Business Coaching

Any business is hard work. Just ask any one who's tried to get a business up and running. It doesn't matter whether it is the corner store, working on computer from home, a tradesman going out on his own, or starting a manufacturing enterprise.

Yes, it's about knowledge and skills and it's about interpersonal and communication skills and it's about having the internal "stuff" and resilience that it takes to make it all happen. (Added to this is that it sometimes takes just being in the right place at the right time.)

The two pillars of any business seem to be the dollars and cashflow (the finance) and the sales (the marketing). If you have staff, then people are the third pillar; and business owners constantly tell me that the latter pillar is the hardest to manage!

Coaching is therefore designed to see where your business is at currently, and where you wish to be and then determining the steps to make it happen. It means keeping you accountable to that plan.

How do you get your family business to grow and increase profit?

Family Business coaching occurs when families are in business together.  Usually a parent (typically the father or grandfather) starts the business and builds it from humble beginnings to a profitable business over time.

Families can be complex networks at the best of times and provide intriguing interactions with agendas of all kinds being played out.  However, when there is both Power and Money involved, the agendas become larger and more emotional and often more devastating. 

More often than not Egos get involved and emotions such as anger and then resentment or depression and sadness start to destroy families that once communicated and interacted well and that once loved and cared for each other. The result is devastation, hurt, and chaos.

It doesn't have to be that way.

The major questions usually surround issues such as:

Succession planning -- Who will take over and when? Who is considered the most desirable successor?  Is the current person in charge ready to give over the reins, and if not, what needs to happen to transfer the power and running of the business?
Who works in the business? -- Who wants to work in the business and what might their role be not only in the early stages, but as they progress through the company? Who is going to mentor them as they progress or do we simply leave it up to "luck" or "good fortune?"
When do they join the business? -- Do they join straight from school or do they gain outside experience first and if so, for how long? If outside the business for a period, who monitors their progress and what skills and abilities they are acquiring?
Who gets what when? -- Are some family members silent shareholders, and if so, what is their dividend and when does it come?
Is only the family involved? -- Who makes the decisions re the family business? Is it just the family of origin (eg, mother, father and children) or does it also include the extended family (eg, wives, husbands, children of the original children etc)?

The process of resolving these issues does not happen overnight (they weren't created overnight either!), but it involves communicating with each family member, understanding the concerns and endeavouring to bring about a consensus. 

Sometimes, some family member's egos are difficult to shift, but the process is still the same, Communication and Consensus. 

This process of determining how to move forward is where an independent Coach can talk to individual members, talk to the group as a whole, and open up the lines of communication so that the family can resolve any issues and not be left with "unfinished business" in the form of bad feelings and resentment.

A tall order maybe given that some families entrench themselves into corners, egos rule the day, and then when they are all in crisis, call in the Consultant "Rehabilitative" Coach.

Proactive families see the issues coming long before they arrive and call in the Consultant "Preventative" Coach as a wise protective measure. The motto is of course, "the earlier the better".

Click here to contact Dr. Cross if you would like to discuss further.