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
Do the Employees Appreciate Me?
April 17, 2007
If you have a family or small business and you find yourself asking this question to yourself of employees and partners then you are getting business and personal relations confused.
Example:
A business owner (whom we will call Mary) realized her manager (whom we will call John) really did not like to work Saturdays. Recently Mary hired a person to come in every other Saturday, thereby giving John the day off. Something came up in Mary’s personal life and she had to call John and ask him to work a double shift. John agreed to. Mary Further offered to work for him on the following Saturday (a day he would normally have had to work). He agreed to that too.
It came to Mary’s attention that John had a really lousy attitude that day and even told a customer that he didn’t feel like doing something because – “I’ve been here since seven this morning and I will be here till nine tonight.” Additionally, John was beginning to act like the owner. Mary had come to rely on John but she was getting very uncomfortable.
This is a situation doomed to blow up. It happens all the time. If the people involved are family members, it is even more explosive.
As for as John is concerned, he still has to work every other Saturday and he is annoyed about that. As for her working for him on Saturday in exchange for working for him … he feels that she is putting personal matters ahead of the business which he would not be allowed to do. In his mind, his power is growing. Perhaps he has even made people think he is the owner. The fact that Mary can call in and just say she’s not coming in (which is how he interprets what she did) and he can’t creates a resentment.
The underlying problem here is that John is not clear as to what his position is. Why? Probably because Mary was so overworked that when he began taking more and more over, she was happy to let him. Michael Gerber, of Emyth, describes this as abdicating responsibility as opposed to delegating responsibility.
Defining position expectations is key.
Coach Chuck
973-670-7215
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