By Alistair McIntosh, HQN CEO

“Amateurs talk about strategy, but professionals focus on logistics.” Now, that’s quite a statement! Who said it, and why?

Well, the person that coined the phrase is a troubleshooter who’s led on high-profile corporate turnarounds, and burials. He’d seen and heard every grand strategy under the sun. But the proselytisers hadn’t a clue about how to put in place the people and systems to turn their fine words into action. That means he has no shortage of work.

I wonder if it’s an iron law of human nature that those of questionable ability espouse the grandest plans. It’s at the heart of the Only Fools and Horses gag when Del Boy says – “This time next year we will be millionaires.”

Of course, we get the mismatch between dazzling strategy and duff execution in housing too. Or grand piano and kippers for tea syndrome. So, why does this happen?

When things are going well it’s easy to imagine the pattern will carry on. A strategy written in times of cheap loans, index linked rents and booming sales won’t cut it today, will it? All too often leaders are slow to adjust to reality.

In times of plenty it makes sense to put the strategy horse before the logistics cart. You can pick and choose what you want to do.

But in days like these the cart quite literally has to come before the horse. Can you get the staff and materials to fix the homes you own, never mind building new ones or exploring new ventures? That’s the name of the game right now.

And it’s the basic failure to do what is says on the tin that’s leading the government to name and shame landlords. Mind you, they’re doing the same with every service, from trains to water to hospitals. It’s hard for everyone these days and it can be tricky to distinguish between management that’s simply poor versus management that’s doing the best it can all things considered. Now that’s a job for the housing inspectors to get to grips with when they start. We do need someone impartial to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

It seems that a lower rent cap is on the cards. That will scupper many fine strategies and business plans. The logistical and financial response will often be to merge. Frankly, that’s the only game in town. Yet it’s these large merged landlords that the government is naming and shaming for poor services to residents. Talk about a rock and a hard place. Yes, charging lower rents helps with the cost-of-living crisis. But it’ll push a service delivery option we know to be problematic.

This reminds me of the early days of Capita. Private Eye ridiculed them as Crapita because services were poor. But Capita responded by saying that the only opportunities they got were public services that were failing and no one could turn these round overnight. Somewhere between these two arguments the truth may lie.

When you look at some of our larger mergers in housing they do include landlords that were not up to scratch. It made a lot of sense to ask someone to take them over. The evidence from Kwajo and the Ombudsman is that the speed of improvement is nowhere near as fast as it needs to be. And I genuinely don’t think there’s a ready source of people who could step in and do a better job.

So, how do we fix this? There are no glib answers.

Firstly, we know the rent cap is coming so we need to plan for it. What would, say, a 5% limit do to your plans? How would it affect your ability to run services? What about safety? Is it the end of the road for decarbonisation? Can you afford to keep staff? What will you cut? The DLUHC Select Committee wanted more local offices. That won’t be happening.

So, many of you will think about merging. Then you really do need to look the gift horse in the mouth. That means doing due diligence on the finances and the services. In effect you will want to run your own inspection reports on any possible merger partner. And don’t look to the big boys to ride to the rescue. Until the large landlords come off the government’s official naming and shaming list they are not a credible option.

In an ideal world I don’t think logistics and strategy should be separate. You cannot have one without the other. But in the absence of any national housing strategy, and with a deepening financial crisis, you need to look hard at how you streamline your affairs. The government isn’t going to bail us out and distress mergers aren’t an easy option.

In almost every landlord I’ve ever been to I’ve seen really good housing managers and maintenance people. But they never get near the top table. Leaders always want to do something more interesting while the rents are coming in like clockwork. Now is the time to listen to the people that actually do the job. That’s how you get the most out of each pound. In every crisis the cream rises to the top. That will happen here.