There have been countless studies on whether happier employees make more productive employees. These studies have shown mixed results but generally the answer is no, happier employees are just happier, they are not more productive. One of the outliers, a study that shows that happier employees are more productive, was sponsored by a workplace snack […]
Of Profit Levers, Cost Behaviors and Sparklines
I am usually asked to work with a client because of one or more of these three reasons: 1. Poor accounting information. 2. Poor profitability. 3. Poor cash flow. In terms of priorities, sometimes cash flow just can’t be ignored. If I have a choice, I begin with accounting information, meaning accurate and timely financial […]
Emergency Succession Plans—The Need
My clients are mostly owner/operators of businesses. Working with these entrepreneurs, it is natural to ask, “How does this end?” That leads to working on succession and exit plans. It makes sense and it is a big part of my practice. But what about emergency succession? I’m talking about when the owner operator has a […]
Emergency Succession Planning for Closely Held Businesses
Purpose The purpose is to create a plan to ensure the viability of a closely-held business that has an owner/operator and lacks an independent board of directors. Common characteristics of this type of business are often a few key employees but few or no executives within the employees. Certainly there is no executive team. The […]
Taking Advantage of Good Times; Preparing for Bad
I’ve written about this topic before. We all want to take advantage of good times, such as those we’ve been experiencing for the last several years, while preparing for the next downturn, which will inevitably come. Most of my clients have had increased revenues in every year from 2012 through 2015. In fact, many were […]
Have the Hard Conversation
My blog topics are based on experiences serving my clients. When something happens two or three times in a short period, I note a trend. And if I note a trend, I figure that there are probably others who are facing similar challenges. The topic becomes an article. Such is the case here. Communication My […]
Equity—The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Puget Sound area is at full employment and finding good employees has never been more difficult. In most cases, the only way to find good employees is to hire one from another company. Of course, your company isn’t immune to poaching from others. So what to do? Many clients have been asking me recently […]
A Consultant’s Manifesto
At the start of each new year, I like to pause to reflect, reset and think about what specific goals I want to set for the coming year. To do this, I borrow Simon Sinek’s tagline, ‘Start with Why.” Why I work with business owner/operators with revenues between $1 million and $50 million because I […]
SRO Budgeting and SMART Goals
It is the time of year when most companies are doing their budgeting for the next year. This can be a frustrating and time consuming exercise. It is also important. Does every company need a budget? I don’t think so. Smaller companies, where the owner is very close to the transactions, may not need a […]
Incentive Compensation Plans
The Puget Sound area is enjoying an economic boom. The downside for most employers is finding and retaining good employees. Perhaps this is why I have had so many questions from clients recently about designing Incentive Compensation Plans. Usually my clients propose a complex plan with many factors contributing to the incentive compensation. Often the […]