A ‘dashboard’ to gauge performance, aid in growth

Most people couldn’t imagine driving their cars without a dashboard filled with gauges that tell them how fast they are going, how much fuel they have and other key metrics. But that is exactly what Anthony Gemma, president of Lincoln-based Gem Plumbing & Heating Co., said many business owners are doing.
They are behind the “wheel” of their companies and “driving” them without real-time measurements of key indicators that show them how finance, operations, customer service, human resources/work force and systems/supplies are performing.
For the past six years, Gemma and his staff have been developing a patented GEM FOCUS 500 Dashboard, and he recently partnered with the R.I. Small Business Development Center to launch the software tool along with comprehensive business development program for 12 companies that met specific requirements.
The participants had to have a healthy balance sheet and annual sales revenue of $2 million or more, and not be in competition with other companies involved. They also must be positioned for growth, with a management team that is passionate about seeking better measurement and management systems.
The reason for all the requirements is because the selected 12 will be the focus group for the program. And if the program succeeds in helping them grow their businesses, it will be rolled out on a grander scale.
The objective of FOCUS 500 is to create 500 growth companies in Rhode Island that will hopefully add jobs, Gemma said, which would benefit the state’s economy.
The idea is that “a rising tide raises all boats,” he added.
John Cronin, executive director of the RISBDC, hopes the program will develop into an active FOCUS 500 Growth Club for business owners and managers to share best practices that will provide a competitive advantage for their business.
Peer-to-peer advising sessions are the last step of the seven-tiered FOCUS 500 program.
The first step is a 150-page assessment of the company, Gemma said. The assessment will be based on surveys answered by a sample of stakeholders and employees. It is modeled after those used by the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Program, a national program that awards companies and nonprofits for performance excellence.
The next step will be identifying gaps, or areas that need improvement. That’s when companies will participate in an all-day workshop with a FOCUS “pit crew” from Gem, focusing on the five key indicators that will be present on the companies’ individual dashboards.
In addition, the companies will have access to a resource team from the SBDC to include Johnson & Wales University students, supervised by a professor, who will conduct market research, marketing plans, branding and Web site development, or whatever is needed.
“Hopefully those students will become employees of the growth companies,” Cronin said.
The companies will receive specialized consultants as well for specific areas of need.
“They will get 15 to 22 people to work on their company,” Gemma said.
After assessment, gap analysis, strategic planning and special project management, the companies will be ready for GEM FOCUS 500 Dashboard Training. The dashboard is software that provides a visual representation of how the company is performing based on measurements of the various indicators.
It is color-coded, Gemma said, so that an executive or manager can see which area needs help and focus on that area instead of wasting time on other areas. Green means good performance. Red means poor performance. And yellow is in between.
The software also allows the business owner to click on an area that isn’t performing well and drill down to the source of the problem, Gemma said.
The next step is execution of the dashboard, and then monthly peer-to-peer sessions for which each member signs a confidentiality agreement.
The cost of the program is $20,000, but Cronin believes the participating companies will receive a return that’s tenfold or more.
Gemma said he wanted to partner with the public sector so that they could implement the program faster. Improving the economy is “not a private problem, and it’s not a public problem,” he said. It’s both.
“The public sector can use this [FOCUS 500] model,” he added. “Cities and towns can embrace this process.” •