Tag Archive for: resiliency

Facing change

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Sometimes you initiate change, and sometimes it is forced on you.  Regardless of how you got there, you must deal with it.  Facing change isn’t always easy or wanted.

Key employees leave.  New technology disrupts the market.  Your exit strategy or timeline changes.  Maybe your business has grown beyond your capacity to manage it all effectively.

As a business grows, business owners eventually come to a point where they need a leadership team to share the load.  Depending on the where the company is, hiring full-time executives may not be needed or even financially realistic.  The decision to expand the leadership time is a change you initiate.

The sudden loss of a key leader is but one change that is forced on you.  You must decide how to re-organize the workload and responsibilities or to find and replace that leader.

In all these situations, a fractional COO can step in.  They can be a part-time resource to bridge the gap until you are ready and need a full-time executive.  They can also help define the COO role so you can find the right candidate.  Whether you need someone for a few hours per week or several days per week, you can keep the business moving forward.

Opal Partners offers COO Bridge as a way to help businesses bridge the gap when they need to add to their leadership team but aren’t ready for a full-time resource.

If your business is facing change and a fractional COO can help you, CONTACT US  or find us at https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmatt/.

 

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Resiliency: Thoughts from a Fractional COO

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Raise your hand if you want to relive the trials that 2020 has brought so far.

Think about the number and breadth of issues that businesses have faced this year:

  • Abrupt changes in how you conduct business or shutting your doors completely for a period of time
  • Letting good employees go to keep the business alive
  • Significant investments in technology and support for work-from-home arrangements
  • Leaning how to manage and engage remote team members
  • Changes to customer expectations and demand for your products and services
  • Charting a new path forward given much uncertainty

Any of those changes alone are significant challenges to address.  When compressed into a period of a few short months, they can be overwhelming.

While many businesses are still trying to recover, they can’t sit still.  Business owners must fearlessly look forward to what the future holds.  The trouble is no one can predict the future with any level of certainty.  So what are businesses to do?

They must have resiliency.  They must be able to withstand or quickly recover from difficult situations – because we may not know what challenges may come down the road, but we do know they are coming.  The ability to bounce back is easier for a company that has sound plans, that operates with little waste or excess that can creep in when times are good, and that truly understands their strengths and weaknesses.

The ability to live to fight another day looks different for every company.  For some, it means access to financial resources like savings or credit to make it through rough times.  For others, it’s the ability for their operations to continue without access to the company’s physical buildings.  Some businesses need to eliminate their least profitable products or services while some need to diversify their revenue streams.  Operating lean and doubling down on what makes your company unique can help you maximize your efficiency and your returns.

What steps are you taking today to prepare your company for the future?  How are you building resiliency?  If you are just beginning this process and need flexible resources to help you, contact us.  http://linkedin.com/in/cmatt or https://opalpg.com/contact-us/

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What’s your company’s DNA?

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In our bodies, our DNA is the genetic code that makes us unique individuals.  It contains all the instructions needed to build a complex, living, breathing organism.  DNA is the master of each cell and is passed on through successive generations.  Our DNA determines our physical characteristics, and damage to our DNA can cause problems that range from minor to catastrophic.

Your company has its own DNA – those things that make it unique, give it vitality, and must be passed on as it grows.

A business’s DNA is comprised of two components:

  • What we do
  • Why we do what we do

“What we do” describes our ideal customer – the customer we are uniquely set up to serve well maximizing the strengths of our organization.  It also answers the question “why do customers choose us?”  It is your market niche but it goes much deeper and understands why you can claim that niche.

“Why we do what we do” describes you.  It informs the entire team of the passion and purpose that led to the creation of your company.  It defines the values that are present in the organization and must be modeled and protected if the company is to survive and thrive.

Understanding your company’s DNA is the first step in building a strategic plan that works.  Your company DNA guides and defines everything about your business.  Make sure it is defined, known, and used to make decisions.

Many people are re-examining their businesses due to changes caused by technology and the health emergency.  If you want to build a durable, resilient business, your company DNA is your anchor.  It will keep you from drifting wherever the winds blow.  Knowing who you are lets you build on your strengths rather than reacting to circumstances.

Contact us if you need help mapping your company DNA.  https://opalpg.com/contact-us/

http://linkedin.com/in/cmatt

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