Growing a Small Business - A Success Story

It all started with a reference I had received from Vipul (Name changed), about one of his friend Ashok (Name changed), who wanted to meet me and discuss certain business challenges. It was a new industry for me and so I had got excited with the prospect of learning something new from the imminent consulting engagement on the horizon.

On meeting Ashok, I learnt he had a small business that was growing at a quick pace for last few years after he had integrated backwards. It was a family business. The business turnover had grown from about 9 crores to about 22 Crores in around 3 to 4 years time, but had stagnated after that. He shared that he had a good bunch of people who were very sincere, loyal and carried out their jobs and all his instructions without fail. However, he also felt that the employees did not take any initiative to change things around by themselves or drive improvements in performance. They waited for Ashok's decision for all important issues, even on a day to day level. Ashok had no option but to involve himself in all operational issues. This meant that he was not able to devote time for developing his product range or business or technology any further. Ashok thought his employees might be having certain grievances or challenges that probably didn't allow them to do their best. Would it be possible to change their attitude and make them more accountable for results and decentralize so that the business can be grown further? 

I suggested an employee satisfaction survey to diagnose the situation. Ashok agreed, gave us the go ahead very quickly and cooperated to set up the survey. We carried out a structured interview, followed by a one-on-one interaction with all his staff (not the workmen). The data that we gathered were processed and analyzed and the structured findings were shared with Ashok. We recommended the actions to address the issues we had found.  Ashok had taken the report in all seriousness and had involved the other directors when we presented our findings. He took it upon himself to implement the recommended actions and thanked us at the end. 

I received a call from Ashok's office again in a few months time and went to see him. He asked if we could help him by taking charge of the implementation of the actions that we had earlier recommended after our study. I accepted and he asked for an annual plan for the same from us to initiate the process.

Thus we had an annual plan in place, to enhance the organisation capabilities - people processes and business processes, both. I and Ashok agreed to revisit and review the plan on a monthly basis for necessary course corrections or support and he left it on me to lead the exercise.

The Key Areas we focused  on were as follows

1. Standardizing and improving systems and processes. Enhancing reliability
2. Standardizing employee policies to enhance objectivity, fairness and transparency - leaves, pay standards, grade scales, rewards management, employee benefits, documentation etc.
3. Learning and Development of employees for enhancing capabilities and performance
4. Internship programs for students and campus recruitment process to enhance appeal and acceptability of the employer brand in the talent market
5. Upgrade the website to enhance communication with prospective talent pool and the outside world
6. Recruitment practices to enhance the quality in selection - no more than matriculates could be recruited while higher educational qualifications were required. 
7. Structured management reviews to enhance involvement and accountability of managers / HODs in meeting business objectives and also to improve teamwork

We planned specific activities for each of the above seven areas and followed up rigorously on the same. We reviewed systematically and initiated necessary action(s) with the help of the organisation as and when necessary. We had missed a few dates along the way, but did not lose sight of the requirements ever!

Each year we developed a new annual plan in agreement with Ashok and followed up. Ashok started to realize the advantage of periodic team reviews and was able to delegate some of his responsibilities gradually. He was able to find time for thinking about developing his business further.

Sometime into the second year of our association with Ashok, I proposed an audacious goal of 100 Crores turnover to the team during a management review. They were around 25 Croers mark then. While all members were awestruck, Ashok was deep in thought! Then I saw him looking at his laptop and studying some data. He went on to share about some new products which could be added to the portfolio to catapult the business turnover to the coveted mark! It was probably the first time that Ashok had shared his aspirations with his teams openly, and the team got fired up. After a few more rounds of discussions and meetings, the 100 crores goal was set to be scaled in 4 years time. So Ashok and his team believed they could be 4 times bigger in 4 years flat!

This act of confiding in his team about the business goals by Ashok had one of the biggest impacts on his team. All of a sudden the team felt included in the bigger scheme of things and it hugely boosted their morale! Other notable achievements included standardization of the pay scale, standardization of increments, and recruitment and retention of graduates and professionally educated talent pool. I recall after about three years of working with Ashok, it was no more a challenge to attract talented youngsters to the company! Campus recruitment and internships were working very well as quality institutions showed their faith in the company. We used to receive a steady trickle of resumes through the new website as well. The employer brand was getting appreciated!

All in all it was a transformed organisation! Employees worked hard, but knew they would deservedly rewarded. They aspired for higher levels of responsibilities. Training sessions, inter-departmental meetings and interactions helped unclog many process challenges and improved performance. The teams worked with purpose with their eyes on goals. Ashok was able to attend conferences and business meets more regularly as he had more time to spare for such activities. It provided him the know-how to widen his vision and also extend his network.

The 100 Crores milestone had taken a little longer than 4 years to reach! However, the organization had learnt to achieve business goals in the process and they lost no time to target and plan for doubling the turnover!