“The team still comes to me for routine decisions.”
The owner also reports that staff lack agreed decision authority. The service adviser handles bookings, but routine quote variations still need the owner’s approval.
Inside the analysis · fictional workshop example
What an answer can reveal.
A score is a starting point. The value comes from examining the explanation and deciding what to do next.
The bottleneck may be authority.
These answers point towards unclear decision boundaries as a possible cause of owner interruptions. Training alone may leave the same approval queue in place.
Small approvals can consume the day.
When ordinary work waits for one person, customers may wait too. The owner has less time for work that needs their judgement. The frequency and impact still need checking.
Test one clear decision boundary.
Log routine approvals for a week. Choose one repeated decision, agree a limit and escalation rule, and trial it with the service adviser. Review interruptions, turnaround and errors before extending it.
Illustrative extract based on the fictional workshop profile used in our worked example. It demonstrates the reasoning approach; it is not a client result or a guaranteed diagnosis. Findings depend on the answers supplied.
Read the complete worked analysis →What the reading covers
A cash problem, a sales problem and an overloaded owner may be connected. The Barometer checks your answers for those connections and highlights possible explanations. Its findings depend on what you provide; where the evidence is missing, the useful next step is to check it.
Money & margin
Looks beyond turnover and bank balance to test profit visibility, pricing confidence, margin pressure, cash resilience and whether financial information is arriving early enough to guide decisions.
Demand & customers
Examines where worthwhile enquiries come from, how reliably they convert, whether demand can be repeated and how exposed the business may be to a small number of customers or referral sources.
Work & people
Identifies where unclear roles, inconsistent processes, delays or rework are quietly consuming time and margin—and where ordinary decisions are being pushed back to the owner.
Owner freedom
Tests whether the business can operate, make decisions and protect customer service without constant owner involvement, and what would need to change for the owner to step away with confidence.
What you receive
20 core questions, with targeted follow-up questions where needed. Your report connects the answers, explains the main findings and sets out priorities and practical 30- and 90-day actions. You do not need to upload financial statements or provide revenue, costs or bank balances.
Choose your level
| Starting point | You receive | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free Snapshot | 10 questions, score, initial finding, one next step | Free |
| Complete Barometer | Full assessment and detailed report | $250 |
| Report + Review | Complete report and one-hour discussion | $495 |