I recently read a book called,” The Secrets Of Building A Great Organization”, by Bruce Clinton owner of BusinessWise, L.L.C., a business consulting and coaching firm based in Connecticut.
I found the book to be very interesting because, not only does it provide a road map of management for newer managers, but it re-educates older experienced managers in the most up to date strategies.
Bruce is the first person to mention that there are no magic formulas in being a good manager, however, with the basic strategies that he covers, a good manager, through their own talents, can become a great manager using the strategies Bruce discusses.
Many of the strategies are ones that Bruce uses in his practice as a business coach, and strategies developed while he ran different businesses.
For anyone who is a business owner or running a business, I would suggest this read. In the book it is mentioned that most business owners don’t consider themselves good managers or they feel they don’t know enough about managing.
Any business owner who does $1-$150 million in annual sales, has 8-200 employees, is family owned and may be facing growth or succession issues, should read this book.
What I really enjoyed about the book is the small details that Bruce covers which are needed to build a successful business. These are details which are not normally discussed in detail. The book covers the importance of them. These are the small details that make all the difference in the world of a business’ success, and Bruce covers them extremely well. For example:
- Overcoming communication breakdowns
- Dealing with levels of incompetence
- Fitting family members into the business
- Retaining good employees
- Building a workable succession plan
The book discusses the strategies that can help you become a better manager. For example, there is a concept called “close loop management” which is a way to qualifying and quantifying the results of a strategy. The technique creates time points where the process is being evaluated by the management team at different times. The technique has Minimum, Mid and Maximum results. I had never read about this type of management, but felt it would be a useful tool, especially where teams are being used to create workflows.
When reviewing this technique, I couldn’t help to think how this one idea would help many businesses in putting strategies together for programs like operations and marketing, along with several other processes.
I also found it interesting to learn why business owners don’t develop good management skills or have the lack of confidence to create a better management system.
Information which was new to me was something Bruce refers to as the “backbone of the recruiting process”, THE CANDIDATE PHILOSOPHY!
This is based on the fact that the best potential candidates for most positions are currently employed and likely content in their current positions. By polling managers and owners, they found that 90% indicated they had experienced some form of dissatisfaction. To me there seems to be a void in approaching talent and offering opportunities to top management when it appears, they are happy where they are, but could be open to new opportunities. Consequently, through the polling, there appears to be a “crack in the armor”, and an opportunity to be more proactive and make an offer to them if they fit a position you wish to fill. It’s like a new market has opened up to find top talent.
Bruce Clinton is the real deal and has great insight in business coaching and management. He has been in the trenches and brings his business experiences to print. He uses common sense strategies that are very workable.
This is a great quick read book with nuggets of information that will help you immediately.
Visit Bruce’s website to learn more. You can receive the book by going to Bruce’s website; http://www.business-wise.com/. There is a link to request the E-book along with other information you may want to read. If you have trouble with the link, email Bruce, info@business-wise.com .
Bruce has done a great job over the years as a business coach, helping businesses maximize their potential. Bruce has a wealth of experience in running businesses and has been successful doing this for many years.
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