The Five Essential Elements of a Growth Strategy

1. Customer Focused – It’s based on market research. You’ve got the right product, packaged in the right solution with well thought out support systems that the right target market really needs and wants and you can prove it.

2. The Company is Oriented to Performance – Your people have the kinds of conversations that lead to process improvements through respectful collaborative idea generation. Incentives are aligned to self-responsibility, authority, accountability  and ability to take risks. You provide support and training for those elements to be accessible to all.

3. You’ve Removed the Rub Points – There is a smooth communication flow from what is promised to the customer all the way from sales through order processing, production, billing, delivery and after sales support. You have a feedback loop to ensure what was expected was delivered. And you have policies that set out boundaries for the negotiables and the non-negotiables. You don’t expect your people to dance to the customer always being right (or wrong). Who to blame isn’t a daily way of life in your company: how to solve the right problem with the right solution is.

4. Your People Understand how the Company Makes Money -Sounds simple but it’s not often done. Everyone should know how their expertise and efforts contribute to the bottom line and where they fit in the financial equation. Even the receptionist and the shipper. Each person has a role to play in the efficient delivery of the promise to the customer.

5. You Focus on and Make Decisions Based on the Right Key Performance Indicators – Forward looking, gross margin driven, utilization rates, cash flow and labour tracking. Your indicators should show you where you have cash leaks in the system, before you have to start bailing. First place to look? Do your estimate gross margins on each product become your actual gross margins. Got a variance? Find out why and fix the systemic problems that cause it. (Hint - most problems are systemic, not personal, not one individual’s fault.)

Difficult People and Situations Case Studies

Frustrated with how some people are getting the job done? Don’t like how your people aren’t taking responsibility? Tired of the infighting, cliques or attitudes within and between departments?

As owners, your attitude sets the tone. Most of us don’t realize what attitude we are projecting on to others that results in a sea of conflict. The bad news is, that these situations exist for a reason. The good news is, you can do something about it. By changing how you view people, how you lead people and how you set performance goals, you would be surprised quickly the company culture, and therefore productivity and profitability starts to improve.

Got conflict? That’s the symptom. Read the case studies to understand the root cause and the effect that trying to weed out the conflict can have if you don’t address the real problems.

Conflict often means you are missing systems and processes needed to affect communications hand offs between departments: when people are in conflict, they stop talking. The customer’s message (what they hoped they were buying from you) gets lost in the communication chain through the company. Unsatisfied customers don’t tend to buy again.

Want a Turnaround Specialist on call with your team?

Call 604-377-4307. Having us on retainer means you solve the problem in a fraction of the time instead of ignoring all the warning signs. Then your good people start leaving before your challenging people do.

Difficult People & Situations Case Studies

• It’s Not My Problem, He’s the Problem!
• We Can’t Fire Him, We Need Him
• The Boss Blames Others

Dealing with Difficult People or Situations

Difficult people are often the canary in the coal mine.

Difficult people, cliques, inter-deparmental fighting, and ’strong personalities’ running around are all symptoms of:

• A systems breakdown or an indication there is a need for a system or process and your people can’t have the kind of discussion needed to develop something useful for all involved.
• An inability to manage without being the ‘bad guy’, the victim or the hero. There is another way.
• A strong personality influencing others means there may be a need for new role and responsibility definitions. People need boundaries and leadership to hold the boundary steady.
• A lack of clear vision. What are you trying to achieve as a company? Does everyone know and do they know how you intend to get there and what role they play in making that vision reality?
• A chronic interpersonal situation where resentment has built up to the point where conversation is possible. Time for an intervention.

Any of these situations ringing a bell? We can help… but you have to be willing to make some significant changes. We have tools to help people in each of these situations learn how to change. When they change, so does your productivity and performance.

Call 604-377-4307 to discuss your frustration confidentially.