Category: Blog

From time to time I have been asked to help someone start a new business and each time I have asked them ‘why’?

This question has raised numerous answers; because they feel they are unemployable, they want to help people or they are charitable in their outlook and believe they want to share their ideas.

However each time when drilling down on this question it effectively comes down to the need to make money.

So for all the good intentions and the philanthropic reasons behind it, the fundamental basics is just the want to make money. So, whether that’s making money in order for you to survive (i.e. making a job for yourself), setting up for a business that can eventually be sold/handed onto the children, or it can still makes sufficient money whilst retired, it still all comes back to the nitty gritty of making money.

In order for a business to be successful it needs to cover bills, wages and running costs otherwise, of course, you go out of business. It comes back to the fact that a business has to make money for it to survive. So, putting all the sentimental reasons to one side when wanting to start, just ask yourself this: can this business idea make any money? If it can’t then don’t even start.

The next question is who is the target market for your product or service? If it is a product then who will buy it and if it’s a service then who will want it? Again, this is a fundamental basic because if you set your business up in such a way that you are not reachable by your target market then you will fail.

So back to the questions in hand: can you make money and who is your target?

If you can answer yes to the first question and define the second then congratulations, you have a great business idea! Of course you then have to do things to get the business up and running but no point if you cannot answers those questions in the first instance.

Having decided that your business idea can make money and there is a market that you want to reach then the next thing is setting your goal. Simply put, its time to get your goals sorted. Then ask yourself: “What do you want to achieve?” “Where do you want to be in 10-15 years?” Then and only then can you put in some structure for the business as then it will start becoming achievable.

Starting a business requires making sure you know where you want to take it. What is your end goal? Knowing where the end of your journey is, it allows you to plan on how to get there.

Top Tips

• Don’t be afraid to ask yourself why do you want to go into business?
• Be aware of your product/services and the potential for customers or target market.
• Assess your own goals of where you want the business to take you. Retirement? Holidays? New home?

So often in the workplace you hear grumbles about the boss and everyone has an opinion about the goings on of the workforce, work place and how it is run.

No matter how big or small the company is, people will always have an opinion about the work management. But normally in and amongst those if you ask them about their boss or line managers, they may say they are okay and they like them however they still generalise about management not functioning properly.

This is because a good manager is someone who works with the functionality of people and treats the staff as individuals as everyone is unique.

Everyone is different and people have their own life situations going on outside of work and people motivated by different things. So, as a manager they need to understand the individuals and support them, rather sitting and issuing orders. There are times when a manger has to take charge and issue orders and when they demand things, they should in theory get done.

There are also times when the boss will have to step up and support and look after the staff to enable them to get the job done. He/she should then recognise and reward their achievements and treat them as individuals throughout the whole process.

Top tips

1. Support your staff rather than issuing orders
2. Reward good performance
3. Treat staff as individuals and be empathetic to their own personal situations.

This is a very interesting subject because men think they make better bosses…but so do women!

However, interestingly enough many women do not like having a woman boss, so having asked the women who makes the better boss, they tend to say women of course but actually the majority prefer a male boss.

On the other hand when asking a man, the natural reaction is of course “men make a better boss” and we don’t see the same reaction when it comes to women because when you get down to it most women actually prefer male bosses. It could be that there is a stigma attached to a man taking orders from a women, certainly maybe less nowadays but it is still there to a degree. plan a route For a woman they see a strong female boss as a possible threat, the claws come out and they can get catty. However before everyone jumps down my throat I realise this is only a generality so don’t kill me…please!

So let’s address the issue, it doesn’t matter, male or female because it is actually about how you manage!

And it doesn’t matter really whether you are a man or woman whether your boss is female or male. The question should be do they manage correctly? Do the employees feel valued? Do they give the employees enough direction as well as keep them motivated and supported? Because if all those things are being done correctly it doesn’t matter if they are male or female.

So the original question doesn’t matter, it will always be about the skill of the manager. So the person who makes the best boss is the one who makes the best manager, who looks after them, acknowledges them and develops them in the work place.

So in summary and to answer the age old question the answer is neither! It is about the individual regardless of gender.

When a small business grows and the business owner does not create a management team, he or she will find themselves overloaded and stressed which as we all know can lead bosses down a very sticky road.

This stress factor may be because all the staff employed will be reporting directly to the MD and so without help they feel they are drowning in work (if this is you then try reading my “Drowning in Paper” advise sheet).

More often than not the reason for this is the fear of delegation or the unwillingness to pay managers, however no matter how good we are at managing the business as it grows we cannot do it all, a successful business needs structure and if you read chapter 1, section 2 of my book “Getting Down to Business”, it explains the need for a proper company structure.

By looking after each of the business divisions; support, sales and marketing and operations (delivery), it allows the MD owner to focus on building the business, while the managers get on with delivering the divisional outcomes.

Remember never be afraid to set up a team to help you. This is to free up your time so you can complete your own work and know that your company and employees are being managed effectively (with your supervision of course!)

Top 3 Tips:

1. The minute you feel yourself struggling, understand it’s time to build your management team.
2. Never be afraid to delegate; it will help you in the long run!
3. Meet up with your team often to ensure work is being completed in a timely and professional manner.

A business without a proper organisational structure will falter with its growth because as a business thrives it will grow to the individuals employed and their skill sets.

This is manageable when its small but the larger it gets the potential for key functions of the business to be ignored or “fall between chairs”, is exaggerated. By having a proper organisational structure it allows for a management team to be created with each manager understanding what their responsibilities are and the outcomes required from their team. It is important to make sure that when giving responsibility that authority is also given to those managers to operate successfully.

By creating the organisational structure not only does it give the opportunity of creating a management team but it gives individuals an understanding of their roles as proper job descriptions can be established for each individual.

Once you’ve assigned or appointed managers it is essential that they themselves are supported, therefore monthly management meetings should be held for:

• Support.
• Mangers to coordinate and liaise.
• Providing the opportunity to set targets and hold managers accountable in areas of their responsibility.

If you successfully achieve this you will be working ON your business instead of IN your business having transferred from having a job to running a business.

Top three tips

1. Separate your org activities into three sections: support, sales and marketing and delivery
2. Assign someone to head up each section
3. When you give someone the responsibility to manage, give them the authority as well

Of course having an organisational structure is only part of what’s needed to grow a successful business. To find out what other things you need to consider, take a look at the full list here.

The question of why you need a business coach often comes up and particularly for small businesses that feel they can’t afford one or maybe a large business that is struggling and feels its wouldn’t be good value for money.

So, let’s explore the question of why you need a business coach. Firstly most business owners are excellent at what they do and what they know, however very few have had any formal management training or experience.

I often hear other coaches try to explain the need by using a sports person as an example i.e. even the top athletes have coaches, we often hear Andy Murray changes his coach as he’s not happy and he is a very successful tennis player who of course, needs a coach.

So why would someone who knows their business or who knows what they are doing need a coach?

Well it’s simple really – an athlete can’t always see what they are doing right or wrong because it’s them doing it. So they need to video themselves and analyse and having a coach helps them with this process. In addition to the physical assistance coaches will provide a mental support, in other words ‘getting their head straight’, well that’s no different in business.

So let me explain – to be successful in business the very first thing to get straight is the attitude and approach, this means ‘getting your head straight’ so that you want to achieve, believe you can achieve and put all the necessary effort into achieving. Unless you are a highly motivated individual you will need help with this process.

Secondly and this is more mentoring than coaching, if you have not had the training or experience to cope when things aren’t going right, a coach/mentor can assist in what best action to take – a second opinion if you like.
Many of my clients say just talking through a problem with me helps them to see a solution even if I’ve said nothing or very little, its having the sounding board, someone outside the business, or a husband or wife who can provide that support or sounding board, this is crucial to success.

Summary

So why do business owners need a coach? Quite simply to help them to be better than what they already are.

Three tips on how to choose a business coach

• Ask other business owners for a recommendation.
• Find three coaches and do a job interview, you need to find someone who you can “gel” with- personality is everything!
• Speak to some of their clients and see how they have helped others.

Over the years I have been posed the question “do business plans work?” from all sorts of people; small business owners, academics, other consultants and business advisers, however there is only one answer that fits all scenarios and the answer is ‘only when they are implemented’.

No matter what size your plan is, whether it’s a business plan or any other kind of plan, (a holiday or moving house) it will only work if implemented. This may sound silly and obvious, however, a high number of my clients have spent money and time putting business plans together and I’m then told they don’t work and yet when exploring the situation I’ve found the reason it “didn’t work” was because no one had thought to actually implement them.

Any business can be improved by simply identifying two or three key areas, setting some simple actions (targets) that need to be undertaken within the business and then following through on these two or three things to make sure they actually happen, resulting in an improvement.

Of course you can have a very complicated business plan and for some of the very large international corporates this could be a plan incorporating a 20 year vision, for example, but for it to work it still has to be implemented.

So my advice is no matter how big or complicated the business is, set up a system to ensure the actions identified in the plan are implemented.

Integrate your plan into your weekly or monthly management meetings so that on a routine basis, either you or your manager’s area being held accountable for implementing the plan.

Summary

A business plan will only work if it is implemented. At the end of the day it is not cost or time effective to spend hours/days/weeks putting together a business plan or any other kind of plan if it never gets implemented.

I have often seen business plans with great vision statements covering their sales, marketing, delivery and ambitions along with a complicated financial forecast that looks and sounds great however they lack a broken down target by target action plan, incorporating all the visions statements into easily doable activity.

So, make sure when you create a business plan you go the extra mile and list out an action plan. Each target on your action plan should be assigned to an individual. The individual as part of the management team would be the person responsible for the implementation, and would have to report progress at your monthly management meeting.

This not only keeps the momentum going but also helps individuals and/or teams to hold focus on what their particular role is within the plan.

It is often better to get others involved in your plans; whether that means telling your friend about them or involving employees on larger scale business plans.

This way the friend/employees will help you keep track by simply asking how the plan is going or offering help on finalising actions for example.

This will keep the plan fresh in your mind and so it will be harder to forget your drive and goal.

Managing people is a very interesting subject and potentially quite complicated. Once you get over the emotional response around the fact that most humans don’t want to be controlled or manipulated.

We all want our free will and self-determination but when it comes down to it unless you manage your staff, you will not have an efficient work force.

Being very controversial people are inherently lazy and will only do the bear minimum that they need to feel secure and safe; of course three is always the odd acceptation to this rule. I’m sure we all know occasional work alcoholic or an individual with ADHD.

So having said all that and offended lots of people let’s get down to brass tacks.

If you want a successful business you need to manage your people.

Now the way you manage them becomes key depending on:-
A) their personality
B) the type of job they are doing and
C) your personality (one day my book will be written covering all of these issues as it’s a massive subject)

Tips and advice

Whether your team is 3 or 30 you must have regular meetings to monitor progress and individuals need to be given responsibility and authority to get their jobs done but there must always be a mechanism for them to report to you on progress and you must always set targets relating to what you want achieved. The larger the organisation and the more senior the position will mean that the targets are more strategic and time scales make it longer i.e. Weekly and monthly as opposed to hourly and daily but the principles are still the same.

Apply a simple process of:-
A) making sure that everyone involved knows what you expect, be very clear and concise about your expectations
B)set time scales
C)get agreement
D) follow-up
E) when completed give praise and recognition of a job well done or constructive criticism if job isn’t quite right.

If you apply those steps A-E to managing your people you will always be successful and respected as a manager.

Managing a workforce will never be a straight forward road but with the right tools it can be a rewarding and gratifying path. The key is to know the difference between leading a team and being the boss of your employees.

As mentioned in my book Getting Down to Business, having employees can be difficult due to different characters and strong opinions bouncing around the workplace, however knowing how to handle them is paramount.

It is imperative you help the employees to understand you are the type of employer who will guide them, make them feel part of a team and gives credit where it’s due. Even small things like saying please and thank you to your employees can mean the difference between quality team spirit alongside a high standard of work and a poor end result.

For me personally it always helps to know what your employees are going through on a day to day basis, they appreciate it when you are able to say things like “when I did this task I found that…” It shows them that at one stage you were in their shoes and puts them at ease. This can also in still trust and respect in the relationship between you and the employee and can help to keep some bosses level headed as naturally the higher up you become, or the more responsibility you take on, the harder it is to remember the days when you were in their shoes.

However as much as you do empathise with them and look after your team you must also remember that you need a be a little bit of a boss too; this is to make sure jobs do get done and so tasks and business plans run to schedule as well. So instead of deciding to be one or the other, why not find a balance that works well for you and your employees? It will always vary with each employee depending on how you need to treat them to get the work done in a timely but high quality manner but remember to have regular progress checks and refer back to my other blog about managing people for extra hints and tips!