Consulting & Advisory Services
- Comprehensive Business Assessment
Do you know what is preventing you from reaching your growth objectives or what opportunities are you missing? We will help you gain clarity on company performance issues and provide practical solutions for immediate payoff. Components of this service may include confidential employee and customer surveys, interviews with key staff, market research, observation and analysis of financial and operating reports. The deliverable is a clear presentation of findings and recommendations to the questions above.
- Mini Business Assessment – Are you pleased with your company’s overall direction and pace, but have a specific challenge or issue you haven’t been able to resolve? This scaled down assessment provides a targeted and constrained approach to addressing certain obstacles or opportunities that still keep you up at night. The deliverable is the same clear presentation of findings and recommendations that tackle the specific question you have.
- Vision & Goal Setting – Every assignment starts with the end in mind. Whether it’s designing an overall strategy for the business or tackling a
particularly nagging problem, we will help you define your ideal outcome. What is your vision for your business, for your life and what are the incremental goals that become the milestones for your progress?
- Designing The Roadmap – Once we know your destination, we will outline the best way to get there. What do you need to incorporate into your business to propel you toward your vision? Do you have the right infrastructure? The right management team? The right product/service and pricing? We will help you define what needs to be in place to move your company forward, and then prioritize them based on impact and resources required.
- Execution & Management Tools – If you don’t have the specific skill set in-house or if you simply do not have enough people to implement some of your business strategies, then we can help. We have created a virtual team of experts in different fields who will “roll up their sleeves” to help you execute when the skills and knowledge are not readily available in your company. Whether it’s developing the infrastructure, work process flow, or training your employees, we have the right team. We will also provide you the management tools to lead the company and to keep your team on the right path long after we are gone.
- Business Advisor – Most of us benefit from accountability partners, especially when we are truly committed to our goals. Our coaching and advisory programs are personalized to your needs and designed to help you stay focused on the prize. You’ll receive direct and objective feedback, focus and accountability, along with all of our combined experience as successful entrepreneurs to enhance your success and deliver unprecedented results.
- Business Partner Intervention/Conflict Resolution – If you and your partner are spending less time operating your business because you are diverted by problems in your working relationship, your company is not reaching its full potential. Carian Consulting specializes in helping partners and ownership teams get back on track. For more info click here, link to Business Partnerships (menu at the top)
CEO / Business Owner Roundtable
- The Power of Peers – Imagine having a team of six to ten other business owners, CEOs and Presidents, all with one goal in mind — your success. They know about you, your goals and your business, but because they are not in your business or industry, they bring fresh ideas and an objective perspective to your challenges and opportunities. Unlike many of your close advisors (family, executive team, etc), your peers have no vested interest in the outcomes of your decisions. They are free to stand beside you, in your shoes, with your vision in sight, and offer their advice and counsel. You also have the benefit of those peers who have traveled the same road and are now able to point out the speed bumps and ruts along the way, and with the advantage of hindsight, the best route for you to take.
- Discussion Topics – There is no mystery about the topics discussed in our roundtable, they are common to all business owners and CEOs. Members come to the table looking for input on a variety of challenges and opportunities they face ranging from, should I make that next executive hire now to, how to stay afloat in a declining economy. Should I take on a partner? Is this the right time to sell my company? What is the most effective way of incenting employees? Does this acquisition make sense in the context of my vision? If it’s keeping you up at night either from worry or excitement, the place to get practical, real world wisdom is here. As one member said, “My Business Owner Roundtable is the place I go to get my answers questioned”.
- One-to-One Counsel – In addition to monthly meetings with your peers, membership in the CEO Roundtable provides you with one-to-one coaching and mentoring with Barri. As an experienced entrepreneur and business leader, she helps you sort through the myriad of demands, questions, issues and opportunities that bombarded you, and helps you get clarity on the most important areas to focus on.
- The Commitment – Below are the most important commitments we make to each other as members of the CEO Roundtable.
- Confidentiality – nothing is shared outside the group
- Attendance – attend each meeting, be on time, and stay for the whole meeting
- Accountability – be accountable & hold each other accountable for actions & commitments made
- Attention – bring your whole self to the meeting and stay present throughout
- Term – 12-month commitment to the group
- Use the time wisely – bring your most challenging strategic issues/opportunities to the group and prepare in advance
- Ask questions – when addressing another member’s issue or opportunity be intentionally slow to understand to uncover the real issue
- Take a turn in hosting a meeting once or twice a year
- The Structure – Our CEO Roundtable meets on the second Thursday of each month from 1:00 to 5:00pm. Members rotate hosting the meetings at their place of work or other conference room facilities. Options for one to one meetings each month with Barri are, your choice of the following:
- Monthly in-person coaching session (90 or 60 minutes)
- Monthly phone coaching session (90 or 60 minutes)
- The Group – Members in the CEO Roundtable bring a wide range of experience to the table. Below is a snapshot of the composition of the group.
- Revenues range from $1M to $45M
- Industries represented range from online consumer goods, software as a service for financial services industry, technology outsourcing, prototyping & manufacturing of microfluidics, to distribution of manufacturing equipment
- All members are owners, CEOs, Presidents and or Managing Partners
- Fairly evenly divided between men and women with ages ranging from mid 30’s to 60+.
- Some members currently have multiple companies and some have started and sold companies in the past.
Facilitation
- Strategic Planning – We understand that it’s not always feasible to take your management team offsite for 2 to 3 days of strategic planning. Most business owners realize the importance of stepping back for a strategic view of the company, yet cannot afford to shut down their operations for that long. We use a proven and focused process to create a clear and precise vision for the company, the measurable goals and milestones to track progress and to identify the key strategic initiatives that will get you there. Depending on your objectives, we can accomplish your strategic planning in as little as one day off-site with your team…and we can break this up into two half days if required.
- Tactical Planning – Barri is adamant about creating a strategic plan that does not sit on a shelf. If you cannot implement it, then we have not
done our job. It’s as simple as that. As a part of our process, we will help you identify the action steps that will deliver results on your strategic plan, identify who owns that step along with a timeframe for completion. Whether its developing new market channels, increasing customer retention or designing efficient workflows, we will collaborate with you and your management to create the action steps that will deliver results.
- Management/Staff Meetings – If your management or staff meetings have become unproductive and you find yourself not only dreading them but also adding up the cost of all the salaries sitting around the table, then we can help. We always start with your outcomes then design and facilitate the time allotted to deliver on them. We keep you on time and on track, focusing the discussions on the critical matters at hand, recording the decisions, actions and next steps so you will never again feel like the time has been wasted.
- Board – We are experienced facilitators for board strategic planning or special sessions where the topic or outcome is critical, sensitive and possibly contentious.