Business Management

Business Ethics – Consider the benefits

The point of a corporate ethics code is to promote ethical behavior – not to enhance productivity, profits or public relations.  Still, a sound, well-administered code can benefit a company and its stakeholders in a variety of ways.



Here are a few thoughts to consider:

1. Guide employees in situations where the ethical course of action is not immediately obvious.

2. Help the company reinforce – and acquaint new employees with – its culture and values.  A code can help create a climate of integrity and excellence.

3. Minimize subjective and inconsistent management standards.  A code explicitly outlines the rights and responsibilities of staff members and helps guard against capricious and preferential treatment of employees.

4. Build public trust and enhance business reputations.  Also, a code helps demonstrate the company’s values to socially responsible investors.

5. Enhance morale, employee pride, loyalty and the recruiting of outstanding employees.


I hope these comments provide some help on this often difficult topic. Please let me know your thoughts: gerry@polarisgroupmc.com

Business Management

Do You Have Effective Business Leadership Skills?

Effective business leadership demands a captain of the ship, not just someone who's standing by the helm. Leadership is active, not passive.
Cool-headed, farseeing, visionary, courageous - whichever adjectives you choose, leadership is a winning combination of personal traits and the ability to think and act as a leader, a person who directs the activities of others for the good of all.
But you can't be a leader just by saying you are. Business leadership, like leadership of any kind, needs to be worked at. Transform yourself into the kind of leader your small business needs with these keys to business leadership.

1. Vision - Vision is essential to good leadership. Vision provides direction and without direction, there’s not much point to all that planning; your small business will still flail about. Create a Vision Statement for your business. Because it embodies your dreams and your passions, a vision statement will also serve as a leadership vision. Plan where you want your business to be in five years and how you are going to take it there.

2. Planning - The core of business leadership is being proactive rather than reactive. Sure, leaders are good in crises - but that doesn't mean they sit around letting crises develop. Leadership involves identifying potential problems and solving them before they reach crisis proportions. Good leaders analyze and plan and adapt their plans to new circumstances and opportunities.

3. Communication - Plans, strategies and results should never be left on paper, collecting dust. “If you are making money, your employees should know about it and be rewarded. This will motivate them and your company will continue to grow. The success of the company isn’t yours alone, it belongs to your team. On the other hand, if the company is facing problems, your employees will be a valuable source of ideas on how to improve things.

4. Staffing - Businesses are as successful as the people working in it. Great leaders who created successful companies have one thing in common: they surround themselves with talented, courageous, loyal people. Once you have recruited them, invest in their development through training, coaching and fair compensation.

Learning to be a leader isn't easy because it takes a conscious commitment and consistent effort to develop one's business leadership skills. But on the positive side, anyone who is willing to make the effort can become a good leader.

Business Strategy

Do You Have an Exit  Plan?

Determining when and how to exit a business can present issues often more challenging than starting the business.  Here are a few thought starters for owners looking for a way to exit their business.




• Vision
Is the business operated from strong principles of strategy with a clear vision? Can that vision be expressed and understood by those who manage the business or potential buyers? If you the owner cannot clearly state the purpose or reasons that you exist don’t expect new owners to invent it for you.

• Return
How will you get the maximum return if you plan to sell? In cases where management/ownership is dominated by a single individual there is a risk that customers will not have confidence in new ownership unless the current owner can provide an effective transition plan that ensures continuity of the business operations. Current owners may need to plan for extensive transitional training.

• Exit Rationale
Factors that may support your decision to leave can grow out of many conditions. The most common are age or health related. A long career leading to a desire for more personal time; reap the rewards of your career. Age may not be the prime driver but longevity at the job could be creating burn out. It may be time to move on.

• Maximize Opportunity
Look for opportunities to exit from positions of strength. A well trained and competent management group may provide the opportunity to offer your staff a management buyout.  Managers may be able to pool resources to fund the buyout, you as owner may offer to finance all or part of the buyout or there may be an option to use company assets to finance the loans needed for the buyout. It also provides good opportunities for maintaining stability in the organization.

• Market Conditions
Finally, the marketplace may facilitate determining the right time to exit. Poor economic conditions or competitive activity can have a huge impact on if or when you should exit. Positive conditions too might bring a competitor to the door with a buyout offer.


So the options are many but not always easy to sort through. Timing is critical, business life changes, choose wisely.

Business Management

Are you maximizing your business’ profits?

There may be many options to choose from that can help you improve profitability. Analyse your strengths, weaknesses and capabilities for ways to improve.






Here are a few measures that can have a surprising impact on profitability.


1. Examine key performance measures: Falling sales, shrinking working capital, and rising costs are key indicators to monitor.

2. Manage your costs: more effective purchasing can improve margins. Eliminate waste of materials and time.

3. Review sales to long term customers: you may find out some customers are not as profitable as you thought.

4. Increase productivity: Staffs are the largest cost centre in most businesses. Increasing employee effectiveness can improve profits.

5. Review sales: ensure you are targeting the most profitable customers with the right product mix.
In most cases, a combination of these measures will give a boost to profitability. Incorporate these measures into your business plan and review frequently.

Be diligent and execute, execute, execute.

Need an update to your Business Plan?

Any road will get you there if you don’t know where you are going. Perhaps an updated business plan will help improve your opportunity for choosing the right options when you hit that fork in the road.

Here are a few reasons to update your plan.


1. Cash Flow sensitivity.
Most business owners seem to focus on profits instead of cash. The reality is that businesses spend cash to operate, not profits. Understanding cash flow is critical. If you only get one report to manage the business make sure it is a cash flow chart.

2. To support growth and secure funding
Most businesses face investment decisions during the course of their lifetime. Often, these opportunities cannot be funded by free cash flows alone, and the business must seek external funding. However all prospective lenders will require access to the company’s recent Income Statements/Profit and Loss Statements, along with an up-to-date business plan. In essence the former helps investors understand the past, whereas the business plan helps give them a window on the future.

3. Operational focus
Successful business leaders know that a well-written business plan can provide day-to-day operational assistance. Organizations that stay focused on their business plan have a higher chance of success; when used as a road map, it can help business leaders stay focused on business growth, mission and goals.


4. To support a strategic exit
Finally, at some point, the owners of the firm may decide it is time to exit. Considering the likely exit strategy in advance can help inform and direct present day decisions. The aim is to liquidate the investment, so the owner/current investors have the option of cashing out when they want.
Common exit strategies include;
• Initial Public Offering of stock (IPO’s)
• Acquisition by competitors
• Mergers
• Family succession
• Management buy-outs


Investment decisions can be taken in the present with one eye on the future via a well-thought-out business plan. Given that valuing firms is notoriously difficult and subjective, a well-written plan will clearly highlight the opportunity for the incoming investors, the value of it and increase the likelihood of a successful exit by the current owner.

Improve Business Communication

Poor communication can limit the effectiveness of your organization, even if you operate a small business with just a handful of employees. Without strong communication, deadlines can be missed, work processes can be duplicated and employee morale can suffer. Knowing a few ways to improve communication could benefit your organization.


• Make the Mission and Vision Clear
Take the time to explain the company values and mission, whether as part of corporate training or as a regular reminder to employees. When employees are unified in their understanding of the company goals, they will be able to communicate with one another more effectively in order to reach them.

• Listen
Make a point of actively listening to what your employees have to say, even if you don't always agree or don't think it is relevant to the topic at hand. Showing that you are listening gives the speaker a sense of importance and can make him/her feel respected.

• Communicate honestly
People know when something isn’t adding up. If you try to communicate something that isn’t totally true and honest it will eventually be revealed. It’s difficult to maintain dishonest communication in the workplace because it gets too complicated to hold all of the stories together. Speak the truth and leave the rest for later or don’t say it at all if it’s not true and honest.

• Plan External Events
Create opportunities for employees to meet outside of the office. Nothing hinders communication more than when there are employees in the company who haven’t truly met one another. Plan a holiday party or a happy hour after work. This also gives employees something to look forward to, which can facilitate improved engagement and stronger communication.

Obviously there’s a lot more that can be said about communications in the workplace. These steps may help improve workplace communications. Remember to use daily opportunities to practice your communication skills until you feel comfortable in any situation that arises in the organization.

Business Management

Key Management Skills for Success

To run a successful business you need a diverse range of business management skills. Here are some of the keys areas of successful management.



1. Time Management:
Having time management skills is simply having the ability to recognize and solve time management problems. It is as the old adage says, to never put off for later what can be done right now. You can develop this personal management skill by keeping a calendar and beginning to schedule everything including scheduling free time.

2. Financial Management:
The keys to successful financial management revolve around the ability to create wealth for the business, generate cash, and provide an adequate return on investment for owners of the business.

3. Communication Skills:
Business is all about people regardless of your industry and you will encounter a range of people on a daily basis in the operation of your business from customers and suppliers to employees and business associates. With great communication skills comes the power to influence and encourage others and yourself.

4. Leadership:
A true leader inculcates feelings of confidence, admiration in the followers and a sense of commitment towards the business. A leader influences others to follow him. Leaders need to be flexible, adaptable to change and encourage these qualities in the team members too. Being innovative is important for business growth. Innovation is a skill in itself. Leaders need to be open to new ideas, they need to innovate, bring in positive change as and when needed and progress.

5. Foresight:
This is important in business management. You need to be able to sense trouble ahead of time. You need to be prepared for it and plan accordingly. You need to think ahead of time to be ahead in the industry. An excellent example of a manager and business developer with foresight was Steve Jobs. You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new, he said. He believed in anticipating customer needs in advance to be able to give them products they would start wanting.

Management is about taking the right decisions at the right time and getting them implemented by the right people. Effective business management requires you to have a variety of basic skills. The skills outlined here certainly are not all inclusive. Perhaps, the most important thing you need to have is common sense.