A Helping Hand for Owner Managers

We all need a little help sometimes. Our skills and knowledge aren’t always enough. Companies are no different. We staff them to take care of everyday needs. Change projects require deeper expertise than is on hand, and an objective perspective to identify choices and avoid challenges.

But no one wants to use consultants, they are like cooties but cost more, but when managed effectively they help avoid pitfalls and create value. A good consultant is a team member that supplements, trains and mentors your internal capability as needed.

Here is how we have worked with some of our clients:

• Case Study #1 – an owner managed manufacturing entity preparing for eventual sale

We helped align ownership between subsidiaries to achieve internal equity when a sale was made and in the meantime we organised rewards and incentives to achieve common focus and add value . We worked with the majority shareholder as the skills to do this did not exist internally.

• Case Study #2 – a distribution company that wanted to improve performance

THW deployed its “Think like a Buyer” process and with internal HR staff, identified deficiencies in process and structure that were limiting growth and would lead to a discounted sale price. We helped remedy these and reinforced their application with an aligned incentive plan.

• Case Study #3 – an owner manager spent her entire career building her company and needed more than her own expertise to further growth

With the owner we established an advisory board and its governance process. We identified the appropriate experience, qualified candidates and how to capture and benefit from the experiences of other businesses and industries.

• Case Study #4 – the president of a family owned company wanted to educate his Board on industry trends in executive performance based compensation

Competitive data was organized to demonstrate how our client’s compensation structure compared with that of its competition. We then customized incentives and pay at risk to motivate behaviors that would help achieve the client’s strategic goals

• Case Study #5 – an owner wanted a second opinion on the capability of his team and its ability to manage the business as it reached for the next level of growth

We spent time with the owner to understand his goals and then with the team to form an independent view of their ability to grow the business. With this information the owner was able to add missing skills to the team through recruitment and professional development and training.