Managers Arrive For a Two Day Company Meeting

Wednesday March 25th

 

 

I have a meeting scheduled at my home with an old friend.

 

I’ve asked him to come over to discuss a potential capital raising for some of my companies.

 

Even though my companies don’t require additional capital my intention is to consider all options considering the worsening economic environment and the world recession threatening to turn into a depression and the fact most companies have been raising capital to be better positioned.

 

I’m interested in being prepared for the opportunity to buy out distressed companies in the different industries my companies operate in. So if I did a capital raising it would be predominantly for this purpose.

 

After deciding to not list on the ASX last year I’d only consider a capital raising if it was little effort and not overly costly.

 

Meeting is productive and it gives me food for thought.

 

When I’m at home I work from the front of my house overlooking the canal and it’s such an empowering environment to work from.

 

I decide to cancel a boy’s trip to Fraser Island bike riding due to leave on the weekend as my book distributor sends through orders for two new books they have promoted to bookstores.

 

And the challenge is – I’m yet to finish either of them so I set aside the next 10 days to focus on finishing them as it will take a further 3 to 5 weeks thereafter before they can be printed and send to bookstores.

 

The books are 70% done but even with a ghost writer it takes a lot of time to complete.

 

After a relaxing Sunday at home with a small pool party and a hit of tennis with one of my Melbourne mates who I beat 8 – 6 in tiebreak.

By the way I have very competitive mates, so who wins is important. Then I jump in my Ferrari to drive to the Marriot Hotel for Management Meeting.

I have my Managers flying in for two days from Melbourne Sydney and also Noosa offices. There are 10 of us at the meeting and only myself and Konrad as the only male managers. Basically we are surrounded by women managers who clearly out number us so it’s lucky I get along well with women, otherwise management meetings wouldn’t be much fun.

It’s our first management meeting over two days as generally they are only one day long but the last few have been running to late so we decide to trial 2 days and do them at a nice resort. Meeting starts around 9.30am and I kick it off for 2 hours to update the team on new things launching, including a new company we are launching, and new promotions we intend doing.

I also give an overview of every company and division in the group, since the last management meeting 5 weeks ago and challenges the group are facing during the Global Credit Crisis and proposed solutions.

Then we have a presentation by a CRM company to update the team on a brand new CRM that’s we’ve invested a lot of money into that’s only 5 weeks away from launch. All the team is excited about this and hoping it will deliver the efficiencies expected as it will transform the group and the manager’s ability to achieve so much more in less time. I’m a skeptic when it comes to software as I’ve paid a small fortune in my career for so many software systems which have all failed to deliver a fraction of what they are meant to. However this one is a customised one which we’ve never had done before and after the presentation of the progress I’m feeling more confident the investment will be worth it.

After lunch every manager has to deliver a presentation of their division or department covering what they achieved since the last meeting, challenges and targets for the month ahead.

We have a brand new manager of 21st Century Group so it’s her first meeting. She is a good addition to the team with lots of energy. I highlight to her, though finance is the worst performing company in the group right now, and even though it’s not her fault as she only has just taken over from previous manager. I expect a big turnaround rapidly as in the current economic environment I have little patience for any company that requires me to inject cash when it shouldn’t. She’s confident she will deliver and I’m convinced and look forward to the division’s improvement before the next management meeting in 6 weeks.

 Half the managers get to share today and the rest scheduled for tomorrow. Meeting finishes by 6pm and we have a team dinner schedule for 8pm at Broad beach. I find management meetings a very effective leveraged way to keep the team focused and action orientated and results driven.

It also enables the team to be updated what’s happening in other divisions and be updated of changes and new staff in each department. It also puts pressure on divisions to perform as healthy competition is good and it also eliminates excuses, as any manager that makes an excuse for non performance, has to explain that to 10 managers who all can ask any question.

So it also identifies if they need help or assistance to achieve their divisions goals and the most common question I ask is “do you need anything else to achieve your targets”, so I can ensure if they do, they get it if worthwhile or if they don’t then they know they have no excuses.

Team Dinner is a lot of fun and team generally enjoy each other’s company and it’s good for team bonding. We find a small bar after dinner and continue socialising however being a Monday night there isn’t much happening on the Gold Coast and also I don’t want to encourage the managers to have to late of a night considering we have a big day ahead tomorrow. So by 1.30am everyone heads back to their hotel.