Adventures in Leardership

We have not turned to advising the political hopefuls on the campaign trail. This pertains to you and how you run your business. 

I recently read a survey done by a colleague, Nicki Weiss, that captured the mood that exists in many organizations today. She queried staff about the management of their organization.  “While many said they like their immediate manager, and other managers in the firm, they reported that, in general, all managers are too busy doing other things (selling, administrating, reading reports), and do not take the act of managing (developing people) seriously.   The surprising and encouraging note in the survey was that  the survey respondents craved a culture of accountability, in which managers who proclaim their commitments to standards of excellence and vision statements follow through on their pledges. ”

This survey was interesting because it mirrors what I have seen in countless organizations. The staff is craving a management process that they perceive is fair, committed, organized and demanding.  This is opposite to the perception that the owners and managers have of their own people.  They want their managers and leaders to spend more time coaching, teaching and nurturing their performance rather than rushing in to do the job for them.

 

I have broken down the success of business people into three broad needs:

            Make the right decisions- Leadership

            Get the decisions implemented- Management

            Implement the decisions- Work

Of course there are many pieces and parts to implementing a good leadership, management and work program in a company but most people in independent business have a vast amount of area where improvements at all levels  will yield great results.  

 

Often owners view themselves as the sole leaders and only one capable to make the decisions in the business. 

Are you nurturing and teaching others to make the right decisions?

Too often the managers feel that they must do too much themselves and step all over the people that should be getting the work done.

Are you empowering others to do more and even make some mistakes?  

In a simplified view, when owners are the leaders, managers manage and let the workers do their job; motivation, commitment, innovation, fun and results improve!

When a company is planning to buy another company the most important consideration is the strength of the management team. Warren Buffet makes the strength of the management team his most important consideration before investing in a company for his funds. Venture capitalists estimate that 60% of the success of an investment is based on the strength of the management team while 20% is based on the strength of the technology and 15% is based on the market acceptance for the new product. The biggest reason for this breakdown is that the technology will not have a chance to fail if the management team and management process are not competent. Management will make fatal mistakes that will sink the venture long before the technology even has a chance to fail. This occurrence is much more prevalent than most managers believe.

With all this emphasis on management competence, way too many companies feel that management is not a key component to their success. It is very difficult to gauge competence from within the management of the company. The two things that most people feel they do well without training or guidance include sex and management. Manufacturers take the best workers and bump them up to foreman. Retailers put the salesman with the longest tenure on the floor as sales manager. Even the owner often has a technical knowledge, extra cash or a family history in the business rather than any real management training or outside experience.

This dichotomy raises a lot of questions about the value of your business. Would it be more valuable if it were more profitable? Most everyone would answer yes. Would it be more profitable if the management process and team were more proficient? It seems logical that yes would be the answer but the truth is that many independent businesses function as if the answer was a resounding NO. They can’t envision a return on the investment in a management consultant or hiring a proven manager. A consultant is normally a less expensive solution than hiring a proven manager. A consultant can be removed easily if there is not a fit or competence. A hired manager is much more difficult to remove.

Amazingly, the most common objection we hear to bringing in a management consulting team to improve the skills of the management and implement a management process that provides more effective results is that we don’t have the people or the time to do any more than we are doing now. That is really a crime. Your business is what you depend upon to send your children to college and provide for your own comfort and retirement. Your employees depend on your business for their livelihood and your customers depend on your business for your expertise, products and or service. Not providing the resources to make that business more profitable, stable and significant is being pennywise and pound foolish as the British say.

Another reason many owners put off the decision to bring in a consultant to improve the management team and the business is that they are confused about how to choose the right consultant. Admittedly, that is a daunting task. There is no organization that polices the consulting industry or that licenses consultants to be certain that they have the skills required to do the job. Almost every manager has or has heard of the horror stories that were brought on by a consultant. Our approach at Management One® is to train and certify all of our consultants to assure that they will provide the help to clients they expect. Most Winning@Business™ engagements include more than one consultant since we know that every consultant has certain areas of expertise. We have experts in marketing, finance, business management and other areas that are critical to your success.

Finally, every owner is wary of the cost of a consultant. At Management One® we understand the financial limitations of independent business owners and work with our clients to bring the guidance they need in a way that minimizes the time and people commitment they must make. Our affiliates are independent which minimizes overhead costs. Our marketing is primarily word of mouth so you will not be paying for fancy advertisements and you won’t see a Management One® sponsorship of the SuperBowl. The return on investment in Winning@Businessâ„¢ that our clients normally see is generally greater than 5 to 1 and as much as 50 to 1!

What does a management team need to do to be successful? (Notice I said management team. Gone are the days where a single manager can be as successful as a management team working together to solve problems, seize opportunities and manage change.) The following entries in this blog will identify some of the key factors with which a successful team deals.

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I have always recognized a great need to get team members motivated to do what I needed to get done. Sometimes getting the goal accomplished meant it happened in ways I didn’t expect, but in the end that was fine. Better even. Sometimes what I wanted the team to get done didn’t happen and I was always interested in why. I really think there were two reasons for differing responses by the team to my efforts at business development depending on the stage of my career that I was in.

When I was a young manager I thought I knew more than I did. I would develop a plan and then start organizing people and telling them what each one was to do according to my plan. Sometimes it worked but often the results and dedication of the team were less than desired.

I was then moved from assistant paper mill superintendent to pulp mill superintendent. In the pulp mill there was an assistant I had, Harold Tanner, who was much older (and wiser). He would always corner me and say, ” why don’t we think about this for a minute?” We would then begin to communicate our views and reach a consensus on what WE should do. Suddenly things started getting done! I learned a lot about the importance of consensus and communication from Harold. He was the one that showed me how team management could work on the job!

I put a lot of Harold into the Winning@Business process that I developed to help others manage their business more effectively. The lessons included:

• Communicate clearly

• Listen

• Adapt

• Get commitment

Easier said than done you might quip and you would have a good point. The fact is, however, that these aspects of business development are critical to long-term success. When teamwork becomes ingrained in your management process and culture, employee turnover goes down, motivation rises, commitment and dedication increase and you start seeing happier customers too. Always remember that your people will support what they help create.

Evan Wise

Managing Director of Management One Consulting

I have worked on team management and business development in everything from a mom and pop haberdashery to a running a paper-mill; from managing a leading worldwide research and development center to the startup of Management One®, a company that implements team management and business development for client companies. The one thing that I have observed as a continuum through all the many different environments in which I have worked is the importance of teamwork through effective team management to success. When I started out working in 1968, the norm was the old command and control style of management. As a worker I hated it but there was no alternative. There was no team management; only a seasoned boss that shouted orders.

The environment is much different today. Business owners, department managers and even executives of large corporations are working with a different workforce than existed even 10 years ago. You are selling to a different customer than you did 10 years ago. The amount of information available, the flexibility that both customers and staff have to come and go as they please is so much greater and the level of competition is so much higher that it becomes imperative that you get everyone working together on your team. The issue that many face is how to do that effectively!

This blog will be about how team management and Winning@Business concepts help businesses to survive and prosper in this new environment. I may not give you all the answers you seek or need but I hope to make you think about your staff, your customers and your business in a different way. Often I will refer to Winning@Businessâ„¢, which is the process that we have developed to help businesses to implement the effective methods to achieve success in this new environment. I will share a lot of what I have learned over the last 17 years of moving my own departments, companies and clients to the 21^st century of profitable business. This process works and has been proven in youth groups, the Geneva Illinois High School football team, a rock group, retailers, manufacturers and service businesses over the past 17 years.

Please feel free to contribute, respond and participate in the discussion. If you would like to contact me directly you can do so through www.management-one.com or evan@management-one.com.

Evan Wise

Managing Director