This was the first book I read during lockdown and it completely changed my perspective for SMEs. I feel there’s a real challenge between those who advise to just ‘do’. Just get going, even if it’s small steps, even if you’re not really sure how, just move forward. And then there’s those who advise not to start until you have all your ducks in a row. Well we didn’t even have ducks three years ago. And if we did, they most certainly weren’t in a row. I saw something recently about squirrels at a rave which I think more adequately sums up the way my mind works!

So, get everything perfect first, or just go for it? I think, like with most things, the key is balance. We definitely started working before we really knew how it would work and without any real SOPs in place but it worked, and is working. Lockdown forced us to slow down and take time to reflect which none of us do enough. Taking time to read this book has been really eye opening. Whilst it does advise to dot the i’s and cross the t’s (which we still haven’t done three years later), it did completely challenge my traditional, corporate perception of the positions we hold in our own businesses and the roles we fulfil until we grow enough to recruit employees (if we choose to).

I certainly prefer the idea of ‘position contracts’ instead of job descriptions. I did a lot of work in a past life researching talent and job descriptions and had been trying to move away from them for some time. The psychological contract we hold with our staff needs far more exploration than a list of tasks that we may, or may not, be held accountable for.

So all in all, I will certainly be working on implementing some of the things I’ve learnt from The E Myth into our business over the next few months, and beyond.

Emma McCluskey

2nd July 2020