Recently, we conducted two tough meetings (or we should say, tough for our clients):

• One tough meeting had to do with cash flow. The owners were trying to determine the next time they would get into dangerous territory. It took 2 1/2 hours, and we identified that come January there would be a $700,000 shortfall. It was frustrating, but the good news is that at least we now knew what the situation was and could really do something about it. This had occurred earlier in the year. I suspect it will happen again, and the owners have begun to learn how to spot these situations earlier and earlier. Because they must, they are getting more and more creative and more and more focused too.  Their ultimate goal is to become fully independent of the business and to elevate their organization and leaders to not need them. I have great confidence in them and believe that their need to overcome these obstacles will allow them to learn what it takes to be successful in all types of economies.

• The second meeting was with an owner whose son worked in the business. The owner has done well for years and has no strong need to fix any problems and no strong vision that he is going towards. He is comfortable and his desire is to focus on not being dependent on the business. In his 60’s, he has primarily focused on the business and now wants to focus on ensuring he individually is strong enough to “retire”. This will give the son an opportunity to do with it as he wants, without either one of them feeling stress from dad being dependent on it. To get dad independent from the business, we need to get clear his on financial and emotional needs and ensure he can get them from sources other than the business. It looks very doable, using some of the tools that we have.

Both these situations are challenging for different reasons.  In the first situation, the challenge is clear and has a time frame.  In many ways, that will be the easier situation.  The second situation does not have a driving force with a time frame and can have a tendency to slowly degenerate, unless there is strong internal drive on the part of the father (unless the son develops a need to make something happen).

As a leader, you need to know how to deal with tough situations where the challenge is clear.  You also need to push dealing with situations like the second one where you need to find a need or create a need strong enough to get movement and prevent stagnation.

• Are you identifying the real challenges and when they need to be dealt with?

• Are you identifying the unclear, murkier challenges where a clear need must be identified and identified time frames?

• How are you teaching other leaders to handle both the clear challenges and the unclear difficulties?

If you need help working through your organizations tough times, give our expert guides a call at 800-786-4332 or email JSabatini@AppliedVisionWorks.com.  Your success is in plain sight.  It just takes determination and action and only takes 30 minutes to get started!