The following is a discussion of the financial and operational impact Inside Solutions (IS) has had on Company A. The company is headed by a young, bright entrepreneur who had been in business for several years. The problems he encountered are typical to innovative, creative entrepreneurs who have great vision but little or no business experience and support in building companies in a fast moving environment. The problems typically begin when they achieve a certain level of success and are challenged to expand and grow in this rapidly changing business world. The discussion will include,
1) The issues that led the president of the company to seek the IS intervention . . (creating clarity)
2) The assessment made by the IS
3) The identified strategies to deal with those issues (creating focus)
4) The implementation of those strategies
5) The results (abundance)

Company A

Company A contacted IS after experiencing a major decline in productivity, employee morale and overall operational disorganization for the past year. The company was doing well for several years and began to expand its staff and take on more business. The president, who had no difficulty managing a few people, found himself overwhelmed and constantly pressed for time as more business and new staff came on board. His constant feelings of being overwhelmed, led to his inability to see clearly where his company was heading and focus on what he needed to do make sure it succeeds. He became reactive rather than proactive. He found himself stressed and angry much of the time. This led to his becoming unavailable to and unreasonably demanding of his staff. This attitude resulted in a cycle of numerous hiring and firing (or quitting) over the past year, gradually eroding the confidence of the staff members who were part of the core group. They began to feel abused, taken for granted and resentful. This resulted in their lack of motivation to work for the president which ultimately led to their severe decline in productivity and to costly mistakes rendering the company on the verge of collapse.

When IS came, it began by interviewing the president and all staff members. The key at this stage is to create a safe environment so that the employees feel free to speak openly and honestly. On the part of the president it took his willingness to take the time to honestly reflect on his situation, allowing himself to slow his thoughts, examine them, get clear about where he is and where he needs to be, and get in touch with what he needs to do in order to move his company forward. The greatest challenge was to help him see that he must take the time to reflect on his situation. A common attitude that many managers have is that they are feeling so pressed for time, they don’t feel they can take the time to evaluate their situation and get the feedback necessary to assess whether their company is indeed on the right track. However, not taking the time when necessary, will ultimately cost them not only more time, but also more money since their lack of forethought usually results in costly breakdowns and mistakes.

The first identified problem was his bookkeeping system. He lost his bookkeeper and was “too busy” to hire a new one. He began taking care of all his financial accounting, but because of time management difficulties and poor bookkeeping skills, he was not on top of the company’s accounts receivable and payable. Consequently, the company was not getting its due payments and was unable to pay its vendors. This led to the company’s poor credit rating which resulted in the vendors not cooperating to their fullest with deliveries of essential products. The impact on the staff was great since they had to often fight with the vendors to get what they need, or look for new costly vendors who will serve them more efficiently. In addition, the staff had to constantly deal with the discontent of their clients who were promised delivery by a certain date, and more often than not experienced severe delays. This created a vicious cycle of continuous crisis for the staff- taking a severe toll on their performance and their moral. It also led them to fear any new business that came in, for they did not know how to handle it successfully given the limitations of their situation. They acknowledged feeling so overwhelmed and hopeless that they were actually sabotaging new accounts.

Additionally, as new hiring left, their responsibilities were expected to be absorbed by the core staff. The individual job descriptions began to merge resulting, for example, in the production person being required to do estimations and the assistant production person doing some Mac work. Employees were no longer clear about what was expected of them. Various tasks were not handled since each employee assumed someone else was responsible for them. Also the president, who was constantly in crises mode, putting out fires, stopped attending the staff meetings and the individual supervision time was no longer adhered to. This left the staff floundering. Without clear structure and supportive leadership, the company was obviously in dire trouble.

Strategies:

1) Deal with immediate bookkeeping crisis.
2) Create an environment that emphasizes community where individuals feel supported and encouraged to be creative and grow.
3) Provide leadership, articulating clearly the company’s vision.
4) Assess and define goals, develop plans, and build and expand on what currently works.
5) Maximize the President’s time

Strategy:

1) Hire a bookkeeper to manage the accounts receivable and payable.
2) The president will meet with the employees to let them communicate their issues and help them regain their faith in him and the company.
3) Provide leadership - articulating clearly the company’s vision.
4) Define concise job descriptions for each employee.
5) Reinstate staff meetings and individual supervision.
6) Assess each employee’s strengths, limitations and goals, and develop strategies for achieving those goals.
7) Create new communication processes. 8. Hire a manager to free the president.

Implementation:

1) A bookkeeper was hired who immediately developed a system to track accounts receivable, and to work with the vendors on establishing payment plans so that they can feel assured that they will be paid.
2) It took a couple of meetings with the staff to arrive at a place where they felt heard, valued and understood. Once that occurred, they were eager and optimistic that the company can get back to functioning successfully with the new approach.
3) Staff meetings and individual supervision time were reinstated with the commitment that barring major emergencies, these meetings will be consistently attended by all. It took a couple of weeks of reminders and discussions of being on time before the routine became part of the culture. These meetings were very focused and goal oriented, with specific issues addressed. During these meetings, the president communicated his vision and included his staff in that vision.
4) During the individual supervision meetings, concise job descriptions were developed by both the president and the employee. Boundaries were clear and satisfied both parties.
5) Staff members were requested to write a list of their strengths, limitations and goals. A meeting with each yielded specific issues, and interventions to deal with their personal limitations and help them achieve their goals were developed. Although each employee had his/her own issues, a common limitation each one complained about was his/her inability to get organized in their daily routine. They realized that while they planned to accomplish X, they often found themselves distracted by other tasks, leaving them feeling by the end of the day like they didn’t get much done. A morning meeting was held to help them prioritize their objectives for the day. Then at night they reviewed their accomplishment and found that they actually had completed more than they expected. The only real issue around this usually involved some task that the person hated to do and would avoid at all cost. We instituted specific plan around those tasks.
6) Responsibility for better and more effective communication by all staff members was encouraged through role modeling, examples and reflections.
7) Since there was not enough staff to meet the current volume of the company’s clients, it was decided that the company was going to eliminate most of their less profitable clients and focus on retaining their large clients and bringing in only big clients. This strategy would continue to be evaluated and expanded upon with marketing and other plans over time.
8) After three months the company regained its profits to the point where the president was able to afford an office manager who took on the major supervisory role with the line worker.

Results:

The impact of IS’ intervention was immediate. The meeting with the staff and the president created clarity and focus which brought forth a new energy that gave an empowered optimistic feelings to all. There was a sense of change in the air that permitted an openness to doing things differently. Everyone felt responsible for his/her role in this new environment. While it took some time for certain patterns of behaviors and attitudes to shift, and new ones to manifest, there was a renewed commitment and investment to make the company successful. The staff felt heard and experienced a sense of empowerment and contribution. Although the workload did not diminish in actuality, it was more efficient and productive. People came to work happy and excited. The president, who was now feeling less overwhelmed and more focused and organized, was better able to pursue his responsibilities of expanding the company’s client base as well as support his staff in their work.

The bottom line was obviously greatly effected. Whereas, when IS arrived the company was in the red and unable to pay its bills, within a month, the company was even, and a month later was making significant profits. When IS left three months later, the company was well on its way to financial success.

The above mentioned problems are not unique to this company. Many companies who are undergoing rapid expansion and growth, face similar challenges. The need to stop, reflect, and reevaluate where the company is going and develop strategies to deal with its new needs as it unfolds and expands, is essential for insuring the success and the overall well being of the company. Managers must achieve clarity so that they can focus on that they need to do in order to be effective leaders in this very chaotic, fast moving environment.