In our last post, we left Joe, the owner, and Fred, his manager, at odds over Joe’s need to implement processes and Fred’s unwillingness to support that decision.
While the quality of work on Fred’s jobs was good, profits began to decline. Joe became increasingly unhappy with Fred’s performance. However, he didn’t want to confront Fred and end up in an explosive conversation. Instead, he began to build a case against Fred, so he could have enough “evidence.”
While Joe was right in wanting to grow his company and knowing that better systems and processes were the keys to sustainable success, his actual implementation had a few glitches:
- Joe did not have a clear plan for what changes he wanted to make.
- He didn’t communicate with other key staff—including Fred—about when he wanted to make those changes.
- He didn’t tell those key staff how this would impact their jobs.
- Joe didn’t address the issues that arose with Fred as a result of not communicating the above in a direct and timely manner.
Joe was on the right track with recognizing the need for processes and systems, but he took a wrong turn with implementation. See my next blog to discover what Joe did to handle the situation.
As a business consultant and coach for more than 20 years, Vicki has helped hundreds of companies realize an appreciable, sustainable business growth and increased profits. She works with owners and managers to create alignment in teams and to build “cultures of accountability” – a key for building a sustainably successful company! As a business coach, Vicki’s straightforward style helps business owners and managers maintain clarity and focus on what they need to do to reach their goals.