Does your Company have a GPS and if so, do you use it? A few years ago I bought a GPS for my car and I liked it so much I bought one for my wife’s car also.  Eventually we got GPS service on our smartphones and we tend to us that GPS more often.  I recently bought a car that has a GPS as standard options and I like it even more.   It works best when there is a detour or when I am going to a new client’s office and I don’t want to waste time guessing what route to take.   In Q4 or early in Q1 I work with my clients to create an annual operating budget.  We look at past performance, we look at all costs (valid numbers will work the best but don’t let iffy numbers stop you), we look at revenues because most business owners will track revenue fairly accurately but may fall short on tracking operating costs.   We identify profit centers for the business and determine the gross profit per profit center best we can with the data we have.  The more valid the past data the more accurate the pro-forma annual […]

Are you leading your organization to its full potential? Often I am asked to facilitate “Leadership Seminars” for managers of organizations.  One of the best books I have found for training managers in leadership is; The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, ISBN 0-07-141861-X.  In his book Colin Powell introduces the reader to his twelve leadership secrets.  One of his leadership secrets is; “Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off”. In my career, I have bought businesses and in doing so, I have had to change cultures and assess the full potential of new employees who joined our team through the acquisitions.  One such employee was Mary (of course, Mary is not her real name).  The company culture prior to the acquisition put a high value on the quantity of work an employee put out, not necessarily the quality of work.  Mary had been with the previous owner for many years and was a valued employee because she did a lot of different tasks in the office.  So many tasks that Mary was unable to do a majority of them accurately, but Mary’s “Old Boss” rewarded her and other employees based on their volume of work. The new culture I wanted […]

Profitable Business Model First, Marketing Second. A friend of mine who owned a restaurant on the north side of town called me and asked if I would stop by because he had a few questions.  I agreed and when my schedule allowed I planned to stop into his restaurant (close to lunchtime because he had great food).  I met with him and his wife who both worked in the business at the time.  He said his sales were down and he wanted to ask me questions about how he could increase his sales.  I asked, as I usually do, if I could see a financial statement.  He showed me his year to date profit and loss statement.  I did a few calculations and said it looked like he was working very hard generating little profit.  He said things were going OK and all he needed was more sales.  At that time his wife, who I sensed was getting frustrated with her husband, began to tell me how they were working too hard, not making any money, and it was making life difficult at home also.  Eventually my friend agreed that they were struggling. I did some more calculations and suggested […]

Who are your “Leaders’ without Stripes”? When I am asked by business owners to assist with changing the culture within their organization, I often ask, “Do you know who your “leaders’ without stripes” are?”  Business owners are some of the most prolific people within the organization.  They are constantly coming up with innovative ways to improve their businesses.  While working with one business owner to change the culture in his organization I observed this exchange… The business owner delivered a speech to the organization describing a new policy to improve their culture.  A young apprentice was walking back to his department after this meeting and asked his foreman, “What do you think?  I think “The Boss” has a great idea there.”  The foreman has been with the company for a long time and has seen a lot of “stuff” come and go within the organization.  His response to the young apprentice was, “Listen, you work for me!  This is another one of “The Bosses” ideas that will fissile out in a week or two.  You do what I tell you or you’ll answer to me!”  The young apprentice agreed and stepped in line with his foreman. The question becomes, “Who […]

Every Business Owner Should Own a White Shirt! I once had a client who owned an auto repair business.  He was a very good mechanic and worked on cars all the time.  You could often find several cars and trucks in his back yard waiting to be worked on.  As his family grew, his wife wanted the vehicles out of the yard.  His solution was to start a business and open a shop of his own.   He called me because his banker was asking him for accurate financial statements. He would work 12 hours a day under the hood of a car and then spend a half hour every other day trying to get caught up on his bookwork.  I would visit him every week on a specific day, let’s say Tuesday, for 90 minutes.  During our initial conversations, actually all the time we worked together, he would give me grief that I wore a white shirt.  As you know, he would say, anyone who wears a white shirt all the time definitely is not working.  He would wear the typical blue and grey stripped mechanic’s shirt covered with grease and dirt stains.  Often times when I first came to […]

People and Aluminum are different, Go Figure! A few years ago I was coaching an owner of a fabrication business.  He is one of the smartest people I know, and a very talented fabricator of aluminum products.  I watched as he created precision bends and welds on the materials he used in his trade.  He had a very good business but he did have a challenge with keeping good people.  I was hired to help him understand why he had such high turnover rates, which as you know costs organizations time and money. One day I witnessed him speaking harshly to an employee.  After the fact we talked about what spurred his emotions with that individual.  In fact, I was told by other employees of the firm that this type of behavior from “The Boss” was common place and was one of the main reasons people left the company.  The owner explained how frustrated he was that he had to tell his people again and again before they understood what he wanted on the fabrication floor. I asked him to bring me a piece of scrap aluminum, which he did.  It was approximately a foot by a foot square.  I […]

One of the first things a company should do is to develop a mission statement.  People often confuse a mission statement with a vision statement.  A vision statement sets the future goals of a company, while the mission statement guides how these goals will be achieved – the strategic decision making.  The mission statement tells the company’s reason for existing. Your company’s mission statement should reflect your company’s values, attitudes and beliefs, which should reflect your personal values, attitudes and beliefs.  To help you develop your mission statement, you should answer the following questions What is our business? Why do we exist? What are we trying to accomplish? Having a mission statement will give your employees (and people that you deal with outside the organization) common goals.  It will help guide employees in how to perform their jobs, how to treat customer and how to represent the company.  Without a mission statement, you may find that your employees will begin to operate by their own personal attitudes and beliefs, which may not be the same as yours.  Whether we realize it or not, we all have our own personal mission statements. The length of the mission statement will vary from […]

Cabbage Moth Syndrome Have you or do you know of someone who has been afflicted by the “CABBAGE MOTH SYNDROME”? This lesson was taught to me by my oldest grandson a few years ago. One Easter Sunday my daughter planned an Easter Egg Hunt for my grandson. She placed tiny miniature marshmallows into a dozen or so brightly colored plastic Easter eggs and placed them in the yard in plain sight and in a row. She then pointed them out to my grandson who immediately went to the nearest one and opened it. He was excited to see the miniature marshmallows inside and promptly ate them. He then went to the next nearest egg and opened it, thrilled to find more marshmallows. All the time this was going on my daughter was recording him on her iPhone. She was planning to share video with friends and family on Facebook. Everything was going great until this Cabbage Moth showed up. This tiny white moth flew in front of my grandson, distracted him and led him off into another direction. Obviously this frustrated my daughter who was busy filming. She became noticeably agitated with the boy. I suggested she be patient and wait a few minutes. My grandson, who was easily distracted, knew where the […]

Employment-At-Will Status “A verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” -Samuel Goldwyn An “Employment-At-Will” statement helps your employees and anyone outside of your organization understand that employment with your company is voluntarily entered into by both the employee and the company. Employees are free to resign at any time and the company may terminate any employee at any time, with or without cause. That does not pertain if your company has a union contract and you are operating under that contract. It is important to establish this understanding within your organization’s employee handbook. Some organizations will use the term “employee handbook” and others will will use the term “employee manual.” I prefer the term “employee handbook” because in some instances the courts have tried to argue the term “manual” relates to having a contract. It will be important for your employees to understand that policies found within your company’s employee handbook are not intended to create a contract. Ensure they understand by beginning your employee handbook with your Employment-At-Will statement and by putting in writing that policies found within the employee handbook are not to be construed as a contractual obligation of any kind or to create a […]