Getting Hardnosed about the Soft Side of Business
November 27, 2007
When involved in a business transition, the business owner typically focuses on:
· What’s the bottom line?
· Cut to the chase – what are the numbers?
Unless the transition that we are talking about is the sale of the business, for which the owner is going to get cash, the bottom line is only one snapshot in a dynamic moment in time. “The Bottom Line,” that which we tend to be hardnosed about, is the result of everything that is done and market conditions and all kinds of “The Soft Side” of business.
Business transitions are as simple as moving from one business season to the next and as complex as purchasing a business to merge with an ongoing business. A Business transition may be creating sales oriented staff from a group that is currently task oriented. A transition may be selling the business wherein the owner is going to get paid over time or buying a business where you are going to pay over time. A transition is any change in business. When there is a change there is a transition. The one thing we can rely upon is change. Therefore, transition is part of business. The more that transition is built into the business, the faster reaction time the business can have.
So, what does a transition business coach do? We get very clear about what the business owner wants to transition into. We get very clear about what the reality of the situation is presently. We get a handle on what is going to be required to make that transition. What is going to need to be different? Then we coach toward an assessment of the current staff, clients, market, vendors or who or whatever is relevant to that change. Included in this coaching process are the vision, mission and intention of the owner and key players.
The result will be a strengths and needs assessment along with a strategy and coaching toward implementation for the soft side of business transition. Additionally, the foundation will be in place for the recognition of ongoing transition so that change, in the future will be an ongoing intentional part of business rather than being treated as a problem.
Cutting to the chase, the point of all of this is, of course, a better bottom line!!
Coach Chuck973-670-7215
What is a Business Coach: and What do they do?
November 17, 2007
What is a business coach? What is the process and what could you expect were you to hire a business coach? Frankly, that is a question that you are going to need to ask the individual coach. There are many different backgrounds and educations for coaches. Some have coaching accreditation. As for myself, my educational background is in psychology and counseling. This combined with my extensive business experience informs and has helped me to create an effective and individualized coaching strategy.
I have a masters in clinical psychology/counseling where I was educated in both the theory and the practice of assessing human behavior as well as how to aide people to achieve desired results. My experience in mental health is very broad and is combined with 19 years business experience in the financial markets. The specific experience in mental health that informs my methods more than any others is experience is working with families. The family is the basic social unit. The dynamics that occur in families form the basic components of in the rest of our social life, especially in our work life. Additionally, small businesses are often family owned. Even if they are not family owned, the personal lives of the owners and the work life of these owners are inescapably entwined.
My coaching method would begin with an understanding of where you see yourself right now. This sounds simple enough and sometimes it is. Most of the time, however, it is not. Were it simple you would not be seeking a business coach. Your business life does not stand in isolation from the rest of your life, so when we are assessing the starting point, we get a thorough understanding of the rich context of your current situation.
Next, we’d like to look at where you would like to end up. This is broken down into a few areas. First of all, we look at how you think things should be right now, but aren’t. This is not long term at all. In fact, you might be gasping for air right now and before any planning can be done, we need to address the current situation. Dealing with current situation may or may not be a significant issue. It almost always takes longer than the business owner originally anticipates. But, laying the foundation is key to moving forward.
From this foundation, a vision for the business has the where-with-all to emerge. And, emerge it must. A vision is more than just figuring out what the business should do. We dig deep. Business is hard. Things happen. Economy happens. Employees happen. All kinds of things happen. Imagine coming home from the beach on a summer Sunday evening. The traffic is insane. Imagine it comes to a stop. There has been a disaster. No one is going anywhere. What do you want to do then? Most people at that point just want to get home. I’ve never heard of any one in a situation like this simply saying, “Ah screw it! Traffic is really bad. I’m not going home. That would be too hard?” Can you imagine?
We attempt to tap into and encourage your organic and natural vision. In order to get through the traffic jams of business life, your vision must be as certain to you as your home is.
And then, we look at the obstacles between now and your vision. And then we devise strategies to succeed.
In actual practice, this is certainly not a straight line. Each of the areas described above influences each of the other areas. You are never completely in one stage or the other.
Something we are doing concurrently to the above process is graphically depicting your business pipeline. How do customers find out about you? How do you (Your business) and your client connect? How is the client treated? What services or products do you provide the client? How, exactly, is that done? How do you get paid? What happens to the money?
If you are providing a product, the same process is done with the product.
We come to understand the ratio requirements of each part of the pipeline to the other parts of the pipeline. How do you generate revenues while at the same time meet new prospective clients? This pipeline is a living, dynamic organism. If you get twice the number of clients, it is not jus a matter of multiplying the rest of the pipeline by two. Different methods of providing service need to be developed for differing volume numbers. We don’t just manage the pipeline. We inspire the pipeline. That is a matter of assessment and transformation all the time.
So, if you were to ask this coach, Coach Chuck, “what is a business coach and what might I expect form the business coaching process?” You would get an answer similar to what I outlined above.
Coach Chuck
973-670-7215
Partnerships and Strategic Partnerships
November 1, 2007
What are the things that you consider when deciding whether or not to go into a partnership? A partnership should be among people that bring complementary strengths together that when combined are greater than the sum of the parts. In other words, the two people, if working together with common goals, will achieve more than they could alone.
The key here is complementary strengths. Take two attorneys that practice different kinds of law who are always finding that they often refer the other attorney’s kind of law out to some one else. This might be the basis of the two attorneys getting together to discuss a partnership. Could the two together gather resources that would allow each more success in their chosen fields? If yes, then the process then is to discover whether or not the partnership is a good fit.
A partnership, like a marriage, is a very comprehensive relationship. Issues of trust, compatibility, shared vision, compatible work ethic and working styles are just as important as whether or not business complement exists.
Very often people will form a partnership based upon the personal issues of trust, compatibility, shared vision, work ethic and style without examining the actual business compliment elements. Other times, people will form a partnership based upon business partnership without examining the more personal issues. Either of these methods have a poor prognosis of success.
Strategic Partnerships however can be entered on a very limited basis. For instance, the two attorneys above may decide that if they share office space and staff and agree to refer each other, without partnerships beyond that, may, in some circumstances, find greater success than trying to bring together a shared vision and so forth. A Financial Planner and Personal fitness trainer may decide to run a workshop together addressing the needs of retirees, without any obligation to each other beyond the workshop.
When contemplating a partnership, consider the question: what makes us a partnership that is greater than what we would be on our own? Further, ask if these accomplishments are greater than what could be accomplished through strategic agreements or partnerships, rather than a full-blown partnership. If the answer to these point to partnership, then carefully consider your commitment of each partner to each of the other partners success and how that would change in good times and bad – to put another way, through sickness and health.
Coach Chuck
973-670-7215
As a summary, partnerships are for those joining complementary strengths between compatible people with a shared vision. This is truly a rare relationship. Strategic partnerships are like dates. One can engage in strategic partnerships with a greater attitude of experimentations.
