the importance of networking in the latest issue of Barclays' Talk Business magazine. They've printed up 150,000 copies. And it's the cover story. In a Barclays branch near you . . . (3) Am still sifting through the ideas (and jokes, Tim G), I received in reply to the last Brick, "Fixing The Film Shop". It was really just an exercise to show how much small business owners can help other small business owners . . . "If you're anything like me, you can't walk into a shop without trying to figure out how it could make more money." I'll post the best next week. Remember to sign up: back to top |
|
|
Link to us | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | ©2005 Business Bricks Ltd
Designed by Mint Digital