On paper your business looks great! You’ve built something solid but under the surface you know growth is being stifled. What has worked in the past is buckling under the pressure. You need help but where do you start?
I spend most of my time supporting owner-led business owners in manufacturing and construction adjacent industries – technical, fabrication, engineering. Regardless of the industry, their stories are remarkably similar.
You’ve built something solid. You know every machine, every client, every quirk on the production floor. You have a team who have come up through the ranks and are loyal and hardworking. On paper, things look good.
But underneath, there is a familiar tension:
- You can’t step away for long without something falling back on your desk.
- You’re still dragged into day-to-day operational issues you thought would be sorted by now.
- You’ve got good people but know you’ve outgrown some ways of working
- The same conversations about ‘improvement’ happen every fortnight and then nothing changes.
That ‘stuck’ feeling is usually when I get a call. It often starts as;
“We need a General Manager / Operations Manager / Supply Chain Manager. Can you help us find one?”
And yes, that is what I do – executive management and operational roles in these environments. But the real issue is rarely just ‘we need to fill a job’. It’s that the business has outgrown the structure and people that got it to this point and the solution is a transition and not a quick fix.
The Pain Points
As the business matures, requirements change. What has worked in the past for your people and structure, will buckle under increased volume and changing markets. Common issues include;
- The owner is working 50+ hours per week but not keeping up with demands
- Current employees are not stepping up to the challenge of business growth
- Systems, technology and processes need updating but management lack the skills and experience to implement
- Supply chain bottlenecks
- Business is slow to change and take advantage of new opportunities
- There is no succession plan for the business owner
- The cracks can no longer be ignored and are at breaking point
The pressures are felt across the entire business from sales, operations and supply chain to finance.
From Transactional to Strategic
A transactional solution is to get a new hire capable of assisting you quickly. You’re busy. You’re under pressure and you want the problem ‘sorted’. The difficulty is that someone with the right qualifications, and industry background, and experience may not succeed in your environment.
Owner-led, businesses have a particular rhythm and culture;
- There is usually a strong founder who still has a big say in how things are done
- Long-serving staff hold a lot of informal influence
- Change fatigue, or resistance, can be real
- The line between “this is my business” and “this is my life” is pretty thin
If your unique business culture and rhythm is not understood up front, there is a high chance your new hire will fail in the first 3-6 months. Common issues include;
- You hire someone too ‘corporate’ who can’t handle the messiness of a real manufacturing floor (on paper they have done everything you want)
- Your new hire expects authority but never properly gets it because the owner keeps stepping back in
- Whilst technically strong, your new hire doesn’t have the temperament to work with the characters already in the business
Defining the business requirements
Sitting down with the decision maker (usually the Owner or General Manager) we define what is needed in the business and explore the true outcomes sought through discussing;
- What really going on in the business.
- Do you want to sell this business pass it on, stay involved but differently? What is your appetite for actually letting go of control.
- Where are the pain points currently
- What ‘success’ would look like in 12-24 months after the hire
- Who the key players are in the business who can step-up, support or undermine
- How ready they are to genuinely give this person authority and space to lead. Are you ready to back this new hire when they make decisions that upset long-serving staff?
- Are you looking for a true General Manager or actually an Operations Supervisor because you still want to be involved?
Honestly answering these and many more questions, as part of an organisation & position analysis, will set the stage for a recruitment plan.
Done well, you will ensure;
- You take away the day-to-day operational noise off your plate
- You are freed up to focus on strategy, key customers and undertake the work you actually enjoy
- You start building a structure that could eventually run without you
Done poorly, you run the risk of;
- Adding an additional layer of frustration in the business and risk losing your long term loyal employees in the process
- You reinforce the belief that “no one can do it as well as I can”
- You push succession planning even further down the track
Are you ready?
Owners often tell me they are ‘ready’ for this kind of hire but how do you know if you are really ready;
- You’re willing to spend the time to brief properly, not just flick through a position description and hope for the best
- You are open to being challenged on whether the role you’ve described is actually what the business needs
- You’re prepared to support and protect the new hire while they make necessary changes
- You accept this as a transition and not a quick fix
When these elements are in place, the success rate is very high;
- The right person comes in
- They gradually take over the day-to-day operational load
- The owner steps up or back (depending on their goals) without the business falling apart
- Growth stops being limited by the same internal issues that have been there for years
On the surface, it might look like “just” hiring a GM, Operations Manager, or Supply Chain Manager but underneath it’s about;
- Reshaping how your business is led
- Easing the load you’ve been carrying personally
- Setting things up so the business can grow, and eventually run, without everything resting on you.
That is the work I enjoy most; helping owners in manufacturing and related industries bring in the right leaders, at the right time, in the right way, so the business can move from stuck to sustainable.
Author: Andrew Hill