I am having trouble thinking about - and therefore, writing about - anything other than the recent shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. As a resident of New England, I am finding so many of us have connections to this town or friends and family in the surrounding area and it has hit incredibly close to home. So instead of a business-related post this week, I take a few moments to put to attempt to put into words what so many of us are feeling.
Thank you to the amazing teachers who did everything in their power to protect the children in their care, and to the administrators who ran into danger without hesitation to save students and staff. You have reminded us what it means to be a hero. Thank you to the first responders who charged into an unimaginable scene and kept their focus under the worst of circumstances. Thank you to those starting to have honest and balanced discussions about where we go from here, regardless of your political or religious ideals - we must work together to move forward. Thank you to those people around the country and around the world for the outpouring of support for this beautiful New England town, for your small but powerful acts of kindness, and for restoring our faith in humanity when we need it most. Thank you to the people of Newtown for demonstrating such grace, strength and dignity through such a horrible time, and for being a role model for the nation on how to support each other as a community. Thank you to the families of those who were lost for sharing your stories, for telling us about your amazing children, parents, cousins, siblings...and for letting us grieve with you. There are no words we can offer to ease your pain, but know you are in our thoughts every day. Wishing you all hope and peace this holiday season. It's time to finalize plans for your business next year. It can be overwhelming, but if you can keep yourself focused on a few major areas it can help you acheive your goals.
In order to reach goals, you first need to HAVE goals. Start by dreaming big, then prioritize your efforts in some key areas in this straightforward exercise. There are a lot of other factors that need to go into planning - detailed budgets, staffing plans, cash flow, etc. - take a step back from the details for a moment and look at your overall strategy. Step 1 - What are the top 3 things you want to accomplish in 2013 for each of these areas? Don't limit yourself here - think big, but once you brainstorm ideas pick your top three for each category. Are there other categories you need to add for your particular company? Go ahead and add them, just limit them to major categories to make the exercise reasonable. * Strategic goals * Client prospects you want to work with * Marketing methods/venues * Existing client support and growth * Internal operational improvements Step 2 - What are the top 3 tactical steps you can do for each? Take the items you listed above and break it down to three tactical steps for each. If one of your goals is to expand your marketing by speaking at events, list three people or groups you can connect with to make that happen. If your goal is to reach $10 million in revenue, list three things you can do to grow your revenue with your existing product/service mix or by introducing a new revenue stream. If you need to grow your operational staff to support your planned growth this year, list three key positions you need to make your team balanced and able to scale with your growth. Step 3 - Prioritize your tasks and build your plan. You now have a pretty long list of actionable items you can take - which ones are the most important to your overall business? Launching a new product? Improving an internal process? This is where you start to build in a bit of reality and prioritize your efforts. Be sure you have a mix of client-focused and internally-focused tasks in your plan. You can't have a company without clients, and you can't support your clients without strong internal operations - be sure you pay attention to both. You can group your actions by calendar quarter to further refine your priorities, and to make sure you aren't trying to do too many things at once. Your plan may shift throughout the year, but getting yourself focused and putting things on paper now will help you stay in control in 2013. Debbie Millin is President of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim Chief Operating Officer services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. www.upperlevelsolutions.com Venture capital, private equity and business service firms (accountants, lawyers, etc) have a vested interest in their client companies succeeding. When your client's business is running well, audits go more smoothly, they are paying your invoices on time - and most importantly for investors, when your portfolio company is running well and on a growth track, you are far more likely to get a return on your investment.
A friend of mine, a business lawyer, recently asked me what kinds of things she should look for as 'clues' that her clients may need some operational help - here are a few examples: * Missing deadlines for deliverables and projects * Spending is consistently over budget * Not meeting strategic objectives * Trouble hiring new staff * Not meeting revenue targets * Increase in internal costs with no associated revenue growth * Not getting repeat business * Unhappy employees * Issues with project execution * Sudden/unexpected changes in senior leadership These could be signs of existing underlying operational problems or signs that operational problems are on the horizon. Depending on the depth of the issue and the company, they may need a full-time operational leader or someone to come in for some one-time adjustments. What other issues have you seen as indications of operational issues? Leave a comment and share your experience. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. What exactly is a Chief Operating Officer, and why is it so difficult to define?
Investopedia offers the following description: “The senior manager who is responsible for managing the company's day-to-day operations and reporting them to the chief executive officer (CEO).” That’s still a pretty broad statement. Wikipedia further states that the COO role varies widely based on the needs of the CEO of the company. For instance, while in one business the COO might be responsible for all internal processes, HR and Finance, in another the COO might run client relations, sales operations and product management. It is difficult to define because it is an ever-changing role to fill the needs of the company based on the strengths/weaknesses of the CEO and based on different phases of corporate growth. In summary, the COO is someone who helps you run your business in whatever ways you need. There are three questions for CEOs to consider when deciding to hire a COO: 1. Do you have enough time to review the day-to-day operations on a regular basis? Depending on your business, you need to focus on your operations a minimum of once a week. Looking at a series of monthly reports is helpful, but it is not enough. If you are finding you are going two or three weeks at a time without taking a look at your operations in some form, you may be losing opportunities to increase efficiencies, make your clients happier and/or grow your revenues. 2. What are the skills you need to best complement your own? If you’re stronger in sales and customer relations, get someone who is stronger in administration and internal processes to complement your own strengths. If you aren’t good at the details, get someone really strong in logistics and project management. There is no one-size-fits-all job description for this role – it truly depends on what you and your business need. 3. Full-time or part-time? This hasn't always been an option for an executive role, but there are a growing number of part-time executives and that gives the CEO a lot more options. Depending on your business and your stage of growth, you may need anything from someone reviewing your operations a few hours a week to a full-time position. This should be driven by looking at both what the business needs and what you can afford. For aggressively growing companies you need to bring in a strong person BEFORE you start to have issues. If you are starting to miss deadlines periodically or your clients have started to register a complaint here or there, don’t wait any longer – those are signs that you need to tight up your operations. Startups that are more strapped for cash might want to test the waters and bring someone on 4 hours a week to start– you can get some very talented people with great experience on a part-time basis. This gives you a chance to see how the person fits into your culture, determine their strengths and think about what other responsibilities you might want to start rolling into the COO job description to free up your time. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. You started your business because you saw a gap that needed to be filled, or looked at your competitors and thought “I can do better.” You are really good at creating whatever it is you are delivering to your clients – software, professional services, etc. When you start a company you generally become the Chief Everything Officer and do tasks from setting up your website to writing your blogs and balancing your books. It might feel like you need to know everything…but you don’t.
If you can’t afford to have an internal staff just yet, surround yourself with allies and partners that can help you through. Your accountant, your lawyer, your best friend who has owned a business for 10 years – talk to anyone and everyone, get their experiences and advice. Build your list of allies and rely on them as needed through different phases of your company’s growth. There are also a growing number of incredibly experienced executives offering part-time services. That means you could potentially have a knowledgeable C-level person on your team only when you need them and at a fraction of the cost. Traditionally this part-time world has been reserved for the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), but increasingly there are executives from marketing, operations, and technology entering part-time/interim consulting and you can utilize these resources to help you. The best thing you can do for yourself and for your company is realize you DON’T need to know everything, understand your weaknesses, and surround yourself with people to fill those gaps. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. www.upperlevelsolutions.com Both of my children are athletes, and while they play a variety of positions on the field or ice, they are both pretty defensive minded at their core. My nieces (also great athletes) are the same way. Why are all these Maxwell kids defensemen, I wondered. It occurred to me one day that my brother and I both have careers in the operations side of our respective businesses – and I started to see the link between the operations of a company and the defense of a team.
1. Defense and offense must work together. Operations is defense; sales is offense. They are both critical to success, and need to work together at all times, constantly refining the transition between the two to keep the team in sync. Teams where there is a mutual respect and genuine support between these two groups are the ones that are most successful. 2. You need a solid defensive coach. If the CEO is the head coach, the COO is your defensive coach. Your Chief Operating Officer watches over all the day-to-day aspects of your business and keeps things running so you can focus on external items (sales, marketing, industry trends, fundraising, etc.) Having someone in a leadership position who has a strong background in operations means you have someone who not only understands how things work but someone who will also have the respect of their employees because they have ‘been there’ and understand your employees’ needs. 3. A strong defense lets you focus on offense. The sign of a good defense is when you barely notice they’re on the ice. They do their job, block the shots and get the puck back to the offense with little fanfare. Similarly, the sign of a great operations team is that your processes, equipment, and delivery systems and teams run like a well-oiled machine and don’t require a lot of your attention. A wise boss of mine once said if the only thing a client is complaining about is the format of your reports, then you’re in good shape – everything else is working. Operations teams are usually incredibly strong and knowledgeable people focused on their goal of holding down the fort. The sales team is often made up of equally strong professionals who are focused on their one goal – getting the deal. In the overall health of a company there is more of a focus on sales (goals/assists) than there is on avoided problems (blocked shots, protection in the neutral zone) and that’s OK as long as you have a defensive coach keeping an eye on those aspects for you. When more issues in operations are rising to your level, you – like any good coach – need to address it head on and correct those issues so you can get back to scoring more goals. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. After months of endless campaign ads and debates, it’s finally here – election day. No matter your political ideology, it is important to get out and exercise your right to vote today. Looking back on this long and oftentimes painful election, let’s take a few lessons that apply to the business world.
Stay positive. Nobody likes those negative campaign ads. Nobody. When the candidates start taking shots at each other it makes us all – well, disappointed. The public responds much better to the ads where the candidates state their views, their plans for the future, talk about their experience and why they deserve your vote. Similarly, it’s not good business to take shots at your competitors – you will make your customers (and employees) disappointed. Talk about what your company has done to be successful, why you are a great place to work, and why you deserve your customer’s business. Be inspiring. Be bold. Just don’t be negative. Spend your money wisely – and base decisions on data. I am glad I don’t live in a swing state – I can’t imagine how many ads they are seeing on a daily basis. But, that’s where the candidates need to spend their money – their teams have reviewed the data and determined where they need to be in order to win more votes and win the electoral college. It’s a focused strategic attack. What data is your company looking at to determine your strategy? Where do you need to focus? Do you need to overcome a rising competitor in a certain sector or geography? Do you want to grow a new product line to be first to market? Regardless of your product or service, you should know your audience, know what key metrics you need to be looking at to ‘win’, and spend your budget dollars in a strategic way. Stay true to your message. I may not agree with a candidate’s views, but I need to know what they are. When candidates start changing their message to try to make themselves appealing to everyone they are actually making themselves appealing to nobody. How can we support you if we don’t know what you stand for? State your platform, and stick to it. Same with your company –what is your mission? What are your core principles and what are your strengths? It is far better to develop a loyal following of customers who support your message/service/product than to try to be everything to everyone. Stay true to your customers and true to yourself. Surround yourself with great people. Every candidate has strengths and weaknesses, and they strive to build a team that is full of smart, dedicated people that help them overcome their weaknesses and complement their strengths. They put their campaigns in the hands of these people – they need to have the best. Just as importantly, they need people they trust to represent them and not have an ill-prepared statement that is going to end up on the 6:00 news. When building your management team, particularly for smaller, growing companies, you are putting your company and your personal reputation in their hands. Have a good understanding of your weaknesses and seek out talented people who have those skills to round out your overall team. Choose experienced and driven people who will represent your company well and help you to create a strong vision, strong employees, and strong customer base. Create a well-oiled machine with a customer focus. A presidential candidate cannot know every single thing happening in every state and every town. They develop an overall strategy with their team, put strong people in key positions to oversee each area, and also have strong people ‘on the ground’ to get the job done. Good campaigns take a local approach to their overall strategy and put detailed plans and processes in place to make their campaign hum. As Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local” and it becomes even more important to create a personal connection with voters in an increasingly electronic world. A company needs to have an overall strategy, with tactical plans and processes behind them. Putting strong people in your key positions and aligning all your departments to a common goal help you create a well-oiled machine in your operations. It also empowers your employees ‘on the ground’ to know their role in the overall organization and allows them to focus on your customers creating a personal connection that will win their loyalty. Focus on your operations, create a well-oiled machine, and your employees and your customers will be happier for it. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. We have all been there – despite all your best efforts and planning some days are just plain tough when you are running a business. Whether you are an
executive at a Fortune 500 company or just starting your own company from a home office, these simple rules still apply: Cut yourself some slack – There are incredible demands on your time and energy and you simply can’t get to it all some days. You are going to make mistakes. Whatever is causing your tough day, you are probably beating yourself up about something you should have done sooner/differently/etc. Stop doing that… just move forward. Remember what you are trying to accomplish – Remembering to look at the big picture can be helpful on those not-so-great days. When was the last time you read your company’s mission statement? Or looked at the strategic goals you set for the year? Tough days are a good opportunity to take 5 minutes to review your bigger plans to put things in perspective and keep you focused on your goals. Make your to-do list, and do one thing at a time – Task lists can really help keep you on track, but can also be a bit overwhelming when you start to write down a very long list of everything you have to do that day. Prioritize your list; I like to put the things I MUST get done that day and some things that I know I can do quickly at the top of my list. That way I stay focused on the time sensitive items and also give myself some ‘quick wins’ so I can feel good crossing off some of those tasks. Do something good for yourself – Sometimes the best thing to do on a bad day is to get away from your desk and regroup. Take a walk. Go to the gym. Get an afternoon pick-me-up at Starbucks or have an ice cream for lunch. It really doesn’t matter what it is, but do something that will make you feel good. You would do something nice for your spouse or best friend if they were having a bad day – why not do something for yourself? Keep things in perspective and find a way to get yourself back on track. Tomorrow is a new day. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. Any growing company is bound to have its share of chaos. Maybe it’s an organizational structure that evolved over time but it isn’t working any more. Maybe one day you take a step back and look at how your departments are interacting and realize they aren’t interacting at all the way you thought they were. Perhaps you realize it is taking your team 3 ½ weeks to complete a monthly task and you panic when you calculate how much it is costing you. Then of course there’s the ultimate chaos – the clients aren’t getting their products/services when you said they would – or worse, they are late and full of errors - and you are starting to get a bad reputation.
Any of that sound familiar? Step 1 – Acknowledge the Chaos Here’s the good news - you are NOT alone. Fantastic companies with equally fantastic products and services inevitably hit a spot in their growth where doing things the same way just doesn’t work anymore. You are starting to see that things could and should be running more smoothly. Well done – you’re on your way. Step 2 – Embrace the Chaos Here’s the better news – this is happening because your company is GROWING. You have probably spent most of your time to date focused on sales, financing, marketing…all the typical things needed to get your company going. You were right to focus on those things, and the fact that you’re at this point now means all of that hard work is paying off. You should actually be feeling pretty good about the fact that you have a company big enough to have chaos within it. Take a moment to embrace it – but only a moment, because if you embrace it for too long it will start to hold you back. Step 3 – Do Something About It It’s time to focus on your operations – it’s that simple. But that is easier said than done. You still have all those other things to focus on (sales, financing, marketing, etc.) and you probably have a small management team, all of whom are working above capacity already. Proceed with caution – creating too many internal projects and pulling people off their ‘regular’ jobs to address an issue can cause a direct hit to the bottom line, exacerbate your already existing problems, and cause your employees to be unhappy (that translates to ‘less productive'). You need to have your key team members involved in these discussions, but keep their assigned tasks to a minimum. When looking at your operations, you also need to think about whether you will take a project-based or ongoing approach. In other words, are there a few specific issues that need a one-time fix, or do you need a Chief Operating Officer to act as second-in-command on a more regular basis to tend to the day-to-day? If you’re not sure where to start, bring in someone on a part-time or consulting basis to test the waters and help you figure it out. Speak with your colleagues about their experiences, and talk honestly about the issues you are facing. They may have already gone through it and you can benefit from their knowledge. Always remember – you are not alone. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. You’ve decided to take the leap and hire a Chief Operating Officer to lead your operations team. It is a critical position to the future of your company, so take your time and avoid these common pitfalls:
1. Candidates are not senior enough. You start out thinking you want an executive role, but during your search process you scale it back to something at a lower level because (a) you can’t afford an executive level person – or at least you think you can’t, (b) you don’t want to upset your existing senior managers by bringing in someone above them, or (c) both. Be sure that you are bringing someone in at the appropriate level for your company and your situation – it may cost a little more and it may temporarily ruffle some feathers, but it will pay huge dividends in the long run. 2. Candidates are too senior. This happens more than you might think. You find someone with fantastic experience at Fortune 100 companies coupled with every certification and degree on the planet and naturally assume this person must be brilliant and will lead your company to greatness. 9 times out of 10 this person is trouble to a growing company. These folks may not have rolled up their sleeves in a long time and may not be the right fit at all for an entrepreneurial company. They are also used to spending money as they please, and may over-engineer a multi-million dollar solution that you don’t need. Beware of the impressive pedigree – be sure there’s substance underneath it and that they are going to fit in your culture. 3. You don’t listen to your existing management team. You have hired your current management team for their skills and knowledge. They know how your operations work – probably better than you do. That’s ok, they’re supposed to. If you like a candidate but the majority of your management team doesn’t think that’s the right person, do yourself a huge favor and listen to them. Ask them why – they may have some insights you don’t, or they may not be able to articulate anything but a gut feel. Don’t dismiss that. You may need to sort through any politics that are feeding into their thought process, but in my experience people are often more focused on getting the job done than their own personal gain. Listen to them. 4. You limit your search to candidates within your industry. This is often a very big mistake. Of course there are some specific industries that require very specific experience, but that is the exception not the rule. I’m guessing your job description has a line like this: “__ years of experience in the ___ industry” - but you don’t really need that to be successful. Any good operations person has skills that can be applied across almost any industry. As a perfect example – I know the owner of a company in a traditionally ‘closed’ industry that was looking for someone to lead his operations team for over a year. He decided to open the search to candidates without the originally required industry experience, and he hired someone who was a great fit for the role in a matter of weeks. Don’t limit yourself. Find a good, smart ops person and they will learn your industry quicker than you think. 5. You are only looking for local, full-time candidates. Many employees only visit an office a couple of times a week, if at all. If someone has a computer and phone – and the right background – they can get the job done for you. Think about what’s right for your culture. You might truly need a COO-level person, but only need them part-time. Explore your options – there are a growing number of highly accomplished executives offering part-time or interim services. It may allow you to get a more senior level person than you could otherwise afford while lowering your overall budget. Debbie Millin is President/CEO of UpperLevel Solutions - a Boston-based firm offering part-time and interim COO services, operational assessments and executive project leadership. |