Growing beyond the entrepreneurial stage:
An entrepreneur-led technology company hit a plateau in growth. It was thriving in its start-up days but has experienced limited success since it began expanding and hiring new employees. The entrepreneur was frustrated and felt that his employees weren’t trying hard enough. One problem for him was employees who started out in technical jobs, such as programming, received a series of promotions into the ranks of management, but didn’t seem to have the right skills to excel. The owner had thcase studye ability to see the vision of growth and success, while his employees could only see the problems and to-do list of the day.
E Group Partners helped the entrepreneur examine his leadership style—and look at the possibility that the skills that made him such an effective leader of a start-up might not prove to be the right skills to lead a larger company. He needed to learn how to cultivate a different management style.
In addition, we assessed the existing employees through the use of mental aptitude and personality assessments. We wanted to determine if they had the appropriate skills for their current positions. Through these tools, we could also identify which employees had the capacity to be successful managers—and then worked with them to develop their management skills. Consulting can also teach the entrepreneur strategies on hiring right-fit employees to avoid future staffing problems.
Adding a new manager or management team:
An accounting firm grew quickly over the last few years. The owner acquired other small firms as well as growing his base of client relationships. He acquired the talent within these small firms which created culture clashes in the company by blending small groups of people into one larger office. Not much attention was given to the staff in developing and empowering them to collaborate in new teams. The owner is overwhelmed much of the time fighting fires between staff and answering questioncase studys from his clients. His ability to scale has stalled.
Many accounting firms have two divisions – audit and tax. By hiring two senior managers to lead each team allows this owner to scale his business. Questions from staff and clients are fielded through these managers. This allows the owner to develop new business and focus on leadership of the company.
Succession planning for the family-run business:
A family-run business had several generations working in management positions and was struggling with succession planning. The father, Sal Jr., and grandfather, Sal, Sr., didn’t want to lose touch with the business they’d struggled so hard to create and didn’t trust the younger generation to run the business properly. Meanwhile, the business-school educated daughter, Talia, was frustrated that her ideas for change weren’t being implemented and was resentful that her seemingly less-skilled cousin, Michael, was being touted as the next president.
Through management consulting, the family can learn how to separate family issues and dynamics fromcase study business. This will allow them to make decisions based on sound business rationale, rather than following ingrained habits stemming from family issues. Consulting will also help the family members identify their individual goals. This enables family members to make their objectives known, and enables them to create an action plan to meet those goals.