What to do?

[Fredzefisher]

Good morning everyone. I have just found this site and thought nothing ventured so here goes....
About 7 years ago our local petrolstation/store/postoffice closed. As it is a rural asset, I put money into it to get it running again and kept the original staff on whilst remaining a silent partner. Other business interests mean that I have had little time for involvement in the running or management. It has never grown in 7 years and is on the verge of going over the overdraft every month. The manager in place has not improved the business and has had his own way of doing things, keeping tight control of all aspects of running the operation. However, due to health reasons, he has now suddenly left the business without warning and I am at an absolute loss as to what to do. I know this is probably an opportunity to restructure and we are working on finding a new manager. However, in the meantime our processes are not being attended to as no one has the knowledge to do so. Can anyone advise our process in the coming weeks to stay afloat.
Many thanks

 

[Nathanael Jones]

Firstly - communicate well with ALL involved! Let them know in advance that due to sudden and unexpected illness that there may be some delays in general admin tasks in the next few weeks and apologise profusely for the inconvenience. DO NOT wait until it becomes a problem - get ahead of it! If you wait until bills are going unpaid etc, your reputation will sour very quickly and in a rural setting that could sink the business very quickly.

 

[Nathanael Jones]

Secondly - the business closed once before, and has never grown since re-opening - - - this may be due to the managers lack of ambition,... but it may be that you're limited by simple rural economics, eg. only a limited number of customers in your area, a threshold which is very hard to break!

I would be very cautious about making big changes quickly. Instead weigh up every idea, discuss the ideas with the staff that know the area as well as you do - and take on board their ideas too. Discuss with them your goals for improving the business, emphasising that these improvements will mean better working conditions and job security for them too.

When you've come up with a few changes you are sure will have a positive impact - implement them one at at time and closely monitor how profit is affected.

 

[FirstClassVirtualOffice]

And next time, make sure the manager can be covered by a member of staff, a sort of deputy, who will know what the manager knows to cover all the basics.

And also get in a company who will document every process so that if that manager also suddenly leaves, you have written documentation for following any process in that job role.

 

[Fredzefisher]

Many thanks for your speedy reply. We are in the process of informig the (slightly concerned) staff and suppliers to keep them in the loop. My main worry is finding someone to get in charge of the day to day near term issues whilst we can address the managerial side. Do we approach a business mentoring service/business angel in order to get onto a level course while we train up/employ a manager. The bank are fully informed and supportive at present, bills are getting paid but the staff we have in place are till workers and shelf stackers, not data entry/ account specialists...

 

[Nathanael Jones]

You should be able to get a new manager in the position within 2 weeks,.. I honestly think an interim mentioning agency would cause more disturbance than good in such a short term,... it'd be all re-organizing things their way, which may be completely incompatible with the new managers way!
Concentrate on employing a replacement quickly - one change is enough!

 

[Fredzefisher]

Many thanks for your reply - we are now understanding the importance of this! We had tried with the previous manager to get him to train others in house but due to other constraints assumed rather than checked this was being done. Our concern is that if we employ someone in this field, we might end up spending cash which the company at present does not make. We are sure that with the right manager in place the business can thrive -we have a strong and loyal customer base but have not had a manager to push the business in the right direction. As a rural enterprise it will never generate huge amounts of profit but that is not our concern. it is a vital asset to our rural community, providing a convenience store and post office to those who need it!

 

[Nathanael Jones]

Perhaps you can turn this into a PR opportunity - the "a community focused business seeks a new manager with local knowledge to grow a local resource" story could get you some newspaper and maybe even radio coverage....

 

[Feldon]

Have you got the Post Office side sorted? I'm an ex-sub-postmaster and you can find relief managers through the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters.