9:31am Tuesday 5th January 2010
By Richard Garfield
CASH is king for Tadley- based Elgood Effective Learning.
The company, run by training specialist Christine Elgood has just launched a new cash man agement game called Liquidity.
Christine said that cash is the lifeblood of any business, but it would seem not everyone under stands how important cash is to the survival of their business and it is dangerous to ignore this vital resource.
She said: “More businesses go bankrupt because of cash than anything else. Even companies which are otherwise profitable cannot pay wages without cash resources, let alone creditors, rent, PAYE and VAT bills, so it’s vital that everyone appreciates the role they can play in suc cessful cash management.”
According to Christine, when the last downturn came to an end, the most successful busi nesses were those that held more cash on their balance sheet than their competitors.
Her business, based in West Street, has developed Liquidity to drive home the message to help businesses avoid falling into the cash-poor trap.
“Cash is the oxygen that enables your business to survive and grow,’ said Christine. “So we’ve developed our new Liquidity game to meet a real need, stressing that every single employee has a role to play in saving or raising cash.”
Liquidity pits teams of players against each other to see who can achieve the largest cash reserves, in the form of Liquidity banknotes.
“Players are divided into teams which trade as fictitious businesses,” explained Christine. “These compete against each other under time pressure to work out the best cash–raising strategy. For exam ple, will they choose to increase prices, sublet unused space in their premises, or sell their shares?
“As the game progresses, they will either gain or lose cash from their reserves, depending on the wisdom of their choices.
“It’s a real case of learning by doing, and decisions tend to become more effective as the players become more and more immersed in trying to win!”
Taking around an hour-and-a- half to play, the game is ideal for teams of three to four members.
“It’s a fun way of delivering a serious message,” said Christine. “And the message is without doubt one which every business owner needs to be com municating in the current cli mate.
“In my experience, it is all too common for management to come in for serious criticism and for staff morale to take a dive when employees don’t grasp how dangerous a shortage of cash is.
“We think Liquidity is meet ing a real and pressing need.
The game is pitched so that everyone can play a role, regard less of their position in the com pany, and as well as gaining experience in cash manage ment, players will also work on their planning and decision- making skills.”
For more information about Liquidity, visit chris-elgood.
co.uk.
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