There are professionally managed businesses, and there are businesses wherein I recognize an owner as professional too. In that lies the difference in their success levels.
The former knows that the business depends on people; it is these people who manage the show, so they deserve all the respect and grooming. Respect is given when you treat them well and grooming happens when you train them for the job they are assigned to do, and to do it efficiently, while giving them reasonable chances to grow within the organization. It’s all about recruiting and retaining the right people…, making them responsible and responsive to take on bigger roles.
Often I hear from the industry that ‘owners’ give responsibility and push for results, but fail to give the requisite authority to get the results. From the owners, the general observation is that the business is sensitive and one critical mistake could translate into a major setback, so how can I give that kind of authority to a person, whose stakes are limited in the company.
A difficult decision… but one that will determine where the company is going and how much it can grow… A business guru, advising small familyrun business said, limit your profile to finding new opportunities for bigger growth… and not micro managing the business for small savings…
Most company owners fail to learn this very small but highly effective lesson and get too deeply involved in day-to-day micro managerial issues, taking away with them the ability and also the reason for people to take decisions…, whether they are for the better or not is phase two. These people over the time become indifferent to the company and its progress, having a ‘why should I bother’ attitude, leading to inefficient and unproductive manpower.
From among your people, identify leaders and followers and train them accordingly… there has to be a judicious mix of different talents to run an organization cohesively. Support the leaders with skills through workshops and training modules to sharpen their skills. By investing in such activities, people are more inclined to reciprocate and implement their learning at the workplace.
A mutual bonding of trust and a common vision of what the owner and the employees want for the company can only happen when core people within the organization are involved in the vision process and there is a sense of ownership…
I was really impressed to hear how a company like Madura formulates its vision strategy. The process is on, even as I write this editorial, and in a few days the company will announce its ‘vision statement for 2020’… The process is motivating… A core set of 90 key personnel from different departments spend three days at a residential outpost debating, deliberating and fighting for what they perceive as the future of Madura Garments. These 90 people are divided into 12 groups and each has one core direction to ponder on; and after three days of bonding and intense discussions, goals are set and a ‘vision statement’ is launched by the CEO in front of over 500 people who are the ‘leaders’ at various levels. The process of arriving at the ‘vision statement’ is also shared through 12 stalls which run videos of the process for others to understand.
I am not suggesting that smaller companies can do the same… but they can show the same faith in their people while grooming them. I know it is easy to say, but quite difficult to act on because it is ‘you’ who has nurtured the business to this level and you can’t let it go… but it has to be done.
It’s time the owner-driven garment industry opens up to true professionalism before it is too late… I have many examples of smaller companies which have gone on to show excellent results by adopting and believing in the change… I feel the coming of the Gen-Next will speed up the process… These young Turks are more open to sharing responsibilities and decision making process with the right people.
That again brings us to the ‘right people’ and their grooming… it is important to prepare people for responsibilities by using both in-house and outsourced training opportunities to update and also create new skills… the advantages that can accrue to a company and support its growth through such activities cannot be undermined!
