Another privately owned company masters the habits of aligning core values and purpose with daily operations to see the company grow by over 20% annually in a down market. Background An entrepreneur and his wife started a fire alarm and sprinkler services company serving the commercial marketplace in the DFW Metroplex in 1992. The first office was a trailer behind the owners’ home. One of their daughters joined the company in 1993 and another and her husband joined in 1997. Tragedy struck in 2001 when the entrepreneur developed a terminal illness and died within a few months. The family had a strong faith and work ethic, so the youngest daughter joined the company fulltime, too. Everyone put a shoulder to the wheel and the company grew. By 2007, the company had several million dollars in revenues and more than 40 employees. The Challenge The company was led by a family board consisting of the mother, the three sisters working in the company, a fourth sister, an accountant and two minority investors. This group wanted a plan for the company to pass to succeeding generations. The first pass had happened as a result of a tragedy; wanting to avoid a similar situation in the future, the board wanted a succession plan. O’Neal Consulting was asked to lead the board in succession planning training. Through this training two critical issues emerged: The three sisters running daily operations were spending too much time on administrative tasks that should be delegated and not enough time on leading and managing the business. The sisters were working long hours and did not feel they were getting ahead. Even though the company was making money and adding customers and employees, it was not growing at the rate it could grow with focused leadership. The three separate companies that make up the business were not working efficiently and there was redundancy among companies.
The Solution O’Neal Consulting introduced several strategic planning activities to assist the owners in resolving these immediate issues, as well as preparing the company for strategic growth. 1. Stating and launching a set of core values The sisters had core values that were instilled in them by their parents and those values were being used to lead the company. However, the values were not being communicated to employees, so employees did not know when they were upholding or violating them. When the sisters’ core values were violated by an employee it caused great conflict within the sisters. O’Neal Consulting listened to the family stories that built the values. The values were clarified, put into core value statements and introduced to the employees. In a group meeting employees were recognized who lived the values on a daily basis at work. Discussing the behaviors that exemplify the values established a standard for the other employees to follow. The core values are: 2. Leading instead of just doing Because the sisters were so involved in the day-to-day operations, there was no time to take a longer view of the business. O’Neal Consulting introduced them to the book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish, as an example of a strategic format to use to lead a fast-growth company. The sisters began by constructing a one-page strategic plan. Through this process they discovered: Work flow was not organized smoothly Too many employees reported to one executive Invoicing to customers at the completion of a job took 10 days, thus delaying collections There was no follow-up system with customers on repeat annual work There was unhappiness with the performance of some employees Employees who did not practice the company core values were also not good performers
Processes were put in place to resolve these issues. One of those processes addressed employee performance and the lack of living the core values. The sisters were trained in Topgrading™ interview techniques to select “A” players for their jobs. Within six months the workforce was upgraded to mostly “A” players and employee conflict subsided. O’Neal Consulting also set monthly strategy sessions to begin tackling other issues: Redundancy of work flow Ineffective organization of the employee report structure Having a quarterly business focus Employees asking for leads from customers Contacting customers for repeat services Improving internal communications
3. Establishing a comprehensive corporate branding strategy To better clarify the company’s promise to the marketplace, O’Neal Consulting, through a business partner, conducted a comprehensive brand strategy development exercise, including a competitive brand analysis and customer research. The company established a clear brand vision strategy and distinctive differentiation and positioning strategies. The Results A succession plan is in place. The strategic planning approach provided a road map for the sisters to use to lead the company on an annual, quarterly, weekly and daily basis. Employees enthusiastically live the core values. Applicants who do not exemplify the core values are not invited to join the company. Business processes continue to be improved. The company also now goes to market under one name, has a set of key prioritized strategic messages and revamped its visual identity to better reflect its brand strategies. By the end of 2008, the company has increased revenues by 28% from the previous year without increasing the size of the workforce, and the revenue produced per employee had increased by 35%. The company has also expanded out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area into Central Texas and has plans to offer services statewide in few years. | 
