Why Don’t My People Manage ?
July 14, 2011
Leadership and managing people is seen by many business owners as one of the most challenging aspects of growing a company.
Listen to these series of interviews with Rob McGregor, a leadership coach to CEOs, business owners and military commanders about how to deal with some of the more vexing people problems that flummox the best of intentions. From why your people don’t manage as you would like them to how to manage your board and build high powered teams. Every leader who wants better performance, productivity and an end to the number one frustration of owning a business (do I really have to manage people?) should take 10 minutes out of their day and listen.
Want to find out how Rob would help you sort out your top three management frustrations?
Email Sarah Thomson at SarahT@spiritwest.com to arrange a free 30 minute coaching experience. Then you’ll know if you’ve found the right solution for you.
Podcast #1: Why Don’t My People Manage ?
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Podcast #2: Want to Grow Your Company? Learn How to Build High Powered Management Teams
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Podcast #3: I’ve Got a Board But it’s Become Frustrating to Manage. Now What? Click to play
Go Ahead, Make My Day! Rob’s tips on leadership
July 8, 2011
Want to be like Clint Eastwood, able to glare an employee into submission?
The Business Leader’s Dilemma
You hired what you thought are great people. Yet when they start working, you find that the results you wanted are not materializing. What is your next step? Fire them? Send them to a course? Wait till they figure it out?
Rob McGregor, Spirit West’s leadership coach says “Often it is not the person you hired that is the problem. It is that they have not received clear expectations nor had the opportunity to fully discuss what is needed. Or perhaps they did ask some questions but didn’t gain anymore clarity than before.”
What we notice with leaders is that they often think they have said what they want and in fact they have. But it was said once, it wasn’t a two-way discussion and what was said lacked the context of the bigger picture.
For instance, Rob notes that one client wanted his managers to organize their department so that they didn’t need as many people to do the work. Two months later, no changes were in evidence. The leader was frustrated and wanted to blame the managers for not following through.
Standing back from the situation, the following patterns are evident. Do you see yourself in this story:
1. The manager didn’t know what problem the reorganization would solve and how she would be able to do any better or differently without the additional staff member.
2. The leader did not explain his expectations and did not invite discussion as to how to achieve the result, what was important about it or how to go about making the change.
3. The leader waited and speculated about why nothing was being done rather than checking in regularly.
4. The manager fretted about losing a valuable employee.
5. The manager did not have experience reorganizing processes in her department. She was great at her technical skill not at process re-engineering.
6. The manager did not ask the right questions to get a full picture, did not assess what help she might need and did not ask for help in putting a plan together.
Hence, nothing happened. Who is responsible? Who is to blame?
McGregor helps business owners and CEOs deal with untangling these confusing situations. He says “The leader and the follower are both responsible for their lack of communication. Blame shuts down conversations so using it in the aftermath of missed expectations will not uncover the problem nor lead to a solution.”
The answer is no one is to blame. But both parties should be held accountable for working together on setting each other up for success.
And what would Clint do in the same situation? Stare himself in the eye and say “what are you going to do about it?”
Think you are a Horrible Boss?
July 8, 2011
Watching the trailer for the new movie with Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey called Horrible Bosses, I wonder how many actual bosses cringe for a moment while remembering someone in their past that just made life hell.
We have probably all had at least one horrible boss still etched in stone in our memory banks. While the movie seems to make stereotypical over blown characterizations, you can’t help but wonder if anyone that reports to you thinks you are a horrible boss. It doesn’t take much to tip that scale from a boss you like or tolerate to actively dislike.
But think about it. Is it that people dislike their boss or feel more disappointed by what they don’t do? And if you have bad days as a boss, who can blame you. We are all juggling more with less (that’s why unemployment is so high right?) hoping to make the numbers work. It’s enough stress to make even the nicest people grumpy, impatient and wear a perma-frown on their forehead.
So, keeping it real, what do you think your people say about you to their colleagues, friends and family? Even if people like you it doesn’t mean they like how you lead or manage them. How bosses communicate guidance, give feedback and notice accomplishments are the real sticky points with most employees. And apparently most of us could do a whole lot better on that front.
We spend thousands on looking better but we spend so little on being better. If you are a boss, leading a company is fraught with people issues. You can keep hoping they go away, but the bigger the company gets the more you have to accelerate your learning to lead them effectively.
Here’s a simple way to determine if you need to add some skills to your bag of tricks. Think about the following situations. If you see the same patterns in your company, realize each one requires a different kind of leadership response. The fact the pattern is exercising its muscles in your world is evidence you may need think about how you want to invest in your leadership game.
Are these events going on in your company?
• Experiencing interpersonal and cross-departmental friction
• Company facing a lot of change and uncertainty
• Working with new managers who lack skill sets
• Never hearing what’s wrong except when it is too late to fix it
• Having a daily parade of people with problems expecting you to sort them out
• Waiting for the day to be over so you can get out of there
• Meetings that never produce an insightful conversation or a plan that gets implemented successful
Will this be your year to stop the Horrible Boss problem from spreading further? Rob McGregor, Spirit West’s leadership coach says that “Every one of these problems is something you can resolve, once you learn the secrets of holding people accountable, communicating expectations and understanding how you get the results you don’t want.” What will you choose?
Fast Track Secrets for Making Your Business Saleable by Lorraine and Rob McGregor
July 8, 2011
Available Now! What you need to know to ensure you can sell your business for what you want, when you want so you can claim your wealth. Buy it here: www.MakingYourBusinessSaleable.com. Read what the experts and business owners are saying about this much needed addition to exit planning knowledge.
Most companies are not saleable in their current state. With the flood of boomers poised to retire and rethinking their futures, many owners think they can find a buyer when they finally feel like selling. With 50% of every business in North America owned by boomers, it is a buyers’ market, and they are choosy.
Fast Track Secrets for Making Your Business Saleable is the first book to show business owners what is in the minds of investors and acquirers when they look at buying or financing a company. Owners will learn and develop a plan for the four steps to making their businesses saleable so they will attract the right kind of buyer.
Coming Soon: Publishing date September 15, 2011. Want to pre-order your copy? Send your request to info@spiritwest.com Can’t wait that long because of your time frame to retirement? Go to www.MakeYourBusinessSaleable.com
Here is what the experts are saying about the McGregor’s book and workbook:
Every Private Client Advisor (or wealth advisor, relationship manager) should provide their clients who own a business, a copy of this extraordinary book….
This book is a fantastic breakthrough resource for preparing to sell your business at maximum value.
If your client owns a business, they need to have this book…they will thank you endlessly and never move their wealth to another advisor ☺
Thomas R. Sweet, Former VP Consumer Marketing, City National Bank, Beverly Hills, CA and Former VP Marketing, Nevada State Bank
Supply and demand are critical to every business owner. You started your business to be able to supply a product, or service, to fill a need in your marketplace. Once you start to plan to sell your business it’s the SAME thing!
You will need to once again become part of the supply-demand chain and if you are not properly prepared, the buyers will quickly move on to a business that is. It’s your choice. No, it’s your responsibility…to actively and aggressively plan for that date one day when you will be ready to sell out to the best possible buyer at the best possible price.
Randy West, Certified Financial Planner, The Villages, Florida
In my view, to maximize enterprise value, the key thing the seller needs to have sorted before they start a process to sell their business is to have thought through and implemented an organizational structure that does not include them.
Too many times in small owner-managed businesses, the roles and responsibilities are not well-defined and ultimately every key decision comes to the owner or his right hand person. That is not a scalable business model which sophisticated buyers will see and thus feel the need to bring on additional management resources which is an additional cost to the business.
Martin B. Carsky, CEO Con-Space Communications, Ltd and former EVP, Anthem Capital
Insightful! What a great roadmap for maximizing the sale of a business. As a business lawyer, we often see overwhelming challenges for business owners who do not prepare for the sale in advance. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and there is a ton of information in this book that will help sellers quickly turn their business into one that is “saleable.”
I plan on recommending this book to every client who is thinking about selling a business or even just starting a business and wants to build it right from the start. Not only will it make business owners smarter about selling a business, it will make them smarter about running a business!
Roger P. Glovsky, Esq. Venture Attorney, Indigo Venture Law Offices and founder of the Seminar ‐ “How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Legal and Professional Fees by Preparing in Advance for the Sale of a Business”
“Fast Track Secrets for Making your Business Saleable is an outstanding roadmap every owner or manager selling a business will want, to control the process and maximize returns. Suitable for any type of business, this step-by-step approach teaches the business and mindset requirements for success, including ‘what you don’t know that you don’t know’ which can jeopardize results. Buy this book if you want maximum profits and peace of mind!”
Susan Rosenthal, President World Markets Group, Former Vice President, Global Marketing CitiBusiness™ for Citigroup
Could you do a management buy out (MBO) at your company?
November 20, 2010
We’ve been asked a lot lately about whether a management buy out (MBO) might be possible for many business owners. The real question all owners should be asking is whether your company and you can afford the time and risk it takes to properly execute an MBO plan
Many owners wonder if selling their company to their senior managers might be possible as a way to reward employees and build a succession path for themselves. Before you start planning your exit day, you need to understand what might be involved. This information is useful to you whether you are the manager thinking of buying out the owner or an owner wondering if your employees could be your key to extracting your retirement wealth.
Typically, your business needs to be generating enough cash flow to pay your employee(s) a dividend in return for their performance in growing the company. The employee then uses that dividend to pay you for a percentage of your shares. Depending on the value agreed to, the growth of the company, its own need for capital, your payout might take anywhere from 3-10 years to complete. In the meantime, you have to hope you have picked the right employees and supported them enough that they are able to continue to grow the business.
The FACTS
- Management buy outs are complicated to set up. Get help to structure them and each party should have their own legal and tax advice.
- The valuation is based on cash flow.
- Growth is hard for the company when cash is bled off to pay you out instead of investing in resources needed for growth. Know your growth options. Build Plan A, B, and C. Read here about what happens when you don’t have contingency plans and uncontrollable events rock your best laid plans
- Sometimes part of the payout can be funded with debt. But be careful, if you don’t make your numbers each quarter, your banker becomes your boss pretty quickly.
- Employees have to make a long term commitment. You have to learn to think like an investor. You love the company but what future prospects will make it loved by customers?
- High gross margin businesses are better able to structure an MBO.
- Risk is shared by both parties so communication amongst all players has to be transparent with a lot of mutual respect and support. No one needs a lawsuit because you haven’t built a relationship where you have learned how to speak freely with each other.
MBOs need all the right ingredients to bare the hoped for fruit. Don’t become attached to expectations and outcomes: try several plans out before committing on the bottom line.