Where are we going and how do we get there?
All businesses require certain executive skills regardless of whether they are growing, positioned for growth or in distress. When those skills aren’t currently available in-house, a cost-effective way of getting them is to engage on-demand experts. Our team has experienced the results of making these improvements as well as the negative effects of living without them. Let us optimize your operations. Growth will be easier, and decline will not be as difficult. There is no time like the present to take the next step to improve your business.
Business Transformation
Do I need to change my business plan? What have I missed anything that important to consider for next year? How does a second opinion and review of my plan impact the success of my company?
All the questions above are excellent ones to consider. It is your mandate to provide leadership and direction to your key business stakeholders. They expect the business to forge ahead. You need to be sure that you have reviewed and analyzed the key business success drivers and current business priorities. Did you ensure that they have been considered and addressed to maintain and improve your current business success? Human resources and the management team all have participated with you to review and reorganize the staffing plans and overall organizational design. When your business plan needs work to include these factors into the short- and long-term business improvement and execution, call us. We will help you.
Strategic Plan Development
How do I make time to develop a plan? How do I keep from suffering “analysis paralysis”?
Everyone knows that it is better to plan and act than wait and react. The challenge is that most people are deep in their business managing the details and developing and communicating the plan takes a back seat. Make sure everyone that matters knows where your business is going. Get them all focused in the same direction, with common goals. Members of the myCxO team have both developed and executed on their numerous business plans in many different industries. We can help you facilitate your plan and document your business climate – whether it be growing, declining or stable. Forecast targets and tracking for products, financing, marketing, and sales all help you measure and know if you are achieving your goals. Improve your company’s position and quality. Get and stay ahead of the competition!
Overall Business Documentation and Processes
How do I quickly communicate a process to a teammate? Are there systems that will help me find information more quickly? How do I keep my team from “re-inventing the wheel” with our processes?
Know where you have been and ensure that you are doing things as planned. Day to day filing and processing of transactions takes a lot of time. Don’t spend more than you need. Craft your filing systems and processes to touch paper once where at all possible and allow you to be more efficient. Finding information at year-end for auditors is always a chore, but if your systems are consistent and documented, the auditor can find the invoices, checks or supplier vouchers easily themselves. Your staff will be free to keep the business profitably humming along. The myCxO team has set up many companies. We know what has worked and what hasn’t based on our experience. Proper documentation will also help you to train new staff as others leave. Support and documentation of the various software in use, custom or off-the-shelf, is also improved with proper documentation. Policy and procedure manuals will help support your decisions and make things run smoother.
Vendor, Customer, Partner, Channel, Employee Management
How can I manage my internal and external business relationships? How can I be proactive when managing people? How do I focus on the customer experience?
People are business. We deal with people in all aspects of our operations. People make good things happen, and if we do not properly manage our relationships and communication, they can cause bad things to happen as well. We need to ensure that all management and staff know how to deal with people from all categories of contact. How do your people feel about the business and those external parties with which they are dealing? What do they expect? myCxO team members know the good, the bad and the ugly of dealing with each of these parties. We know the communication methods and frequency that promotes best relations and good relations. You want both external and internal people to feel wanted, respected, needed and valuable. When they do, they add to the business’s worth. The more you are proactive with response and communication the higher your satisfaction and experience levels. We will bring you processes to provide the consistency and benefits of proper people relations.
Disaster Planning
What will I do if…? How do I recover from the loss of…? How do I prepare for the unexpected?
Everything is going well, until it isn’t. You are focused on driving better growth or fixing an issue, but not expecting a disaster. A disaster can be devastating to many businesses and very harmful to others. Planning for the worst-case and practicing recovery plans and scenarios can greatly minimize the effect on your business. Disasters can be “act of God”, acts of malice, loss of key team members, human error, extreme economic and market changes, or a competitor entering the market with disruptive solutions. Our myCxO team has lived through disasters and knows too well the need and benefit of planning for them. We will help you create the right plan to put in place to help you act with definitive steps rather than react if something happens. Worst-case scenarios are never bad enough, and you need to be calm in a disaster. We can provide direction and assistance to get a documented plan in place for your situation.
Finding New Locations
What do I do when I outgrow my location? How do I find physical space in a new city? How do I downsize and manage the market perception? When does a virtual organization make sense for my company?
As a business grows the need for new space or spaces also changes. Sometimes merely getting to the end of a lease requires a new location. Declining markets may also affect your business causing a need to reduce cost by relocating to somewhere less costly. The myCxO team executives will help you regardless of your needs or reasons. We have done geographic searches and know how to evaluate the differing criteria for locations. Being outside your organization, we can act a bit more logical when evaluating options rather than accidentally having emotions get involved. We can help keep you focused on the forecast dollars, non-financial criteria like access to other companies and effects on your people in mind. Let’s get this done right to make sure the next location is a great one!
Corporate Culture and Attitude
How do my companies become a “best employer”? How can I ensure I don’t lose my best people? How do I have happy and passionate people serving my customers?
The core of your business revolves around the people you have hired and the culture you have developed. Some organizations want more team-based collaboration and others more competitive. Whatever your desire, you need to know your people and how you would like them to act in the business world with your customers. The myCxO team has built many different cultures. All largely reflect the key executive’s vision of the company and their style. We can help you focus your people on the direction and patterns you desire. We use different methods of evaluating personality types and styles to know the natural tendencies of your team to help you guide each person in the right way. Positive attitudes and direction help to connect people and keep people focused on the customer. We know how to spot negative sentiment and to nip it in the bud. myCxO will help you build your culture and team’s social interactions with each other and suppliers and customers to be the best.
Exit Strategy/Succession Planning
What happens to my company when I’m gone? How can I get the value out of my company so I can retire? How do I ensure my legacy without having to be there all the time?
Most people do not know how they will exit the company they have built or work in. Owners and key executives, however, need to have a plan! Unforeseen events can cause the sudden departure of a key executive. Founders will eventually either retire or leave a business. Senior ownership and management need to have specific plans in place for the major eventuality of any executive change. myCxO executives have lived through not having plans as well as having them. We can safely and definitively say that you will be better off with a succession plan for every major position in your company. We will help you craft one to suit the nature of your business and ownership desires.
Mediation
How do we get two opposing sides to agree? How do I end a dispute that has been going on too long? How can we find a middle ground when there doesn’t seem to be one? Can a mediator help me?
To come to an agreement is about the ultimate goal. Is the party you dispute with open to mediation? myCxO can help. You need your points heard and valued. You also understand that some conditions may need to be subject to compromise because the disputing party also has its list of points. A neutral third party will guide the process in a meaningful non-toxic way and that is essential to coming to a resolution. You need to manage the costs, keep the matter confidential and have some control over timetable and input. If your dispute reaches the courts, all of these factors are out of your control. Our mediator acts neutrally as a third party and facilitates compromise and resolution rather than directed processes. How can we help you?
Negotiation
What happens to my company when I’m gone? How can I get the value out of my company so I can retire? How do I ensure my legacy without having to be there all the time?
Negotiation is different than Mediation. You need to get your way for at least one or more of the issues under discussion and there is no room for compromise. You need to get the other party to accept and agree to your way and your ideas. In these situations, you need to gain an advantage for your company. Do you have all the needed skills to be persuasive and confident enough? myCxO executives understand business and the importance of negotiation. We will help you position your side and get the best deal possible.
Legal Preparation Assistance
I’ve been asked to prepare documentation for the court case. How am I going to get this done correctly and still do my regular job? Do I have to go through all past emails to find communications that our external lawyer can use? When will I have time with no interruptions?
Sound like your situation? Preparation of proper and complete documentation for your lawyer is necessary for any claims or lawsuits. The more complete and accurate your documentation and history are, the better the chance you will win. myCxO has executives with experience as lawyers and know exactly what is needed and what is not. Get our help to accumulate and verify the supporting documents for you. Have the right information gathered and properly organized to save legal costs from your lawyer.
Domestic and International Business Development
How do I open a new market in another country? What do I do to set up shop in the USA or Europe or China? Do I need to set up a company or hire someone there? What rules do I need to follow? Who can I call to help?
Expansion for a company is a good thing and when you are given the responsibility to do it, there is huge risk. Have you done it before? Where do you start? Save the many research hours to consider government incentives, rules, and registration details. Our professionals have the experience to build businesses and new markets. We’ve done it before. Whether you want another location within Canada, the USA or around the globe, we will help you. Let us make your expansion easier.
On-Call Strategic and Leadership Advice
What if I don’t know what I don’t know? Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to call for a second opinion on a topic? Who can you call to get unbiased impartial and non-competitive advice? It would be nice to have someone who has the experience to help!
Our goal is to help you have the experience you need, when you need it, for as long as you need it. We want to be there to help you as a trusted resource. As your business goes through changes, and as your marketplace goes through changes, we can be there without burdening your business’ cash flow. We know managing your business is not easy. Deciding to spend your funds needs to provide you value. myCxO provides a complete roster of experienced teammates. Ask us for someone to be your executive buddy. We’ve been there and done it before. We will help identify where it makes sense to engage our expertise and support, and areas where you have the skills in-house. One day a month or more, the decision is yours. You already make good decisions. Access the experience you want when you need it. We are always just a phone call or email away.