Yes you do have a problem, admit it!

Businesses regardless of their current victories have problems. Some related to growth, some related to decline but they all have problems. A key factor in successful management is the process and awareness to continually analyze and identify the problems. Then put procedures in place to resolve the issues on a timely basis.

Problems can be a very valuable tool to identify misconceptions of the needs of customers and the market. We always put the product and service in place that we believe is needed. But if problems identify new opportunities for needs not being addressed and we are quick to capitalize we can make a problem and asset.

Use your problems don’t be the problem.

Get an “A-team”

Most businesses are started by an individual or partnership of individuals with a niche idea. As the business product develops and grows the need for a solid “A-team” management becomes very crucial. The entrepreneur often says I am a startup I can’t afford that overhead. They are right.

To satisfy the need for the skills that entrepreneur does not have I recommend consultants to fill the void. Create a part time cadre of Sales, Finance, HR/Administration to be an “Advisory Board of Directors”. The periodic monitoring helps the owner to fill the voids in his own skill set in a manner affordable to the company.

Does your company have an A-team?

Business is not a Family

 Had I client who started his introduction to his business by telling me that they really were “a family” more than a business. My thoughts immediately turned to one of my favorite movies “Top Gun” and the theme song “Danger Zone”. Families make decision based on serving the family members not the needs of the customer. Families allow emotions to influence the business because they love each other.

He related an experience where a trusted employee got a DUI and lost his driver’s license. “Because he was family” they hired a intern to drive this employee to the customers offices since he was a service technician and working on site. Three weeks after her got his driver’s license back, he quit to go to a competitor for $.10 an hour more money.

Is your business a family?

Prioritize before making New Year’s Resolutions

As we enter 2012, I like so many of you, have resolutions for my business and personal life. I don’t think you want to know about my need to clean my garage or lose 7 pounds but in setting my professional goals I believe analysis and prioritization if the first step.

New goals or resolutions for the year are very healthy but they are more effective at increasing the bottom line when they are the steps that are the most important at driving growth or positioning for the future. Take the time to analyze the trends of your business and the market as a whole. Brainstorm with your team to get a broader perspective and create buy in.

What resolutions have the greatest impact on your business?

Change management is a moving target

I look back at the success and failures (yes, I have lots of them) of implementing new systems or processes and one of the dominate determinates of win or lose is always the expectations of the judge. To minimize the losses I always spend a significant amount of time and effort outlining and documenting the definition of winning or successes. Guaranteed, if it’s not written and agreed before starting the result will be a loss.

The process if further complicated by the fact that as the project is in process; unknowns, errors in assumptions, risks, resource availability, price changes all occur. And the expectations of the judge must be revised. Additionally, the changes never occur simultaneously thus continual revision of expectations must be made.

With this said, I find that a written detailed project plan is imperative to the communication process. Some managers can lead projects without written plans (I am not one) but I challenge a manager to successfully communicate the constant revisions to the expectations and related buy in required without this approach. Additionally, there is a superb byproduct of this, it allows the “Plan” to be the “bad guy” to communicate difficult or stressful expectations to critical (sometimes reluctant) resources.

Would you like to be the “bad guy” of let the plan do it for you.

Vision starts by looking in the mirror!

Vision is an overused term that includes a broad spectrum of concepts in its definition. I look back on my career and I have been told that one of my strengths is powerful vision of the requirements to drive business change to improve operations. That is nice, thanks for the compliment, but what does that really mean?

To answer the question for anyone (me included) I looked in the mirror and started to list what I saw. Male, over 40, business leader, CPA, weekend athlete, drive, creative but wait that’s all fine and that will help me know what I can see. The true measure of my vision is not what I see in the mirror but what I don’t see.

To build a true vision you must know what you can’t see and build and use your team to collectively create clarity for the environment, needs and priorities at hand.

How well do you know what you can’t see?