Tag Archives: Change

How do you Maintain Morale in the Face of Uncertainty? Four Guidelines

Situation: Industry is changing and the CEO must adapt both the structure and focus of her company. Adaptation will include a 10% layoff of staff not aligned with the new focus. It is critical that this adaptation be executed in a way that is not disruptive to the remaining employees. How do you maintain morale in the face of uncertainty?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Ask for employee input as to industry trends and what possible directions for the company. Employees are closer to the customer than the CEO and have valuable insights. Gather input in small group meetings to prompt discussion and ideas. Make this a research talk. Leverage the “wisdom of the crowd”.
  • Research other industries that have undergone similar changes. What strategies did the most successful companies pursue? Could these work for you? When faced with protracted uncertainty, what did others do while waiting for market clarity?
  • Conduct the layoffs in one day. Monday is better than Friday. The benefit of a Monday layoff is that you will see everyone on Tuesday and the team can continue to address their concerns. Do it early in the day. Give final checks the day of the layoff. Provide instructions for filing for unemployment assistance via the Internet. Hold a company meeting for remaining staff immediately after the layoffs. Focus your message on the future and positioning the company for the future. Prepare a brief summary of your message. Distribute it as a take-away from the meeting.
  • Be prepared for a grieving process following the layoff. Consider utilizing an expert on grieving to overview the process. Following the company meeting, have key employees conduct smaller group meetings to lead discussions and allay fears about the layoff. Fully prep these individuals about the situation with written responses to likely questions.

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How do you Prioritize Multiple Priorities? Seven Suggestions

Situation: A new CEO has just been promoted from COO. During the transition, this individual is responsible both for past and new duties. There is an extensive list of company priorities. How should the CEO prioritize this action list? How do you prioritize multiple priorities?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Focus on the Executive Committee first – the roles of your leadership team. This is the team that will both manage the organization and oversee the work that is being done.
  • Select your leadership team carefully – the team that will implement your agenda. They will help you make key choices and implement changes and programs. It is essential that this team present a united front as you roll out any changes.
  • As CEO, you are now accountable for the success of the company. Put issues on the table. Gather input and advice from your team. With their input, make your decision on how to move forward. Delegate responsibility and accountability. Rally the team around your decisions. Follow-up to assure that things are getting done.
  • Be focused. If you only had the resources to do three things, what would these be? What will bring the greatest both short and long-term value to the company?
  • Avoid micromanaging assigned responsibilities.
  • Bring in a consultant to assist you in implementing organizational changes that are necessary for the company – defining new roles and responsibilities and correcting behavior of team members that does not benefit the team.
  • As soon as possible, promote or hire someone to take on your old roles. You will have your hands full as CEO.

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How Do You Create a Client-Centered Company? Four Guidelines

Situation: A CEO wants to make her company more client-centered. How have others achieved this objective and what are the most important considerations? How do you create a client-centered company?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • One CEO transformed his company into a client-centered organization based on conversations with customers. The new structure is based on client-market groups. The core of each group is cross-trained professionals who focus on client needs. These groups are supplemented with a cross-trained support staff who can shift between projects depending on market conditions.
  • Organizational structure must start from and support a strategic vision. The vision must be informed by the realities of your market and the products/services that you offer. Once you have determined strategy and analyzed customer markets, develop a structure that allows the company to adapt to market changes. Structure follows strategy and market.
  • Closely monitor the following: Flexibility within the structure. You want most of your staff to be flexible, so that you can move them among projects as market conditions change. Cross-training is critical. You need strong leaders who can develop market segments. Create objectives and accountability that will tell you how the market segments are operating and whether staff are meeting cross-training objectives.
  • As you implement a new structure be aware that any change is met with insecurity. Coach your managers to communicate with their teams. It is essential to assure employees that they are valued, that any change will be gradual, and that you will provide them with the appropriate training and incentives that they need to succeed.

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How Do You Find A-Players? Six Strategies

Situation: An early stage company will be staffing-up over the next year. In the past the CEO has recruited individuals with big company experience and solid resumes, only to find that they had difficulty transitioning to the hands-on responsibility of a small company. How do you find candidates who are highly experienced but who can also excel in a small company environment? How do you find A-players?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The best candidates are not in the job-search pool. They are currently working but open to a change with new challenges. Some will wish to return to a more hands-on situation.
  • Let people know that you are looking for “the best” and have a great opportunity. Create some buzz. Go to your network and ask, “who do you know?” Don’t be shy!
  • Look for achievers – individuals with proven performance in companies of the size that you plan to be in 12-18 months and who are interested in the excitement of building that company. Check their references carefully.
  • What can the company do now, while seeking the right people? Use contractors and consultants. These people are more entrepreneurial, self-starting, and self-accountable. Monitor their work. If they are good, add them to your team as permanent employees.
  • Develop a milestone-based personnel plan as part of your business plan. For example when we hit Milestone A, we will need an operations manager. When we hit Milestone B, we will need channel or market development expertise.
  • Conduct case studies of how other companies in your or similar spaces have facilitated their scale-ups. What worked? What didn’t? Why?

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How Do You Scale Up a Product That Is Taking off! Four Points

Situation: Demand for a product produced by a company has increased dramatically. The CEO realizes that they need to scale up production quickly to meet this unexpected demand. The company is small and the CEO wants advice as to how his company can accomplish this without killing the product. How do you scale up a product that is taking off?
Advice from the CEOs:
• This represents a major change of both mentality and culture. Essentially, the company needs to move from a “handmade” process to a commodity volume process. This may also mean moving from low volume/high margin production to high volume/lower margin production. This shift will significantly change the company.
• If there is high confidence that the company will land a contract for long-term production consider establishing high volume production at a new site. Rent or lease another facility. Alongside this hire a set of experienced people who understand the challenges of scaling up rapidly. Consider giving this facility a new name to suit the new team. This will help to establish a new culture suitable to the new opportunity.
• While negotiating a lease, ask for an option for additional space to be included in the lease. If things don’t pan out, look at this new space as the eventual location for your existing team.
• Two other options to consider: (1) Outsourcing to a 3rd party manufacturer. This is an option unless the company is an OEM outsourced producer itself. However, be careful – you could be telling your customer that they could go directly to your OEM source at a lower price. (2) Establishing an overseas production capability – one where you own the facility and manage quality control. This will be a challenge if the customer wants to specify “Made in US”, or where quality concerns are essential.

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How Do You Change the Company’s Culture? Six Suggestions

Situation: The CEO wants to change the company’s culture. How can the CEO facilitate “buy-in” to support this cultural change? How do you change the company’s culture?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Encourage staff to think BIG – project 50 years ahead to a $2 billion company with business in 10 countries.
• Ask questions: Can we achieve it? Can you imagine that far? Is it real? What would make it real?
• Encourage participation in this exercise across all functions.
• When one company wanted to make a major change, they brought in an expert to help craft the communication of the changes and to explain it to staff.
• Move fast – don’t go slow. Let people know that it is OK to make mistakes. This is the Try-Fix-Do model that helps to encourage creativity and rapid development of new ideas. It makes going fast less of a risk to the individual.
• Let people know that it’s OK and necessary to challenge each other. Their involvement and input are what’s important. Keep it real and civil.

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How Do You Focus Your Team? Six Points

Situation: Several CEOs asked how others have had success improving company performance and is interested in how they focused their teams. How do you focus your team?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Important tasks for any company are to validate the value proposition, technology, target customer, and the rate of market expansion, and minimize risk and liability. This should be a regular company exercise – not a one-time event.
  • Assuming that a company has goals and people who can align with and achieve them, a company needs a vision – the broader strategic picture of where they are going. Often some of the best ideas come from line staff who are enabled by their company’s culture.
  • It is critical that companies are able to quickly identify problems and have systems in place to drive problem resolution. The minigame technique is very useful in these cases.
  • Companies should have a plan for transitioning employees into new roles as the company grows. The key is clear identification of the individual’s role within the company, and how that role compliments achievement of company objectives.
  • If a company wants to grow sales from, say, $20 to $60 million, it will need a professional sales leader. In addition, growth may require a change in company culture from engineering and development centric to sales centric.
  • A significant challenge is determining how to define corporate success. Much depends upon the questions asked. The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack provides guidelines and tools for assessing options. Anyone starting or growing a business should look at this book.

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How Do You Improve Morale and Performance in a Professional Services Company? Four Observations

Situation: The CEO of a professional service company says that his employees have been through a lot of stress over the last few years. He wants to improve company morale to boost performance and is interested in how others have done this. How do you improve morale and performance in a professional services company?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Manage Morale and Employee Feedback – In times of economic change and adjustment, it is important to have a good handle on what employees are thinking about their jobs and the company as a whole. The use of anonymous surveys administered via computer or a neutral 3rd party generally yields more objective and honest feedback than 1-on-1s with the CEO. They offer employees an opportunity to anonymously share their concerns, and to offer constructive feedback on how to boost company performance.
  • NOW is the time to act – whether the economy is positioned for a rebound or another dip. Employees have dealt with a lot over the last few years and may be starting to look at opportunities outside the company. Therefore, it is important, right now, to put programs in place to:
    • Retain high performing employees, and
    • Communicate to employees what the company is doing to position itself for growth so that they see a bright future for both the company and themselves as employees within the company.
  • Professional services are people-to-people businesses. Focus on relationship building to increase market presence. Recognize and reward employees for their efforts to build new relationships with clients. Use these as examples to inspire other employees.
  • Many more women have entered and become an important component of the workforce. Conduct group meetings to compare the experiences of male and female sales people in relationship selling situations. These will differ between purchase decision makers in different markets and situations where one gender vs. the other predominates. Sharing experiences offers the potential to learn from and to support each other as well as to improve performance. Ask employees how these meetings should be conducted and whether they prefer same or mixed gender meetings.

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How Do You Optimize Your Product Offering? Four Points of Focus

Situation: A CEO wants to take better advantage of his company’s product offering. There are many opportunities available, but the company needs more focus on optimizing these opportunities. How do you optimize your product offering?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Brand – Where has the company been? Where is it going? The world is constantly changing – what’s the company’s new brand? The brand identifies the company and both your customers’ and business partners’ identification of the company and its products and/or services. In a changing world with increased competition and “noise,” having a strong handle on the brand and brand message is critical to remaining at the top of customers’ and partners’ awareness.
  • Education/Customer Advocacy – An underutilized source of marketing strength includes both customer education and customer advocacy. Customer education allows the company to better position its product and/or service to the customer and helps the customer better meet unrecognized needs. Customer advocacy positions the company along with its customers in an area of mutual interest and strengthens both bonds and loyalty.
  • Diversification & Channels – In a changing and rapidly diversifying world, being open to new opportunities and channels through which to reach the company’s stakeholders is a source of sustainable advantage.
  • Partnerships to Take Advantage of Diversification & Channel Opportunities – Partnerships are an underutilized resource to creatively diversify and open new channels to stakeholders. They require less investment than doing everything on your own and can form the basis for key alliances and strengths going forward.

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How Do You Position a Professional Services Company for Growth? Part 2 Three Suggestions

Situation: The CEO of a professional services company wants to position her company for growth. What suggestions do others have to assist her? How do you position a professional services company for growth?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Make Time for Organizational Development – Attention to organizational development and enhancing the organization so that it meets the needs of employees can yield significant dividends in terms of company performance and adaptability. When employees’ needs are met, they are motivated to extend their efforts both in performing their current roles and to develop new ideas that will benefit the company. Be sure to recognize these efforts.
  • Temp to Perm (Even for Hiring Leaders) – As the economy recovers there remains a high level of uncertainty as to how robust the recovery will be. In light of this, additions to staff may be approached cautiously. The temp to perm route offers a way for a new individual and the company to get to know one another and to test mutual fit before making a full commitment to permanent employment. This can be true even for positions of significant leadership within the company.
  • Meet the Unrecognized Needs of Customers – The top of the Customer Pyramid is meeting unrecognized needs – needs which the customer may not even know that they have. In a world of increased competition and rapid change, finding ways to understand, anticipate and meet these unrecognized needs of customers yields a significant competitive advantage. Brainstorm with your sales, marketing and customer service teams to identify unrecognized needs of past customers. Use the results to identify unrecognized needs of current and new customers.

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