Many business people and others have asked me for a very long time about why business organizations continue to struggle.
Often, the causes of it and what needs to change or progress on, is so clear to others but yet the business organizations do not advance. They are stuck in old ways and old mindsets and seem just to refuse to advance. Businesses consist of people and individuals both internally and externally. Internally, it is their senior leadership, management, staff and employees. Often, they do not have the skills, expertise, training, experience & mindset to excel in what is needed.
Externally, it is their suppliers, customers and clients. Possibly, they do not have enough customers or clients, the right type or size, or possibly they are somehow limited to the market that the business is in. Often, I hear about how business organizations do not have high enough talent on their staff and sometimes how the senior leadership’s mindset is the obstacle and issue.
No matter how you analyze the business situation, the main cause and issue normally comes down to the level of skills, expertise and mindsets within the business organization along with those of the senior leadership’s. Many will ask about why organizations continue to struggle with these issues.
It has three main causes and often is a combination of all three. The organization does not have the healthy business environment that is needed to attract, hire and retain highly skilled individuals. Current management with lower level skills & knowledge will prevent recruiting & hiring individuals that have skills and knowledge above their own. The organization is not willing to pay enough to attract, hire and retain higher level skilled individuals or they may lack profits and funding to do so.
When inserting one highly skilled and knowledgeable individual into a business group or management group with lesser level of skills & knowledge, often the higher skilled individual will be met with resistance and viewed as an outcast. The situation will become highly frustrating to the higher skilled individual. The group will often create an environment of non-support and non-cooperation to drive the higher skilled and knowledgeable individual out, like a human body will create white blood cells to combat an infection.
To try and improve things a little at a time does not work.
The individuals with the higher level skills and knowledge as a group and team can help overcome the problems and issues, and help advance the business organization; but by themselves, individually, it may be difficult. Many times, management with less skills and knowledge will believe that they have high level skills and knowledge and have the false egos to match it as well. This can confuse the senior leadership of the owner, CEO, or president and create confusion and doubts in the senior leadership.
This will create problems, obstacles and issues preventing advancements, improvements and business growth. There are easily obtained tests available that can help evaluate knowledge level, attitudes and mindsets. Professional senior level advisors and consultants can help coordinate this which will help clarify this situation fairly quickly and put everything in more accurate perspectives. Government subsidies and bailouts is not the answer to these problems. Should business organizations just continue to struggle until they fail? What can be done with these issues? First, senior leadership; the CEO’s, presidents and owners must accept these realities and have the healthy mindset to be willing and motivated to aggressively do something about. It must be their personal responsibility to advance and progress.
Second, is that senior leadership must seek out outside senior level professional advisors and consultants to assist in helping improve all areas of the business organization and help grow the business.
These senior professional level advisors and consultants to be on a retainer to come in at least twice per year to evaluate the situations, meet with appropriate departments and staff and give recommendations for progressing and advancing; and also coordinate and lead a team effort for such. These professional senior level advisors and consultants need to report and communicate directly with the owner, CEO or president but work with and communicate with all appropriate internal employees, staff and management.
The professional senior level advisors and consultants are needed in each of these areas:
1. Neuromarketing and Behavioral Sciences to help grow business
2. Marketing and Marketing Communications
3. Business Development & Expanding Sales
4. International Sales and Marketing; growing business globally
5. Advertising & Branding
6. PR Public Relations
7. Quality Improvement & Reducing Waste
8. Product & Service, Improvement and Expansion
9. Training
10. Human Resources
These professional senior level advisors and consultants will in essence make up a board of directors or board of executive advisors to directly assist the owner, CEO or president. This is a highly effective way of getting all of the high level skills needed to help grow the company, do so quickly, cost effectively and for less than what it would cost to hire all such talent for full time positions. I have seen some businesses use this approach in a few areas of the organization and it was highly productive and cost effective.
To do so, with all areas critical for improvement, progress and business growth would create an impressive turn-around situation and a successful business. For businesses to improve and grow, senior leadership of owners, CEO’s and presidents must take the reins aggressively with this. It is fairly easy to establish a board of directors utilizing a full complement of professional senior level advisors/consultants in their respective disciplines.
No other way will work as well.
In an organization, remember that in the absence of good leadership, people, staff and employees will accept less, poor or bad leadership. This is a major problem.
People want leadership but the level of leadership and management is controlled by the owner, CEO and president. It is senior leadership’s choice to what level that they will allow, coordinate or provide.
This determines the results and success of the business organization. It is the responsibility of the owner, CEO, president to make sure that the business organization has the best and highest skilled and knowledgeable leadership and management team that can possibly be assembled.
Anything less than this is not acceptable.
To find such professional senior level advisors and consultants, you can easily network through several professional business associations and trade associations. In this short article, you now have a road map on how to achieve this easily, accomplish it quickly and do it cost affectively.
Michael Marshall, PhD
