How strong is your management?
If you’re considering raising capital, going for growth or simply remaining competitive, you must have a handle on the strength of your management.
Strength has two components:
- Competence
- Depth
Competence
We’ll explore this theme in more depth over time, but the competence of management is interrelated with the strategy you have chosen.
In some instances you cannot change management. If that’s the case, management can be a limiting factor to the success of the enterprise.
Competence must span the core economic foundations of your business, including:
- Sales, Marketing and New Customer Relationships
- Operations, Production and Customer Support Relationships
- Financial & Value Management
- People & Talent Management
- Innovation, Technology & Change Management
The actual titles will vary depending upon the emphasis in your organisation, but the competence must be satisfactory in all areas.
Depth
Few organisations can rely solely on the top levels of management. Some depth of management competence is necessary to sustain the business, or go grow it beyond its current performance levels.
In smaller companies depth will be reflected in the breadth of actual work completed by an individual (for example). How far down in the organisation do you go before your necessary level of performance can no longer be found?
In larger organisations, how adequate is the succession plan to allow promotion of team members? Is there simply an outstanding marketing or financial leader who carries that area supported by a relatively mediocre (or weak) team.
An Action Exercise
Think about your company from an external perspective.
Imagine you are being visited by an potential investor who wants to rapidly understand both the competence and depth of your management, and whether or not that is a Key Risk in an investment.
- Identify the economic foundations and functions of your business
- Think about where the company is going and the pathways you need to follow to get there
- Rate the current competence and depth of management
- Identify the gaps
- Plan to overcome those gaps.
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