Management Development
for Small Business Owners

So you think you can run my business?

As the owner of a small business, you are the company. You probably make all the decisions, and the culture of your company reflects your interests, strengths and weaknesses. Your confidence and drive are the reasons for the company’s success. You may not realize how your actions affect the performance of others on your team. We seldom understand how other people perceive us, and an outsider asking the right questions can help you become aware of those perceptions and make appropriate changes. A good middle manager can be intimidated by your strong leadership, but open communication and appropriate motivation will insure each manager’s performance.

All successful small companies owe their success to the leader. A small startup needs a strong leader who controls everything and establishes priorities. Survival demands quick decisions and a good dose of paranoia. As the company grows, new management styles are required. Often making a transition requires outside support.

I have seen Presidents passionately explain that the management structure of their company includes independent middle managers, only to find out that there is little independent action, no consensus, no focus, and that everyone is afraid to make decisions. Evaluating the culture and making changes is difficult, as emotions run high in small companies; however, not making essential changes is often a poor option.

In addition to strong, profitable performance, the next asset looked for by any prospective buyer is a well working middle management team – and finding strong, capable middle managers is hard. Keeping them is even harder. Motivating, nurturing and training middle managers is both time consuming and difficult. The President must be the primary coach of middle managers, but using the services on an outside mentor can help identify troubling issues, find timely resolutions to those issues, and prevent surprise resignations.

Sunrise Associates can help your middle managers exceed your highest expectations. Trusted employee who can perform and treat your money as if it was their own are a precious resource.