Planning For The Future
What
happens next?
This is the question that should be on the
lips of everyone from the Board of Directors right down to the sole proprietor
of a small business.
For some, the answer is easy - for example
“I close the business, transfer the bank balance to my personal account and retire!” Others say “My son/daughter will take over.” For others, it’s too awkward to think
about/too early to think about/will take care of itself or some other such
excuse.
It’s not easy. You need to think. You need to look at all the possible
“stakeholders” of your business. These
include (but aren’t limited to):
- The business itself
- Your staff
- Customers
- Suppliers
- Utility companies
- Professional advisers (lawyers and accountants)
- The Tax Man
- Banks
- The community at large
- The press
- Markets
I’ve seen small business owners send their
children to study for an MBA, thinking that this will help them manage the
business better once Mum/Dad has gone. The
son/daughter returns but decides that they want nothing to do with the
business. Worse, they want to change the way things are
done!
At the other end, blue chip companies hire
seemingly well-qualified CEOs only to find that they’ve made a terrible
mistake.
The first thing to remember is that often
it’s the current owner/CEO/Lead
Partner/Chairman/Woman who is trusted by/has the confidence of many of the stakeholders. Will their successor command the same trust/confidence? If your bank or suppliers don’t see your
successor as a “good paymaster”, how will that affect the business going forward?
Secondly, where’s the business going? If you’re hiring a new CEO and you need
someone who can lead the company through a turnaround, then hiring someone who
specialises in closing down businesses isn’t the best thing to do (unless this
requires closing down a number of loss-making divisions).
Many companies (for “corporate governance
reasons”) hire from outside. Sometimes
this works, sometimes it doesn’t. The
new manager(s) need to be able to connect
with the ethos of the company, and this is where things go wrong. In the eyes of staff, customers, suppliers
and others, they just don’t “get it”.
Make sure that the new entrant understands what makes your business
tick and why it’s so successful. Sometimes, it’s better to hire someone from
the “inside”.
Among the questions that you should ask are:
- What makes the organisation successful?
- Where is it at the present stage (growing, shrinking, re-focusing, etc)?
- What does the job need?
- Who do we already have who can be groomed for the position?
- What additional skills will he/she need to learn?
- How long do we have?
- Which stakeholders need to be involved?
Don’t leave it until it’s “too late”.
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy to offer solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Career, Customer Care, Financial, Leadership, Risk, Strategy, Teamwork
posted by William Martin @ 08:28
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