File 22:  In today’s file, the team welcomes Amy Rudy, the Founder of Impact Sales Systems, to discuss the challenge of staying relevant in your industry or field and growing your knowledge, skills and abilities.  It’s also going to require a level of resilience to remain agile in the future of work. 

In case you missed them, the previous 2 episodes focused on The Future of Work.  Click the below links to listen:

·      The Future of Work (Part 1)

·      The Future of Work (Part 2)

Meet Amy Rudy

Amy is a sales and sales management coach.  She works with business owners and sales teams on the behaviors behind selling.  She often works with solely-owned and closely-owned businesses.  Prior to launching Impact Sales Solutions, Amy founded a software development firm that built custom solutions for specialized challenges facing both small businesses and Fortune 500 companies.

The Gap Left when a Founder Leaves the Organization

Amy explains that a successful business will often outgrow the skill set that enabled it to launch and grow, in the early days.  This is especially true of a business that had a sole owner/founder.  It works for a while, but because so much of what makes the organization unique is tied to the knowledge, skills and relationships of that individual, it may be difficult to export that talent to a larger team. 

As the team attempts to take shape, the initial inertia can slow and leave the team wondering how it can regain the momentum and direction. 

Managing the Transition

It may be a case of the leader wanting to retire or exit in 15 years, or so.  However, when Amy is approached with the idea of accelerating that exit to 18 months or less, it’s virtually impossible.  Now the exit can definitely take place, but it’s a question of how stable the company was built to withstand the event. 

It’s a matter of being strategic with the decision.  If new leaders are beginning to surface and take on some of the responsibilities, they may be willing to do even more.  There’s already a sense of forward motion occurring.  The reality is often smaller companies are managed and controlled (along with the decision-making).  This environment may work well for the leader, but the rest of the organization is underprepared to move beyond that individual; even to survive after the exit.  Is the organization ready to operate with a business-mindset, rather than as a personal checkbook?

Amy recommends planning for succession much earlier that people often assume is necessary.

The Importance of Creating Succession Plans

Jason asks about how this is initiated and developed.  Amy comments that it’s a question of whether the organization needs “more of same” or needs to pivot.  If the company needs more of the same approach, then documenting work processes and operations would make sense. 

Amy prefers to begin by asking the client(s) to describe their future.  What does FutureCo look like?  How much revenue will it produce?  How much volume will be required to generate that revenue?  Is it truly more of same or is it different?  Will it need to move faster?  Will the problems be more complex?

She also challenges the client(s) to consider the required capabilities.  Describe the necessary skills to operate at those levels and in those areas.  How much cash will FutureCo require to operate at those levels?  It’s a matter of really attempting to define what the intended future will look like.

Once you have that vision defined, Amy notes that the business needs to measure where they are today, using the same metrics, for CurrentCo.  When accurately performed, a true gap-analysis provides valuable insights.  Leaders should then involve the people around them to figure out what needs to be done differently to become FutureCo, as envisioned.

One of the underlying challenges becomes reality when the new leader steps into the role, but the insight and resulting roadmap doesn’t exist, because it walked out the door inside the previous leader’s head.  This can echo throughout company leadership as people begin to protect what they know.  There’s no real knowledge transfer and the organization becomes stuck, or worse yet, begins to regress.

It may not be a question of who the organization replaces “Steve” with another Steve (e.g. more of same).  Maybe Steve hit his performance ceiling.  It’s it possible that moving forward will require a different kind of leader who can take what Steve began and effectively navigate into the future?

Jason and Amy discuss the view that, “It worked, so why change it?”  Assessing whether it’s still working and will it work in the future are importantly different questions.  While this is a difficult conversation to have, Amy observes that there are people at the table who want to be part of the conversation, but unfortunately are not always given the opportunity to contribute their ideas, perspectives and innovation to the situation.

Having a level of transparency among all leadership roles should mean that everyone can contribute.  Unfortunately, people become accustomed to waiting to be told what to do next, rather than helping to define what actually needs to be done next.

However, if a business owner can adopt that mindset and begin encouraging those additional points of views, true progress can be made toward actively planning and preparing for FutureCo.

Planning Remains Important

Amy reinforces the need to have solid roles and responsibilities enabling people to communicate what and how they’re going to proceed, while enabling the organization to measure that progress is important.  It’s about accountability and results.  This is especially true in sales.  Enable to individuals to own the role and own the goal.

Are there Trends in the Skills Gaps?

Jason asks Amy if there seem to be a set of trends she notices in the workforce?  Technology is advancing incredibly quickly.  Technical skills involving office tools, such as spreadsheets, could enable people to analyze large data sets on their own.  There seems to be a gap in this area.

Additionally, Amy recognizes gaps are apparent in:

·      - Negotiating

·      - Forecasting & Planning

·      - Accounting

·      - Account-level Planning

·      - Questioning

·      - Navigating the Way Forward

Are your sales people neglecting the sales tools and simply waiting for leads to be generated for them?  Are they consistently initiating contacts and cultivating referral-relationships?  Even an excellent marketing machine will only generate a certain percentage of leads.  The individual network a professional can cultivate could generally exceed that.  Is it being developed, effectively and consistently?

Amy points out that while market