Gordon is MD of a £24m turnover business. He is aware that in the next few years there will be a number of retirements at senior levels and there is an experience gap between Board members and the next tier down. He has identified Richard as possibly having the potential to step into a broader role over the next few years. Gordon’s challenge Gordon faced five immediate challenges: Is Richard the right person? Is he capable of stepping up? When is the right time to start the process? When are the other Directors going to retire? How do l sell the process? How do l manage the expectations of both Richard and others? Dealing with these challenges Answering these questions took a number of meetings over around 3 months. One of the solutions was to adopt the leadership profile developed by leading assessment company SHL, which could be used as a proxy benchmark of capability against a senior manager group. We also did a mapping … [Read more...]
How coaching can support leadership change in a small business
Coaching might be seen as the new buzzword of the age. It has come to cover a multitude of interventions – consulting, training, educating, advising, mentoring, therapy, counselling and so on. For me coaching is about engaging with the whole person to achieve the outcomes the business is looking for in a sustainable way. This first blog is to unpick that last sentence and explore how that fits in to succession planning in an SME environment. “Engaging with the whole person” means working with the rational and emotional sides of the brain. My client may or may not know what to do. Any knowledge gaps can be identified through coaching and a plan developed for further training and education outside the coaching relationship. That is relatively straightforward particularly if the person is motivated to succeed. The emotional aspect is just as important. I would be asking such questions as: How does the person really feel about the new opportunity (in the context of succession)? What … [Read more...]
Are new business support provisions fit for purpose?
The Government is in the forefront of encouraging new business support provisions for SMEs. It has reorganised Business Link and done away with the local one-to-one advice provided from trained advisors and replaced them with a website. In a recent Forum of Private Business (FPB) poll only one in ten of the respondents indicated that the support provided was adequate while 20% said it was not. Further, more than half thought that the information was inadequate to aid growth. Mentoring and coaching now appear to be favoured by government as the best way to support SMEs and are supporting organisations and individuals who give their time free of charge. However some restrictions are placed on what they do. This means for instance that coaches cannot give advice! Whilst there are, no doubt, many good people providing good support amongst these organisations, the overall quality of these coaches and the services they provide may not suit the majority of SMEs seeking practical help and … [Read more...]
Is the Government’s approach to business mentors the right one?
Over 200 current and former bank managers have signed up to form the core of a national mentoring scheme being rolled out today with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander offering businesses more support on issues like finance, marketing and HR. This comes as a result of the Governments attempts to change the way SMEs receive help with the demise of the RDAs and Business Links in their current form. My question is what do current or even former bank managers know about marketing and HR? At first sight the aim to provide help and advice, mentoring and coaching to business owners is a laudable one. All these mentors are doing it for free- even better for the owners of these businesses. But does this mean that these owners will get the latest and best advice? It is unlikely as many will not be current and others will lack expertise and probably have never run their own business before. Perhaps these bank managers should stick to what they know and … [Read more...]
Is the Government's approach to business mentors the right one?
Over 200 current and former bank managers have signed up to form the core of a national mentoring scheme being rolled out today with Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander offering businesses more support on issues like finance, marketing and HR. This comes as a result of the Governments attempts to change the way SMEs receive help with the demise of the RDAs and Business Links in their current form. My question is what do current or even former bank managers know about marketing and HR? At first sight the aim to provide help and advice, mentoring and coaching to business owners is a laudable one. All these mentors are doing it for free- even better for the owners of these businesses. But does this mean that these owners will get the latest and best advice? It is unlikely as many will not be current and others will lack expertise and probably have never run their own business before. Perhaps these bank managers should stick to what they know and … [Read more...]
