Is your business owner holding the company back?

It could be that he or she is stuck in ‘The Founder’s Trap’.  Maybe that person is you!

Most entrepreneurs want to make a lot of money and run the show. But research shows that it’s tough to do both. And if you don’t figure out which matters more to you, you could end up being neither rich nor king.

The attached article entitled ‘The Founder’s Dilemma‘ by Noam Wasserman – which appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 2008 – includes research, findings and practical suggestions for dealing with the tradeoffs between financial gains and control that every entrepreneur faces as their business grows.

If you’d like to do something about navigating this dilemma, consider attending my upcoming information breakfast specifically for business owners, CEOs, Managing Directors and General Managers.

Hiring your next CEO from within or outside?

“It is the responsibility of the Board to make sure it has the most talent available when it needs to make the decision” according to a recent article in The Boardroom Report, Volume 9, Issue 16, published on 24 August 2011 by the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  But there are complications with family businesses. And small businesses do not always have the scope to develop suitable candidates from within.  Should you look for a successor who is similar or different to the current CEO? Read more of this post

Is your business in its prime?

All living creatures progress through stages of growth and decline, beginning with birth and ending in death. However, organisations do not have to decline and age. Indeed, they can remain at the high point of their vitality for a very long time.  They can even return to those peaks from stages of decline. This article is not about achieving eternal youth, but about practical methods to pursue and maintain perpetual vitality for your business.

As organisations change and transform themselves, moving from one stage of the lifecycle to the next, they develop problems. Some are passed over quickly, but others can stymie an organisation, causing serious or terminal illnesses. ‘Prime’ organisations passionately nurture both their expansive, creative energy and their need for structure and discipline. That is the dynamic of truly successful organisations.

So says Ichak Adizes in his book ‘The Pursuit of Prime: Maximise Your Company’s Success with the Adizes Program’ . Within this text, Dr Adizes gives company leaders a ‘how to’ guide to reach and keep their companies at maximum vitality, creativity, profitability, performance and commitment, which he calls “prime”.

In a series of posts over the coming months I will summarise how Adizes describes the steps in seeking, and staying in, this phase of business development.

Will you be able to recognise the stage of your business? Will you agree? What steps will you take so your business can reach or stay at optimum level?

What follows is the first topic of eleven, introducing the nature of different problems encountered during business growth, and how to tackle them appropriately. Read more of this post

Understanding CEO selection

“CEO selection is one of the most important events in the life of an organisation. It has never been more critical than it is today.”  According to this paper surveying the existing literature to identify the most important variables in the selection process, including a model of the variables and their influence on selection outcomes.  Read more at www.CEOselect.com.au

You are not in business if you are self employed

This is a tough pill for many start-up entrepreneurs to swallow.  But if the business still relies on your input of time and expertise, then it’s not yet a ‘system of work’ that can be sold without you, and therefore it’s not yet a ‘business’.  Until you make yourself redundant, the market value of your enterprise will be severely impaired.

Do you really think that no-one else could actually be a better leader and manager than you?  Maybe if you formed a Board, you and they could focus ON your business while another more qualified to ‘manage’ takes care of operational matters?

From the first day you started your business you’ve grown it by successively replacing yourself with people who took over aspects of your responsibilities up to then.  From an executive assistant to a bookkeeper to a sales person, and so on.  And it’s very likely that each now does a better job in that role than you ever would have.  It’s the same with the ‘top job’.

Issues surrounding the reluctance of founders to ‘hand over the reins’ are well described in an article entitled ‘Time to let baby go‘ which appeared in BRW, 10-16 March 2011 edition, pp 40-41.  But you’re not really ‘letting go’.  You’re taking your business forward.

If you have any concerns about how to recruit and select a suitable person to be your new General Manager or CEO, consider the services of CEOselect.

Are people really your greatest asset?

The Human Capital Edge: 21 People Management Practices Your Company Must Implement (Or Avoid) To Maximize Shareholder Value (2009) by Bruce Pfau and Ira Kay, includes details of Watson Wyatt’s Human Capital Index (HCI) which identifies practices that drive a 47% increase in shareholder returns and prove that there is a cause and affect relationship between human capital management and financial outcomes.

The following explains the research and the critical findings, including a quantification of performance drivers. Read more of this post

Applying the 7 habits of highly effective people

Many have been profoundly assisted by the pages of Stephen Covey’s best seller ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’.  But not all of the ‘habits’ are easily formed or perfected in us individually or in groups.  Crucial Conversations may provide a valuable addition to unlocking the benefits described in Stephen’s book.

Thanks to John Cluer for sharing this with me.

Be ready for new OHS laws

According to an article in The Boardroom Report, AICD, Volume 9, Issue 15 published on 10 Aug 2011, “employers with contingent workforces could be caught out by new health and safety laws unless they start preparing now“.

WorkPro director, Charles Cameron, says ”moves to harmonise occupational health and safety (OH&S) laws across Australia, effective from 1 January 2012, will bring significant changes for businesses engaging contractors or labour hire workers, known as ‘contingent’ staff.”

The new law removes any discrimination between permanent direct-hire employees and contingent staff. The definition of the employer/employee relationship has been expanded to include ‘anyone conducting a business or undertaking’, and ‘anyone involved in the undertaking of work’.”

“These definition changes are important and increase the onus on businesses engaging workers to communicate, consult with, and respond to the safety concerns of ‘all workers’ on their sites, whether permanent, on-hired or outsourced.”

Cameron says this will present new challenges. “The way Australians are working today is different to any other time in history. Modern workplaces include a mix of ‘traditional’ permanent employees, as well as contractors, consultants and on-hired workers and businesses need to start thinking about their ‘total workforce’ rather than simply their own employees. With changes commencing in the new year, the challenge for businesses over the next six months is to start reviewing their current systems and procedures to ensure they meet the new requirements, and this will require more attention and consideration than most people anticipate.”

Cameron advises directors to consider the following ahead of the changes: Read more of this post

How to successfully execute strategy

If execution without strategy is folly; what is strategy without execution?  The answer is … ‘all too common’.

So what causes well-crafted strategies to fail?  And how can strategies be structured to ensure successful execution?

These questions are answered very clearly by Harold S Resnick in his article Executing Strategy published in Management Today, July 2011, pp29-30.  Will you implement his recommendations?

Calling all business owners CEOs MDs and GMs

Are you committed to continuing professional and personal development?  If yes; then I suggest you consider what The Executive Connection has to offer.

As the saying goes … ‘If you surround yourself with successful people, their success will rub off on you.’

So I invite you to meet with my network of successful business owners and CEOs to taste what it would be like to do so regularly.

To be specific … I’ve been invited by The Executive Connection (www.tec.com.au) to form and facilitate a select group of CEOs and business owners in Perth who are committed to assisting each other over a period of years, to become better leaders, make better decisions, and achieve better results.

The Executive Connection (TEC) is a world-wide high performance network of experienced current CEOs (including owners of SMEs) who meet monthly in groups of 16 to challenge each other with their combined experience and wisdom … the sort of input you can’t find in books or manuals.

TEC has hundreds of these groups operating worldwide (since 1957) including over a dozen in Perth (since 2003) but it isn’t widely known because membership is by invitation only.  And selection is rigorous to ensure continuing value for all members.

Each group has a diverse membership in terms of industry sectors, size of businesses, gender, age, etc.  But all members are the final decision makers within their respective enterprises.

TEC groups should not be confused with ‘networking groups’.  TEC groups are primarily for the ongoing professional development of CEOs, the people whose role is often the most critical (and lonely) of all.

TEC seeks out a rare breed of business leader who understands the value of continuous learning … the sort of learning that can only come from others who’ve walked the same or similar paths.

Anyone can go on a course … but not anyone can be a member of TEC.

The worldwide average period of membership is over 8 years.  Quite simply, the proven model and support resources of TEC have been enhancing the lives and performance of CEOs for decades, and I consider it a privilege to have been asked by TEC to form a new group. (After many months of development and an arduous selection process I might add!)

I will be chairing/facilitating a new TEC group starting in October, so now I’m recruiting for the right people, that is people I would like to spend years with, who would be contributors as well as a willing to receive, who are strategic, open to development, able to give and receive honest and penetrative feedback, and of unquestionable personal integrity.  Are you such a person?

To explore and taste the ‘TEC experience’ for yourself, along with other CEOs, MDs, GMs and Owners; including time to hear from and meet with some current members of TEC in Perth; please register online to attend our information breakfast 7.00am-9.00am on Friday 16 September to be held at Kailis Bros in Leederville. Or if you prefer, call our local TEC EA Cheryle McLaughlin on 08 9285 0165 to register over the phone. Or simply reply to this email with your current contact details and I’ll attend to the registration myself.

This event is purely informational and experiential.  There will be no selling or pressure whatsoever.  Attendance is without cost or obligation, and may result in you joining a group other than the one I am forming.  So even if you don’t see yourself spending years meeting with me, I still encourage you to come along and find out what TEC as an international organisation has to offer you.

If you’d like to discuss anything prior to registering, please contact me by reply email or phone 0412921292.

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