Welcome to the who, why, what, how… of On-Course Business Advisors.
The Who
We are a team of professionals who live and breathe process, analytics and alignment with a passion for delivering the right growth for your business
Michael Nolan
Principal Consultant
BA Comb Hons (Exeter, UK), DipLaw, Dip CoL (College of Law, UK), MBA (AGSM), GAICD
Now based back at home in Sydney, Michael has lived and worked in a couple of places around the world. His career started in food retail (Waitrose, Franklins), then hardware retailing (Bunnings), moving over to the supplier side with a couple of building materials manufacturers (CSR, ParexDavco), and finally a stint in sports admin/marketing (Yachting Australia), before deciding to found On-Course 10 years ago. Since then he has consulted back into the building industry for a number of different large and smaller players, as well as 4-5 years working in private health insurance funds and their clinics, and working with some innovative start-ups in various sectors. Outside of work sailing in boats of all sizes has been a large part of his life, from mucking around in dinghies with his daughters, to racing at National and World Championships (that is him on the "why" page at the Sydney FD Worlds), to a few Sydney to Hobart campaigns on flat-out racing yachts (3 of them on the boat in the picture).
Matthew Moore
Consultant
BA Management & Information Systems, Canberra
Matthew is a senior business leader with a track record of success over 25 years in the health, consulting, information technology and financial services sectors. He has operated successfully at CEO level with significant experience in initiating turnarounds and improving business performance, with strong leadership, commercial acumen and stakeholder management skills. He has been involved in leading and developing strategic and corporate plans across a wide range of organisations and has experience in developing and leading start-ups within the healthcare sector. Alongside this he has experience discussing various sector and business issues with Government Ministers and other Parliamentarians, he has prepared and / or overseen submissions to Government and various agencies and inquiries; as well as liaising with policy makers within PM&C, Treasury, Health and Human Services on policy and legislative change. He has always had a very strong focus on all aspects of IT and its applications in supporting various business initiatives and objectives. More recently Matthew has completed working on a major IT change programme with the Insurance Commission of WA, as well as helping out with some work back into PHI, and financial services. Once again as he leaves the office he generally heads to the water and competes regularly at National and World Championships in FD's (he is the other one in the boat on the "Why" page).
Steve Woods
Consultant
Grad RMC Duntroon, MBus - International Business(Wollongong)
Born in Wollongong, and gainfully employed from 12 years of age, Steve has traversed many and varied roads, careers, as well as “side hustles”, with experience and skills spanning Adult Education, Training, Electronics, Retail, Recruitment, Business Development, Sales, Logistics, and Operations Management as well as really really heavy vehicle operations.
Having served at her Majesty’s pleasure for over a decade, Steve left the rigour and structure of the Defence Forces to pursue his dream of business ownership. And that’s when things really started to get interesting.
Eventually in 2008 Steve started a successful small business providing bespoke Voice Data Internet and Cloud systems integration services aimed at helping other small businesses leverage the power of technology to improve their competitiveness in a rapidly changing world.
So with 10 years invested, over $10Mil in revenue generated from a lot of blood sweat and tears – and 10,023 invoices raised (as at 1 July 19) it’s time to pass on some of the valuable knowledge and experience gained. Particularly in the often forgotten category of what NOT TO DO – Never Ever Ever!
Alongisde many years at the school of “hard knocks”, Steve holds a Master’s Degree in International Business, has advanced Diplomas in a range of disciplines and successfully graduated from the Royal Military College Duntroon. More recently though, Steve has passed all certification requirements as a “Lego Serious Play” facilitator – and is looking forward to pursuing the many opportunities this will bring.
When not busy building advanced Lego models with his two young daughters, or taking them to dance, martial arts, netball and footy, he can often be spotted bush bashing his dirt bike or cruising the streets on ‘Fat Bob’ his prized Harley Davidson.
Associates
We also have 2-3 regular consultants available to assist in projects as required, they all have very strong strategy backgrounds, and experience in marketing (copy-writing, design), sales, business development, engineering and IT/digital.
The Why
Mucking around in boats...
We spend a lot of time on the water mucking around in boats. One thing that is obvious in trying to get a boat to its destination at the right time is that there are numerous external influences that will make it hard, throw you off course, introduce new challenges, possibly even sink it. However the biggest impediment to arriving at your destination is one you can control – the people in the boat, and the equipment you take with you.
If the person on the helm knows where they are going, but the crew doesn’t, then they will not trim the sails to achieve the right course, and no amount of great steering will help.
Potentially even more challenging is when the person on the helm is also unclear on where they are going, or even just the best route to take, then the crew has no idea how to help and get the boat to its destination safely and in good shape.
If your “equipment” (brand, structure, processes, IT, products etc.) is faulty, or not up to the journey you are on, then even great crew work is rarely going to lead to those awesome results we are often chasing.
On-Course is about helping the helm and the crew work together to identify what the right direction is and get your boat heading that way, with the right amount of sail for the conditions.
The What
How can we help you?
From a functional perspective we can work directly with your teams at any level from the C-Team to the front line staff. This can be as one-off projects to deliver a specific improvement, or ongoing reviews and mentoring. Some ideas of how you might best use us:
Facilitate strategy workshops
Facilitate sales and marketing review meetings
Review internal processes – with recommendations for improvement
Full business strategic reviews
Pricing reviews
Customer reviews – either directly with customers, or pure data analysis
Marketing reviews – at all levels with all print, media, digital, service assets and how well they link together
Sales reviews – call planning, call effectiveness, appropriate target setting
Systems reviews – are your systems helping or hindering your growth plans
Ongoing business consultants – a sounding board, with regular reviews to ensure progress to plans
Mentoring – at all levels, from one-off engagements to regular monthly catch-ups
The How
No surprises...
We follow the best practice frameworks for strategy review and development. With a broad commercial background in the team, as well as a weight of letters after names displaying the dedication to ongoing education we select the most relevant models to use for your individual business - and explain everything in plain English, based on data, with measurable results focussed objectives.
In outline we:
Frame – uncover the issues, decide upon a clear brief of which issues are to be focussed on
Analyse – we collect as much data (internal & external) as we can, then generate hypotheses
Synthesise – in discussions with key stakeholders we establish which hypotheses are realistic options and evaluate them
Recommend – we confirm the feasibility including financial modelling of those options, assess risks and recommend for implementation
Implement – we can assist you with ensuring that the recommendations are implemented effectively
Measure – we then measure the results with you, to ensure that what we intended to get is actually happening