TRANSFORMATION OF OWNER MANAGED BUSINESSES
"Escaping the Founder's or Family Trap" - Ichak Adizes
We often meet successful business owners who have been demotivated in their roles as managers. They are passionate about realising their ideas and achieving results, but not necessarily about management. We facilitate a setup that creates space for the entrepreneur’s drive and flexibility. At the same time, we help secure a form of management that creates sufficient stability in the company and retains the entrepreneur’s ability to lead the company.
We offer transformations of manager-owned businesses that need to establish a more mature organisation. Entrepreneurial businesses are extremely flexible and adaptable, but often need implementation of optics, structure and management to cope with their commitments and growth.
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Offering both Flexibility and Stability
An important part of our work involves fostering an understanding that both flexibility and stability are necessary for the company’s continued development and growth.
We identify strengths and weaknesses within the organization and recommend ways to ensure a more robust and sustainable business model. When we help transform manager-owned businesses, we get involved in the company or parts of it and, when needed, perform “bypass surgery” in order to gain a financial overview and ensure clear and efficient workflows.
We also work with businesses that need to be managed out of a crisis. If the situation is less critical, we work as business therapists with the existing management and employees to create a healthier working culture.
Capital and Resources for the Process
Our work on transforming manager-owned businesses is based on an assessment of which stage of its lifecycle the company is in.
With entrepreneurial businesses, we often come into the picture when the company has grown from the “infant” stage into the productive and expansive “go-go” stage (its “childhood” years) and is experiencing rapid growth.
Businesses in the so-called go-go stage are growing rapidly, often without adequate optics, systems or management. They tend to be guided by a rush to expand, and are often at risk of instability.
We focus on helping these companies achieve their established goals by creating clear optics, structure and management while maintaining flexibility and adaptability.
Systems and Energy
The transformation of manager-owned businesses that have grown from their “childhood” stage into “adolescent” organizations focuses on creating and organizing stable systems with obligations, without stifling the company’s energy and creativity.
Adolescent organisations often go through a conflict-filled time between childhood and adulthood during which internal and external conflicts can run so deep that they threaten the company’s existence.
Businesses in the adolescent stage often lack the necessary overview and experience, and this can lead to wrong decisions.
We contribute knowledge and tools to handle the conflicts that are natural products of change.
Optics, Systems and Management
In addition, we take responsibility for implementing new optics, systems and management that can help take the company into the next, more mature stage.
With more mature companies, we typically come into the picture when the company needs to restore flexibility, energy and creativity to ward off a looming stagnation or crisis.
Mature businesses often face the challenges of declining growth and lack of energy and innovation. Our focus is on identifying the company’s growth potential and creative forces.
For us, helping to transform owner-managed companies means contributing knowledge, skills and, if necessary, the capital and resources needed to complete the process successfully. We also contact and negotiate with investors and banks.