Small Business wants Management!

Good morning !! .. because last evening we learned hughely about Web 2.0 from Internet Guru Mr. Byron Biggs via a CEDEC.ca seminar. So I'm sitting down to write a timely BLOG, right now, about Small Business' interests in Management subjects.


Following 18 years in Top Management positions with Toyota manufacturing, I've devoted my latest 5 years to Small Businesses - - - to their Management issues/ systems/ approaches: from Strategic Planning to Goals, Actions, Follow-up and reflection .... all of that in an organized way which has a name: HOSHIN. Roughly translated, this Japanese Management system, Hoshin, means Steady Direction; through rough seas into calmer waters on the way to our destination. Hoshin has Dr. Deming's PDCA in its roots.

My observations about Small Businesses' Management: there are differences regarding their Management interest:

A. Businesses which have only one or two people deeply concerned about Management subjects are likely to enjoy one-on-one ad-hoc meetings rather than say weekly committee meetings.

B. Businesses which have 3, 4 or 5 people who are deeply concerned about Management subjects (such as 'Mission' et al; Goals; 'Process'; Structure and Organization; Roles and so on) enjoy larger meetings that last 2 hours or more and are regularly scheduled such as the Weekly Planning Meeting and the Monthly Review Meeting.

C. Both of these have a tendancy to Manage by the decided way that the CEO insists upon .. OR ALTERNATIVELY .. in some cases the CEO allows someone else, example the QA Manager or Finance Manager, to run the Management System.

D. My findings so far are that Small Businesses often change their Management Approach from year to year based on some new info they've learned and/or based on some requirement that a Large Customer may be imposing on them.. such as ISO-9000 or Lean Manufacturing(TPS) as 2 examples. So they change their style of managing, their management tools, meeting frequencies, etc.

E. I've also found that those Management Leaders in Small Businesse really and truly want to achieve Goals and to do so efficiently. They want it even though they have no time. Goals have been elusive in their Small Business. Achievement of Goals is lacking and leaders debate among themselves as to why. They know in their gut that a good, full-circle Management Approach must be part of what they all do.

What am I looking for?

I'm now seeking English-speaking Small Businesses in the Eastern Townships / Monteregie Regions of Quebec in order to study them and find the right HOSHIN solution for them that will overcome the issues which I've outlined above. The solution found would be given freely to the Business.

What can I offer?

Based upon my experience, http://www.mma.ca/ and my life-long dedication to Management Solutions, I believe that I can produce results - - - in a friendship manner, like I've done with all my clients and friends over 40 years.

Please check it out and move your business "through calmer waters to your intended destination" with HOSHIN. Go ahead and click on http://www.mma.ca/

Thank you for reading today and I hope I've left you with a picture in your mind that there is a really great Management System out there, Hoshin, mastered by Toyota, and it could simply be yours too.

Mike Davis mike@mma.ca

More on Mike at Linked-In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/MMAlean