Tag Archives: Clarify

How Do You Redefine the Top Executive’s Role in the Business? Four Points

Situation: The President of a family-owned business that has been in operation for over 30 years wishes to change her role by increasing delegation of responsibility and accountability within the business in preparation for her eventual retirement. Other family members in the business are happy with their current responsibilities and are resistant to taking on more responsibility. What advice does the group have for this member?
Advice from the CEOs:
• Given that you are preparing for retirement, it is important to let others know about your plans and your desire to increasingly hand off your responsibilities to others. Ideally, one or more of the others will express a desire to take on more leadership, particularly if it includes a boost in pay.
• It is important to clarify responsibilities and prioritize which ones you wish to hand off. Once this is done build and execute a hand-off plan.
• Transition current managers who are misplaced in their position to other roles. Work with them to identify alternate roles where their talents can better benefit the company. They may be aware of their current discomfort and welcome the opportunity to take on a different role more suited to their abilities.
• Focus on removing barriers to delegation that may be in place. For example, bring others into the discussion and review the projects that they are overseeing. Identify the challenges underlying those projects and ask for their suggestions on how to address these. Don’t provide the answers. Ask questions and push them to develop appropriate solutions.

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How Do You Interview for New Hires and Promotions? Part 1, Three Points

Situation: A CEO seeks advice on interviewing both for new hires and promotions. What advice and guidelines do others suggest to improve interviews? How do you interview for new hires and promotions?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Preparation before hiring or promotion is critical.
    • Preparation means having a road map – for what will be accomplished in the new position and for how the company selects and hires or awards promotions.
    • Discipline: have the patience to do it well.
    • Be aware of and watch for possible legal issues. This has become increasingly important under DEI.
  • Raise the bar. Each new addition or promotion should enhance the company’s capabilities instead of just filling a slot.
    • Hire individuals with skills that complement areas of your own or the organization’s weaknesses.
    • Be creative in developing sources or new hires.
  • Ask open-ended questions and follow-up with additional open-ended questions to clarify areas that the response opens.
    • Focus interview questions and processes to identify demonstrated values and habits.
    • Insert pregnant pauses into the interview. How does the interviewee respond?
    • Listen for what is NOT said as much as what is said.

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How Do You Negotiate a Merger? Eleven Points

Situation: A company is considering a merger with a smaller company. What are the important considerations to take into account in considering and negotiating a possible merger? How do you negotiate a merger?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Look for synergies between the companies. During the negotiation, emphasize these and the mutual benefit available to both companies.
  • In a merger between a larger and smaller company look for the key motivations of each party. What does the smaller company have that the larger company wants? How much is that worth to them? Make a list.
  • Consider combining vs. merging. An alliance can be mutually beneficial while allowing both companies to retain independent ownership.
  • Look at earn out options in a purchase scenario. What are the possible terms and the financial implications of these?
  • Beware of the distraction that a merger will present to current day-to-day operations.
  • Identify other parties with whom mergers are possible. Why is the target partner better?
  • Partner prior to the merger – how do the two companies play together in the sand box? This can reveal cultural differences and differences in focus that will impact the value of the merger.
  • Consider an LLP option – a third Company that is the owner of the two merged companies. This may present tax and other advantages.
  • Look at Product vs. Service
    • Product is always worth something.
    • When service stops, it is worth nothing.
    • Key players must work together well or the service evaporates.
  • Never assume what the other party’s interests are. Make sure that both interests and priorities are discussed and evaluated during discussions between the parties.
  • Ask clarifying questions anytime a topic is raised that requires additional understanding.

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How Do You Prepare and Engage in an Effective Negotiation? Five Points

Situation: The CEO of a company is engaged in an important negotiation. There is a debate within the management team regarding the best way to prepare and engage in this negotiation. How do you prepare and engage in an effective negotiation?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • In any situation where a decision between two parties is to be decided preparation is critical.
    • Start with the basics. What is the bottom line that the company wants or needs to achieve?
    • Once the bottom line is identified, determine the strategy and what will be required to achieve this.
  • The most important question is why an agreement is being sought. What is the objective and what does a win or a win-win look like? How are they different if they are?
  • When meeting with the other party, listen with understanding.
    • Start by establishing norms to govern the discussions. These may include: one person speaking at a time, being up-front about objectives and positions, and the length of the discussion.
    • Avoid the distraction of thinking about the next move – know the possible moves in advance as well as the conditions and consequences associated with them.
    • Be prepared to tell the story of where the company wants to go any why the goal is important for both parties.
  • Good decisions between parties are based on trust.
    • Be trusting until given a reason not to be.
    • Point out items or statements that challenge trust and ask for clarification.
  • A Peer-to-Peer approach is the best alternative.
    • Look for equal give and take. Keep the conversation and negotiation balanced.
    • Don’t start with your real bottom line. Ideally, work with the other party in give and take until it is achieved.
    • Be willing to walk away if the discussion won’t fulfill the company’s needs; but if this is necessary, do it courteously. Leave the door open for possible future opportunities.

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How Do You Improve Communication with a Key Employee? Three Points

Situation: A CEO has a challenge. While a key employee does excellent work and has fresh, new ideas, he can be overly protective of these and how they are implemented. The result is that conversations often become combative. How can the CEO better lay out alternatives and improve these conversations? How do you improve communication with a key employee?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Have a conversation with the employee about communication and competitiveness.
    • Be honest. Acknowledge your own combativeness during previous conversations. Discuss and develop alternatives to avert this in the future.
    • If future communications take the same turn toward combativeness, be conscious. Admit what’s happening and shift the tone. Keep the conversation civil.
  • When this employee offers an idea, listen and repeat the idea first to confirm that that was said was understood.
    • Ask questions to clarify specifics of the idea prior to offering a different perspective.
    • When offering an alternative, ask for the employee’s thoughts on that perspective and whether this would complement or conflict with his idea.
    • The objective of the conversation is to develop alternatives which will benefit the company and its operation. Keep the focus on this.
  • Take some time and sketch out your own thought process before responding to his proposal. Ask for some time to consider this, if necessary.
    • Repeat his words and objective as you heard it and ask whether you heard correctly.
    • Identify any challenge that may arise implementing his suggestion, and ask whether he sees the same challenge. Could his suggestion be tweaked to avoid this challenge.
    • Present another alternative only after the previous steps, and ask what the employee thinks about this alternative. Work together to design and decide on the appropriate solution. Assure that he receives credit for his idea.

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How Do You Define Roles and Responsibilities? Three Options

Situation: A small company is understaffed and finds it difficult to hire in the current environment. Employees struggle to meet both past and new responsibilities. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to meet objectives. How do you clarify objectives so that the team can meet them? How do you define roles and responsibilities?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Start by working with employees to create a list of current responsibilities for each employee, along with the estimated time required to fulfill each responsibility.
    • Within this list, classify each responsibility as “Must Do,” “Second Priority,” or “When we have time.”
    • Look at the hours in the day or week. Assess what is possible to do in the hours available, and what is not.
    • Discuss this with the team and ask whether they agree with both the assessment and priority list.
    • Discuss trade-offs and the availability of any resources with the company that may be currently underutilized.
  • Reassess the expectations of clients to determine whether everything that is being done must be done in the timeframe currently promised. This helps to define what is truly urgent and what is not.
  • Another way of stating the process is to:
    • Prioritize and delegate what can be done, or reallocate what can’t be done with current resources.
    • Look for ways to work smarter to get more done in the time and with available resources.
    • If lower priority items still can’t get completed in the available time either drop them or discuss options for accessing additional resources to complete them.

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How Do You Manage Conflicts of Interest? Four Tactics

Situation: A service company was acquired by a larger company. There are limited operational crossovers between the two, but where conflicts of interest arise the acquirer seems uninterested in addressing these. How do you manage conflicts of interest?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Within the company it is necessary to clarify what can be done autonomously and what must be done with the acquirer’s support.
    • Where the company sees issues it can develop a recommended set of actions that will avoid pain – particularly where its systems are more developed than those of the acquirer.
  • Reconstruct the acquirer’s motivations for the acquisition.
    • Was their objective synergy or portfolio diversification? If it was a synergy play, then more structure and integration are needed.
    • From observed behavior, it looks more like it was a portfolio diversification strategy. In this case they will expect the company to continue to perform as a quasi-independent structure, but under their umbrella.
    • Given this, where do possible market synergies between the companies exist? Look for these and develop mutually beneficial alternatives.
  • The CEO feels a responsibility to his company’s staff, assisting them to be more comfortable within the current situation.
    • If the analysis of the acquirer’s motivations rings true, then share this with the company’s staff. If this is the case then they should not be seeking a lead from the acquirer but should concentrate on maintaining what company has done well over the years.
  • What options are available for CEO?
    • It is possible to maintain status quo. The company is getting new business and performing well.
    • On the other hand, if the CEO is acting in the leadership role with decreasing focus and interest, this will not bode well for the organization or staff.
    • In the latter case, set a timeline and date for departure. This can be some time out but should be comfortable for the CEO.
    • Communicate this timeline to acquirer and when the time is right offer to help look for a successor.

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How Do You Pursue a Market Expansion Opportunity? Three Points

Situation: A CEO is considering expanding market reach to include an additional specialty niche in the market currently served. He sees the opportunity to diversify the current offering, to make significant money, and to grow the company. The principal challenge is finding a person to build this capacity. How do you pursue a market expansion opportunity?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Without a leader to build the new capacity, an individual who already knows both the technology and the market, it will be difficult to build the new capability.
    • Bring in a heavy hitter with a proven track record in the market to develop the new capability. Someone who can build a team to offer the same quality / delivery package that has been the source of the company’s success.
  • Once this individual has been identified and is onboard, gather top management and develop clarity on the company and its values – why the company is in its current as well as the new business and what the company does for itself and its clients.
    • From this exercise develop or update the values statement and a vision / mission statement.
    • Consider hiring a consultant with proven experience in the market to help develop the value statement, mission, and some of the strategic and planning capacity that the company has not yet developed on its own.
    • Communicate these openly and reinforce them frequently with staff. This will help them understand the company culture as well as the vision for the company. It will also help them to understand the decisions made to guide the company.
  • Is there another firm – or an independent consultant – with proven expertise in in the new field to work with the company on the proposals that are being submitted for the new market?
    • This will help to evaluate the market and to get a taste of what is involved in this work before making a major investment to support the new capability.
    • It will also speed the development of expertise to address the new opportunity. If it goes well, the company can consider either a deeper joint venture, hiring the consultant, developing its own capability with internal resources, or a combination of these options.
    • In the short term, this will impact cost and margin but will substantially reduce risk.

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