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Help! I Can’t See the Wood for the Trees

By Noel Guilford, Guilford Consulting
 
Have you ever felt that your business is running you rather than the other way round? Then join the large number of owner managers for whom increasing competition, legislation, costs and bureaucracy are making running their own business seem less attractive. Surely there is a way of getting off this treadmill and enjoying ‘being your own boss’ again?
 
The answer is that there is, but not in a way as clichéd as working ‘smarter not harder’ and ‘on the business not in the business’. You need to stand back and survey where you are now; where you are going and whether it is in the direction you want to go.
 
The first step is to make two resolutions: 1) there are going to be some changes around here. (No-one ever got a different outcome by doing more of the same.), and 2) I’ll take some time away from the business. (A couple of half-days or a weekend may be enough, but they must be away from the business).
 
Next get an independent, objective person to facilitate the meeting you are going to hold. Big businesses give these meetings grand sounding titles so feel free to do the same – even if it’s around the kitchen table. An outside facilitator will bring two vital ingredients to the meeting: the ability to be totally objective and make sure everyone’s views are aired, and some tools and techniques for running the meeting which will ensure outcomes are achieved (and are usually good fun). Choosing the right person who gets on with your team is important so speak to several business consultants before appointing one to act for you.
 
The meeting should be attended by the owners, directors and senior managers. In some businesses this is just the husband and wife and in others a team of 10-12 people. The only difference is the preparation you do before the meeting (and of course at the venue!) because everyone attending must be clear about the objectives.
 
The meeting itself will follow an outline plan designed to identify where the business is currently, where it wants to go and how it will get there. This order is important because too many businesses identify their current issues and immediately start to solve them, without knowing if they are really solving the strategically important issues first. So in groups of 3-4 people we ask ‘if you had a magic wand and it could change anything in your business without worrying how much it would cost, what would be?’ A little later, when we have fifty or so issues, I usually reckon we have most of the important ones. We now look at where the owners of the business want it to be: here the question is ‘what will the business look and feel like in five years time and how will you be spending your time?’
 
If the meeting is professionally facilitated these simple questions will identify the key business issues and the goals of the ‘stakeholders’. Back in the office you will have a much clearer, and focussed, plan of where you are going and how to get there.
 
If you are interested in learning more about these techniques you may want to join the ‘Senior Management Network’ which is being launched in Cheshire and North Wales at a free workshop on Thursday 27th February at Rowton Hall. For more information – without obligation – contact Guilford Consulting on 01244 660866 or by e-mail to noel@guilfordconsulting.co.uk

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