Southwest Florida Management

For the initial post on management I thought I would confer some of the knowledge I’ve learned from various books I’ve read. Unfortunately, at this moment I can’t really think of how this category will ever be specific to Southwest Florida (bonita, naples, fort myers, etc.), but perhaps our area’s seasonal nature will, in some ways, dictate your own businesses management needs. As season swings, more business flows, and additional staff and modified processes need to be implemented - or re-implemented.

The two books I’ve read that have really had a profound impact on management style includes, Good to Great by Jim Collins and The Big Book of Small Business by Tom Gegax. Unfortunately I came across these books for the wrong reasons. The first attracted me at Barnes and Noble, with its stark red color and big text. Promising the secrets of success behind the world’s best performing companies. I picked it up and started reading. It struck a cord in that, the most successful businesses were not - as the book concludes (based on years and mountains of evidence) - being run as one might expect, by corporate celebrities. The second book, was presented after one of our staff attended a seminar. I left it on my shelf for over a year before picking it up and diving in.

I highly recommend both books. They both play a big role at our business and helped to widdle down the following management rules we have in place:

You Are Just As Responsible - as an owner or manager you may have been looking to start your own company, run your own business, or manage people and processes so that you could be free from responsibility. Unfortunately this is just impossible, at least until a full team and process is setup. Especially in the beginning years you will be the middle man, your clients or customers are your bosses (you used to just have one right!) and your employees or support staff are your bosses. You should be able and willing to get your hands dirty whenever necessary, and set a good example.

If Something is Wrong Act - Things go bad. People make mistakes, or have to deal with non-business life that creeps in and affects performance. But, if something is not to your liking, company standards, or off kilter in any way… ACT. This doesn’t mean terminate, yell, mame, or kill, which all may be suitable depending on your situation, but it means address the situation, bring it up, talk about it. You may gain incite into your own processes or personnel’s thinking, and will be working towards a solution rather than just hoping it will fix itself.

Find the Right People - Good to Great has a fantastic metaphor for creating a great company. A single leader hops on a bus, the business bus, and then his team gets on board. Once the team is right, filled with great, motivated, brilliant, and they are in the correct seat, the bus can take off and it will practically steer itself. At first I didn’t believe this was possible. Granted, having a bus, or business, steer itself is a bit crazy, but the underlying idea is completely true. Great people will make your company great. So, take your time in hiring, do your homework (Big Book has some great tips on how to do this) and you won’t really have to “manage” at all. But, here’s the tough part, if someone isn’t great, they’ve been shuffled around from seat-to-seat, but just don’t seem to fit, they aren’t right for the business and need to get off the bus.