Experiential Learning of a Business Consultant

My Consulting Experience with Bramma

Resistance to Change!

When we analyze the major roles of a consultant, every management book speaks the same language that consultants are organizational change agents! It also mentions that change is not an easy phenomenon to happen where lots of obstacles and hurdles are there on the way of change, which is to be cleared by a consultant. Among all obstacles, EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE to change acts as the major challenge in organizational change management as far as consultant is concerned, according to conventional management books. But here, I would like to share my personal experience in SME consulting arena, which speaks a slightly different story comparing to the conventional theories!

I do agree with the fact that employee resistance is a major challenge I faced in organizational change management process.  But when I analyze the consequences and level of impact in the change management process, I rate EMPLOYER RESISTANCE TO CHANGE as the most difficult and alarming constraint I ever faced in the process. It is quite surprising to see employer resist themselves in the change process. I am sure that it may not be the same scenario in large scale business, but in the case of SME, where 99% enterprises are promoter driven business, it is much visible. Let’s go deep into some real case examples.

As far as every change process is concerned, change should start from top to bottom. So, organizational change should start from organizational structure and management style. We used to analyze irregularities and interlinked communication process in organizations while conducting initial process study in an organization. Then we suggest structure revamp and try to bring professionals in the organization in order to drive the process. Most of the companies lack professionalism which pulls them back in the growth process, and that’s why professionals are much required on a long term basis. But as I mentioned earlier, here we face the major challenge, the EMPLOYER RESISTANCE TO CHANGE!

Most of the employers fail to assimilate the change happening in the management style. They are not able to gel with the new people come aboard.  Issues start from the point where they fail to understand the new roles and a consultant struggles to act as a lubricator here! A consultant needs to be diplomatic in such situations, but in some cases, we had to put our foot down where we see things move in the opposite direction.

For e.g.  In a company we brought a new professional as Head - Sales, and he was assigned to streamline the sales activities which were on a pathetic stage till then. Sales people were not following the reporting system and also they failed to generate the desired outcome. The new person implemented some reporting system and also he started tracking the system very strictly. But all of a sudden the key person started involving in the process and he started violating the system by himself. Communication process went scattered where he started spying and receiving communications from the employees directly where the Head was missing many! As a result of frustration, Head resigned the job and went out of the organization.

This is a simple example but we faced even extreme circumstances where the employer himself asked us to frame strategies to terminate new comer professional, only because he was not able to gel with him!

There are plenty of such cases available in our case files. But what could be the reasons? We tried to analyze the reasons and find out major reasons for such cases,

• ·         Most of the employer lack a well defined organizational vision
• ·         They fail to delegate authorities to employees
• ·         They fail to develop trust factor in their people and system
• ·         They fail to come out of self entrepreneurship to entrepreneurship

People force is the major driving force in every organization. It is a must that you have quality manpower in the front to lead the process, when an organization is looking for growth or business development with a professional approach. Nowadays it is not that difficult to get quality manpower in SME, as many of them are willing to work in Kerala. But the real challenge is to sustain them with the organization in a long run. It is purely depended upon how employer treats them and maintains them, without disturbing the new environment. And for that an entrepreneur should have good vision and broaden mindset to accept changes, unless the scenario never changes!

-          Deepesh M

Manager – Consulting

Bramma Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Mob: 9847896265

Phone: 0484 2705535

How to Build a Professional Organization...?

Business Consulting and Systemization

A tool for entrepreneurs

The document explains the business consulting and the importance of that in the present industry.

- Abin c Pascal

23/10/2013

Why Business Consulting & Systemization is necessary..?

• ·         Wearing too many hats..?
• ·         Working too many hours..?
• ·         Noticing that your employee is only working for the salary that you are paying?
• ·         Nobody does a job; anybody could have done, because they assumed someone else to do it..?
• ·         Feeling that you have no control over the money that circulating in your company?
• ·         Wanting to be a “master of your own destiny” and then become the “slave of your business”?

All these questions are now common everywhere; especially in Kerala based SME level companies. More than 5 Lakhs small and medium level companies are there in Kerala, most of them are struggling to survive, many of them are dead, and a very few of them are alive and growing, why is it so? It’s not only because of the financial support or other lack of PEST factors(Political, Economical, Social and Technological), but it’s because of the lack of the vision; as the result, the business that they are doing is not equipped with the basic things that are necessary to start, survive, grow and succeed in the industry.

Nowadays, the competition is so strong in any industry, only the companies with unique products/services will sustain its momentum and growth. Entrepreneurs need to update the business and need to act based on “SAVE” concept of marketing; which means:-

S- Solution: - A business should provide a solution to a specific problem and that solution can be in the form of product/service of the company, then only that company will get an edge over others, and this will help the company to sustain in the industry. For e.g. when we think about a mattress manufacturing company, they provide a solution for better sleep by modern mattress; here the product is a visible form of the solution. This is how an entrepreneur should see about his business.

A- Accessibility: - The product/service which means the solution, which should be accessible to every customer who needs it. It should not limit its audience in a specific region or location but it should be clear that the solution address all the customers who need that solution.

V- Value: - The solution should have a value; so only the customer won’t look at the cost factor. If the solution got a value, for sure that the customer will make that solution a success. For e.g. there are people who use branded dress, the reason is that they provide some kind of value to that customer; here value may be the brand name, comfort, pride, privilege etc. 

E- Educate: - The Company needs to educate or should make the people aware about the products and its features. Then only it can create a need/want/demand in the mindset of the customer. For e.g. branded companies like Apple Inc etc are trying to educate the people about the products and its value, when the people are educated, they will ask for that solution and the value that they got after the usage will make them a lifelong customer.

How things are possible..?

Here comes the solution, the company should have a vision, which states the reason for the existence of that particular company. Business consulting company will help to develop and define “The Key 7S in a Business”.

It’s proven that, hard work is not the ultimate solution but its business systemization. In Kerala, start up and some SME companies are lacking the management level knowledge and system setting, as the result the entrepreneurs might feel frustrated and dejected in doing the business. So for making the smoother running of the business, by doing business systemization, it will define the following things:-

• ·         It defines everybody’s hats
• ·         It helps you to save a big amount of time by organizing things
• ·         It motivates employees, and makes them a part of the process
• ·         It defines everybody’s KRAs, responsibilities and tasks
• ·         It enables you to manage and control every penny in your business
• ·         You can be the leader of you business through proper delegation and sharing of organizational goals and objective by proper controlling mechanism

Business Consulting can provide, all the factors showed in the figure to make a better running of the business and there by the company will get an organized, systematic and streamlined business operation procedure which finally results in achieving the vision of the company.

Consulting proves that, every organization can be a success in its industry when they are focused on their vision. The 7S shows that, with the proper combination all ‘S’, the organization will be working with clearly defined vision means shared value; to achieve the Shared value there will be a clearly defined Structure with the help of right Strategy and System, the right Skilled Staff can make a smoothly running organization. In this scenario, the organization will be systematic, organized and focused on its vision.

Conclusion

Professionally managed and organized business is always the best place to work, engage and it will provide better results for each and every efforts that the entrepreneur is putting in it. Entrepreneur should have a vision about the business and that should be shared among the employees too, this will make a sense of belonging and will result in employee satisfaction and achieving the organizational goal.

Article by,

Abin c Pascal

Asst. Manager- Consulting

Bramma Learning Solutions Pvt Ltd, Kochi
Mob: 9496695346
Phone: 0484 2705535

Work Culture @ Bramma Learning Solutions

Top 10 mistakes by businessmen in Kerala

In Kerala  small business entrepreneurs face lots of challenges. These challenges make them stuck in mud and provide bigger hurdles in their way forward. Let's look into the major mistakes done by the businessmen in Kerala.

This particular segment is taken from the Cleveland blog and is definitely useful for our business circumstances too. Bramma-the best management consulting firm in Kerala brings you the best articles like this!

1. Lack of planning: Without a plan, there's no road map that bridges good times and bad. Too often, day-to-day distractions take away from a small-business owner's ability to access new opportunities.

2. Not seeking help: Business owners tend to not develop an advisory board or a relationship with a mentor or not invest in professional services.

3. Hiring family and friends: They're an obvious choice, but too often they become a drain on the business. Owners tend to take an entirely different approach with them than when addressing challenges involving a non-family member.

4. Lack of access to capital: Cash flow is king. Not incorporating a funding strategy in your overall plan -- whether it's traditional or nontraditional financing -- often creates a ripple effect of problems. Making decisions based on lack of capital tends to have adverse effects.

5. Being in business with partners with different values: It's not just about asking obvious questions like who is going to be the customer and how the business will be marketed. Business partners need to question leadership styles and have an understanding of what's expected of each other.

6. Relying too heavily on a few clients: Diversify your portfolio.

7. Lack of market research: Whether it's a corner restaurant, a new product release or a professional service, you have to know where your customers are. Depending on the outcome, a marketing plan could be a mix of networking, traditional media and social media -- or it could mean focusing primarily on one channel.

8. Trust: Business owners fall prey to both sides of this equation. They either trust too much or too little in employees, clients and vendors. Contracts are binding and failing to do your due diligence based on somebody's word often leads to despair.

9. Admitting that they're wrong: Pride won't tell you. Employees won't speak up, and confidants sometimes won't acknowledge it. But you have to own up to what you don't know and hire and respect employees for their expertise.

10. Not anticipating failure: Entrepreneurs are natural risk takers and optimists. Too often they don't spend enough time exploring the "what ifs."