Cleanup can sometimes sound like a dirty word because it implies that something is messy, sloppy, slovenly, untidy, unkempt, unclean, or unmanageable. Worse, for entrepreneurs, it can be personally insulting to think that something they have created, nurtured, and grown requires any kind of custodial undertaking. We, however, recognize that cleanup is a good thing, a very positive force in and out of business contexts. In this spirit, we work hard to help entrepreneurs recognize the useful and valuable nature of cleanup and of calling it what it is.
Cleanup occurs in business at many levels. Organizational cleanup can happen at strategic, business, and functional levels and might involve personnel, processes, procedures, practices and a host of other aspects of the business that require change for the better. For this reason, cleanup can be top-down, bottom-up, or some hybrid series of actions that involve streamlining multiple levels concurrently, with frequent communication informing each step.
Cleanup can also occur in several stages or phases, with early phases focusing on independent elements of the business and later phases reserved for aspects of the business that depend on other functions or areas to be streamlined first. Because of this, it is important for entrepreneurs to recognize that cleanup, beside being a good thing in their business, takes time and requires patience and persistence.
At Master of TACT, we tend to think of cleanup as the fun part of our process, and we encourage business owners to allow themselves to enjoy the process. After all, why get into business if not to have some fun running it? This isn’t to say that cleanup is all fun and games. In fact, because this phase of the business assistance process is aimed at moving the company toward specific results, it is also one of the most tedious, time-consuming, and exhausting aspects of mastering TACT. We recommend that owners think of business cleanup as they might think of cleaning a home: Of course, it’s intimidating to clean an entire home when one thinks about all the rooms that must be tidied up; however, working on one room at a time can bring both great results and lots of personal and professional joy.
Before beginning any cleanup or making any recommendations about how to go about it, we make sure that business owners agree with and are comfortable doing something about the report we delivered during the analysis phase of our work with them. We also leave it up to the owner to choose whether they will act on the recommendations we shared in that report, and if they agree to act on them, then it is still up to them whether they will proceed with Master of TACT or attempt change on their own. We are fortunate to have many clients who see us in their path forward. Here’s how we help entrepreneurs clean “one room at a time” in their business during the cleanup process:
- First, we use the results of our analysis and the owner’s stated and implied goals to guide next steps and to choose which “room” to clean first, next, and so forth. For example, if in our troubleshooting, we uncovered a problem in which bank accounts were constantly going into overdraft, then our analysis might have revealed that cash balances were insufficiently monitored. On deeper analysis, we might also have determined that cash balances were out of whack because the owner simply didn’t have proper tools at their disposal for monitoring cash. As part of our cleanup, then, we might recommend that the owner monitor cash daily or weekly, using a cash management tool that we could recommend or design for that purpose. However, cleanup might also mean going through months or years of bank statements and making sure they are reconciled to the company’s accounting ledgers. If the company hasn’t been maintaining accounting records, there’s another cleanup opportunity to explore.
- Next, once we establish a solution to an issue and equip the owner or business with tools to leverage the solution, we work closely with the business to establish best practices. This occurs both in cleanup and turnaround operations, by the way, so businesses that aren’t in particularly terrible shape could be righted with some sound practices developed during cleanup. Using the cash management example again, this might involve establishing whether the business receives paper or electronic bank statements; if statements are received electronically, who has access to online banking to retrieve statements; who reconciles bank statements and how soon after the statement period ends; who accesses cash balances on a daily or weekly basis to monitor activity, prevent fraud, alert the owner of suspicious transactions or activity; and how banking and cash flow issues are resolved, to name a few possible areas of concern.
- Finally, we document our findings and best practices and establish a system for monitoring and evaluating process and procedure changes. This can be challenging because business owners, by this time, may be eager to get back to the business of doing what they do best in the business; however, it is essential that proper time and attention are devoted to documenting best practices and to establishing a system for maintaining the practices. This is the essence of cleanup, much the way a room doesn’t magically stay clean after a thorough cleaning; it is through establishing a pattern or routine that a room’s cleanliness is maintained.
In the case of wood trim and cabinet maker JP’s business, after listing the issues he wanted to address and determining the causes of his challenges, we met with him and let him choose which areas he wanted to address and clean up first, next, and so on. His first priority was to get strong control over cash flows, so we addressed his accounting and cash management issues first. We converted his paper accounting system to software, trained him and his wife in basic use of it, established a monthly bank reconciliation process using the software, and scheduled quarterly check-ins to see how the new system was doing and to answer any questions that arose. In subsequent meetings, we addressed and planned for cleanup of other aspects of his business, which led to another important step in our business assistance process about which we’ll post later: turnaround. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, think about your processes, procedures, policies and practices. (Pardon the alliteration.) Is your operation due for a clean sweep? Take an honest look at what you’re doing, where you’re going and where you want to go in your business. Are you on course? Are there aspects of your company holding you back? How can a TACTful nudge from Master of TACT motivate and inspire your next big moves toward a clean bill of health? Share in comments below or visit our Contact page to drop us an email. Looking forward to hearing from you.
