Selecting a Business Advisor

As you consider the right person to create a business advisory relationship with, ask yourself which of the following is important to you.

1. Is willing to challenge me and any member of my team when necessary?
2. Has special expertise important to the company?
3. Is available outside meetings for advice and support?
4. Has expertise on global business issues?
5. Understands Firm's key technologies and processes?
6. Brings external contacts that are potentially valuable to the firm?
7. Has detailed knowledge of the Firm's industry?
8. Is accomplished at representing the Firm to stakeholders?

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Questions to Ask When Assessing The Culture

If you are stepping into a new company in a leadership position or taking a role in a new area of your current company, always assess the culture and the impact you choose to have on it. It will be critical to you being able to successfully implement your strategies.

The answers to the following questions will help you understand what you need to about the culture you have inherited and provide the foundation for making your decisions on how you choose to manage it:

1. What is the essence of what the company stands for?
2. How is it really different from it's competitors?
3. What do people who are most successful share in common?
4. What are the common traits among those who have failed?
5. Who are the 5 most respected people in the organization and why?
6. What are the characteristics of the organization's failures or missed opportunities?
7. Do you have the right people to address the issues and implement your strategy?
8. Who are the gatekeepers?
9. Who are the people who really make things happen?

As companies transition from one size to the next, I often see or hear of new and smart leaders coming on board to help take a company to the next level. The successful ones take the time to understand the culture and consider it when developing/implementing strategy. Others end up not so successful because they ignore the culture and wonder why they couldn't get things done.

Take the time to understand the culture and embrace it. You will more clearly see the road map for the most successful path to making the cultural changes "if" required for your journey of getting your company to the next level.

 

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West Wing TV Series - Having Answers vs Asking the Right Questions

Lately I have been looking to discover new content to read or watch on my iPad. I came across an old TV series I always enjoyed watching .... The West Wing. It was on TV for 7 seasons .... a behind the scenes story of the inner workings of the White House.

I enjoyed watching the West Wing for many reasons. Primarily from a leadership perspective. Each week the President and his staff faced different issues. It was every interesting to watch how they addressed those issues......some they handled well and some not so well.

Tough accountable decisions had to be made......The President and his staff needed to put team 1st ... not ego.....it was all about what the President's agenda was......not any individual member of the staff. Healthy conflict and honest communication was critical to exploring and implementing the right decisions. Loyalty to each other and the President was expected and not often spoken about. People had to be open to another point of view and change their view on decisions that needed to be made or accept and support a decision they didn't agree with....quickly get over it and move on to the next one. Every member of the team cared about each other. They survived a very stressful environment because they had each other. As people left the staff, not only the right skills had to be replaced, but the person had to be the right fit for the rest of the team. The rest of the team had to accept them quickly so the President's agendas were always being addressed.

As I watched this TV series for 7 years when it originally aired, it helped me learn many things about the different facets of successful leadership, teambuilding and business building. As I watch it years later again on my iPad, it still has many great lessons and reminders.

An episode I watched recently was framed around President Bartlett (President of the United States in the TV series)  along with 2 former Presidents traveling on Air Force One to attend a funeral of a foreign leader. During the flight the President was dealing with an emergency in another part of the world and was in dialogue back and forth with the former Presidents throughout the episode discussing alternatives and their views. The point I want to make through all this is to fast forward to the end of the episode where one of the former Presidents makes the comment that it "is a shame that it takes getting to the end of eight years in office before we begin to really know the questions we need to be asking when facing the issues that come to any President."

This comment is really a mouthful .... getting to the point where a leader can ask all the right questions rather than have all the answers.  As we enter organizations and rise through promotions that come our way we are trained to have the right answers and become very good at having those answers when they are needed. We become experts with all the answers.

The puzzling thing becomes that to make the transition to senior leadership in any business, we have to get really good at knowing what we don't know...... and asking the right questions! The really good senior leaders ask the insightful questions .... are comfortable in their own skin when not knowing things and are open to letting their own teams pursue the answers.

Take the time today to ask some really good questions of your staff. Fight the urge to answer them yourself. Sit back and watch what happens.

Also, measure the advisors you surround yourself with....they should be asking the right questions.....not just providing you with answers!

 

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Get The Most Out of Your Advisor

Regardless of whether or not you are leading & managing the entire business or a specific area of the company, find the "right person" to "roll up their sleeves" on select activities/projects to increase your bandwidth and/or work in an advisory capacity with you. 

Someone who has built a company and successfully transitioned it through the many life cycle phases of a product and building a business ...... someone who will work with you to create a personalized approach you can count on to fit your style and needs .....  Helping you manage the right mix of working "on" your business vs just working "in" it. 

Too much time working "in" the business will increase the odds that the light at the end of the tunnel you travel through from one phase of business building to the next will be a train coming right at you rather than a successful journey to the next stage. 

The right advisor for you is a confidant & collaborator who understands the context of the things you face. Helping you anticipate and address the issues as well as the emotional & psychological challenges that lie ahead. The right advisor will not only help you with some of the ongoing strategic decisions you will face, but will be "up to speed on your world" enough to "roll up the sleeves" and increase your bandwidth. Playing a role when you or one of your team don't have the time to move a project forward. 

This “been there ally” will help you anticipate the obstacles & requirements for success ahead. Supporting your need to stay rooted in the present while guiding you through the operational challenges for getting to the next level. Always focused on your development & accomplishments.

Once you find the right person, consider the process you will use to optimize your time and effort to keep your advisor "up to speed" .... so he or she always has an understanding of the background on anything you need advice and support with.  The following is a framework I have found to be a good starting place to adjust and personalize in a way that is best for you:

Monthly Review - meet once a month and discuss things that you are .... or will be facing. Consider a framework like the following:

Industry

1. What changes are taking place in your industry that will have a positive or negative impact on your area of responsibility?
2. What impact will the changes have on your company if you take no action?

Markets

1. Are the markets generating 80% of your business growing or shrinking?

Customers

1. What are prospects/customers expectations of your company and staff ... by customer segment? 
2. How do these expectations compare to and/or perform in comparison to competitors today?
3. How is the customer/prospects buying process changing .... especially as you consider different customer segments?
4. What early warning signals are you aware of that could negatively impact your key customer relationships?
5. Is the average size of your "orders" growing or shrinking?

Competitors

1. Who are they?
2. How are they different than your company?
3. Are they growing? Are they failing?
4. Who are you worried about?
5. Who are their key customers?
6. Who are their key employees?
7. What/how much influence are they having on your customer segments, revenue streams, margins and why? 
8. What obstacles are they creating for you in getting and keeping customers?
9. What actions should you be taking, by whom and when?

Technology

1. What technology application can give you a competitive advantage?
2. What technology application in the hands of a competitor will harm you?

Costs

1. What cost line items are rising faster than you are comfortable with?

People

1. What are the symptoms/clues of people being turned off?
2. Who are best in your company and why should they stay 3 more years?
3. Who are average and have the potential to perform better? 
4. Who are the weakest links and why should they leave?

Basic Recurring Problems (BRCs)

1. What problems keep happening and nothing is being done about it? 
2. What are the root causes for these problems?
3. What corrective action should be taken by whom and when?

Resource Allocation

1. Are resources being focused on the right customers/prospects?
2. Are resources being focused on the right products/services?
3. Are resources being focused on the right activities?

Other Questions to Consider

1. What major opportunities do you see ahead?
2. What is your single biggest problem?
3. What is the major threat you see for your businesses and/or your area of responsibility?
4. If you could change one thing, what would you change?
5. Where is your biggest revenue producing opportunity?
6. Where is your biggest cost reduction opportunity?
7. What are you spending most of your time on over the next 3 months?
8. What things are you now doing that you would like to stop doing or would like to turn over to someone else?
9. What one thing is bugging you right now?

Keep Your Advisor Connected on Regular Basis

Look for ways to ensure your advisor has the right "database of intelligence" when it is needed to support your needs.

1. Send him e-mails/attachments providing background he can read on a regular basis.
2. Have him attend select meetings to gain understanding of select topics and staff.
3. Phone, face meeting or email to keep up to speed on select topics so your advisor can be considering feedback for when the time is right.

Select Activities/Specific Role

As you look to personalize a framework to access and use your advisor, time can be set aside weekly or monthly to address your needs.  

Proactive Advice and Feedback

The right advisor will always be "mentally" engaged/focused on your challenges and opportunities and looking for ways to add value.

Last but not least, I recommend you create a monthly retainer relationship with the right advisor. When done effectively, this method is fair to both of you. It protects you against spending more than you want .... and enables the advisor to invest time and effort and to be mentally engaged on a regular basis using his knowledge and experience for you and your objectives .... without either one of you worried about a time clock.

 

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