Is the relationship still driving the business forward, or has growth stalled?
Is the infighting among the leaders impacting your junior staff.
If you plan to exit any half competent Due Diligence will unearth the issue…nobody wants to buy your problems?
Someone’s got to grasp the nettle and get it sorted
There’s never a great time to realise that after a number of years, you’re in business with the wrong person. Or worse, people. After all, you spend more time with your business partner than you do with your spouse. Work it out for yourself.
Events since the arrival of Covid have been putting SME businesses under extreme pressure. And there’s nothing like pressure to highlight the weakest link in a chain.
Is this pressure’s exposing the fault lines in the relationships that should be underpinning the business….not undermining it!
Instinctively we will try and paper over the cracks. However, my experience is that if the issues are fundamental, they will always find their way to the surface. Again and again. And especially, when you don’t want them.
My experience is that once it’s obvious, the situation doesn’t get better with time. It nearly always gets worse. The business suffers. The staff suffer. And, the warring partners also suffer. As do their families. This stress is dangerous and your health is at risk. A mega stroke in 2013 says I know all about that one.
I find that these relationships deteriorate slowly. So slowly that you don’t notice at first. The frog in the saucepan metaphor comes to mind. Gradually communication becomes limited. The social side of the relationship is non-existant. You don’t want to spend time together even on important business issues. Communication becomes terse and consensus difficult to build. You no longer share ambitions. Trust comes under pressure. And, if you think the staff don’t notice, think again.
Things are getting distant because that feels the best way to deal with it. But that’s just avoiding rather than fixing the situation.
We sense that things can’t go on like this. But we do nothing. The odd personal snipe perhaps. Fear rears its head. Fear of a real confrontation on the personal front. Fear where that might take us. Fear that all will be lost; years of investment and hard work. Fear of the future. There are lots of reasons to kick the can up the street.
These problems can seem all consuming. How do you start to address the situation. If it’s got really bad it’s easy to think that you can’t be bothered. I’ve experienced warring partners who couldn’t see an easy way out and all suggested liquidation as a solution. A £7m business with 50 staff! But that’s a cop out not a solution. And massive destruction of wealth.
To address the situation both parties must accept that there is problem that must be resolved. This requires communication, which may well have been in short supply for some time.
My experience suggests that a third party is extremely useful, if not essential, in getting to a good outcome for all. It’s pretty easy to get to a bad one; just liquidate it! But what about staff, suppliers and clients? They deserve better.
I have been one of those partners and worked with troubled partnerships. I use what I call the ‘Planning cycle’ to get under the skin of this kind of problem.
First we have to assess the Where are you now? Both parties (or all parties if there are more than 2) need to answer the most challenging personal questions. We need to really, get under the skin of the interpersonal problems. Uncomfortably so.
Honest answers to questions like Are you ever going to achieve the goals you set out to accomplish? If you’re not happy, why not? Is the team pulling in the same direction? Do you even like him…or her? Are you still motivated, sufficiently challenged, or rewarded?….where are you headed?…..the list of questions goes on.
What we’re trying to understand is where your current situation sits against each individual’s original and current ambitions. Then it seeks to determine each partner’s role in, or responsibility for the predicament. And then understand if we are at the end of the road or determine if there is any goodwill to go again..
I would interview each individual , at least once, and then revert with my findings to the team.
Next we need to explore Where do you want to be? This is a wish list. Were each party unconstrained by the other, what would they like to be doing, say three years, or five years from now.
You have to approach this task by suspending the reality of your current situation. This is blue-sky thinking. Take away some of the limitations that may have crept in because of the situation. I’m a believer in the ‘life is not a rehearsal’ persuasion. Go grab it. Make it happen.
Finally, the third step is How do you get there? This is the tough bit. Some things have to change. To keep doing the same thing and expect a different result is, after all, the definition of madness. So, irrespective of how hard it might be, what has to change to enable you to get to where you want to be. Winners don’t put up with second best. If you fail to grasp this nettle, you’ll join all those people who constantly complain…”if only I’d…”
No two situations will be the same in terms of the detailed issues, but the substance is generally the same; the relationship, or relationships no longer deliver for the partners, or the business. Time changes things, we move on…..life happens to us all.
None of us like confrontation. That’s why so many plod on in dysfunctional relationships. At the cost of their ambitions.
If you’d ever thought that you might exit the business you’ll have to think again if you haven’t addressed the problems. Any rigorous Due Diligence will soon unearth the underlying problems at the top. No investor will pay good money to inherit your personal problems. You must address the situation. Investors will run a mile.
Once you’ve accepted there’s a problem you must grasp the nettle. Confront the problem. And then, get it done.
That statement is simplistic. But many of the complexities holding you back are the ones you construct in your own mind.
Just remember that this isn’t a rehearsal. Don’t live your life like you’ve got another one in the bank.
Getting a trusted, independent third party in to help can lower barriers. A deal has to be done. I’ve done them. It’s not easy. But with a will it can be done.
Adrian Collins
Exit Plannner, NED and Mentor
Web adriancollins.co.uk
Mob 07889 125697
Adrian runs his own Exit Planning consultancy
AdrianCollins.co.uk
“..I have been in business for 40 years. The scars on my back are real. I successfully grew a 6 man 2nd tier UK business into an international leader employing 49 people servicing some of the world’s biggest consumer brands. I’ve worked with people in the biggest corporations down to the smallest entrepreneurs. The common factor was that they came to me seeking success. Success for their brand, their company, for themselves. For over 25 years I was a multi award-winning talent shop for gifted creatives, strategists, project managers and production specialists. Now I’m working with CEOs of SMEs as a mentor, NED and advisor, leveraging 40 years experience. In the end, it’s all about people. Getting out from the Covid mess presents us a challenge. Smart, driven people will be required. If I can impart any of my experience to help what will be the biggest challenge of a lifetime, please let me know.. ..check out my Linkedin profile….give me a call…”
