Thursday, April 3, 2014

Why people matter in exit planning

1. Some studies report almost 57% of all c-level hires fail.
2. Other studies show that family held businesses fail 60% of the time during the second generation hand off. The failure rate is almost 90% by the third generation.
3. Some buyers will not consider buying a business with high levels of key person dependency.
4. According to some studies, only 12% of non-profits have a plan to develop and replace leaders even due to natural attrition from retirement.

The catch? These statistics and studies focused on organizations that did not use professional tools and trainings to develop their next generation of leaders and managers. (We are happy to provide you with links to the studies mentioned above.)

How do we solve these challenges for organizations?

We combine the insight, perspective, and experience from our previous business endeavors in private equity and investment banking with our training in the administration and interpretation of our assessment tools. We are trained and experienced in the professional development of high potential new leaders and managers.  We know how to get them ready to execute on a vision for growth no matter why senior leaders are leaving. In fact, many buyers are reticent to move forward when they perceive too much "key person" risk and the lack of a leadership team "bench".

Our resources help the new generation of leaders of any organization handle the grieving, stress, and fear that come with change.  The contingent go-forward leadership team has to "hit the ground running" in the event of the sudden or planned departure of a key leader due to retirement or sale.  KLG's program facilitates the creation of the exit or contingency plan and then puts in place the teamwork necessary to execute the plan consistent with the vision and values of the organization.  Exit and Contingency planning does not have to be unpleasant and our customized solutions are an important step in securing your organization's future for new owners or your retirement. 

Our tools and techniques are time tested and proven in large and small organizations and we focus our work on your vision and goals.   

In his prior professional positions, our CEO has been part of a number of private company exits and has extensive experience with strategic and private equity buyers.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Evidence that Organizational Development Principles Drive Quantitative Performance

Kouzes and Posner’s book, The Leadership Challenge notes
that: Organizations with a foundation based on purposeful values:
• grew revenues more than 4 times faster than those without
values and purpose.
• created jobs seven times faster than their competition.
• grew their stock price 12 times faster than those without values
and purpose.
• created 750% higher profit growth than those companies without
values and purpose.

Dan Pink notes in his video that the Federal Reserve’s research
shows that money incentives were less effective than purpose in
high cognitive functions.

In Built to Last, James Collins and Jerry Porras reveal that
purpose- and values-driven organizations outperformed the
general market and comparison companies by 15:1 and 6:1,
respectively.

In Corporate Culture and Performance, Harvard professors
John Kotter and James Heskett found that firms with shared values–
based cultures enjoyed 400% higher revenues, 700%
greater job growth, 1,200% higher stock prices and significantly
faster profit performance as compared to companies in similar
industries.

In Firms of Endearment, marketing professor Rajendra Sisodia
and his coauthors explain how companies that put employees’
and customers’ needs ahead of shareholders’ desires
outperform conventional competitors in stock-market
performance by 8:1.

Leaders who have a clearly articulated purpose and are driven to
make a difference can inspire people to overcome insurmountable odds
writes Roy M. Spence Jr. in It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Online Education and Degrees for your Employees, Drives Engagement and Productivity!

According to the New England College of Business and Finance-

"To compete in today's global economy, it's important to keep pace with a rapidly changing business landscape. This may mean offering benefits, like tuition reimbursements and guidance for career development, that attract personnel and increase employee retention. By providing employee education and training programs, staff members gain fresh, new ideas that put their companies in the forefront, and, in essence, improve the bottom line. Research confirms that the advantages of employee retention programs for the employer outweigh the risks:
  • Turnover rate for those who take advantage of employee education benefits is reduced by at least 50 percent.
  • Employee retention saves companies millions of dollars a year in new recruitment costs.
  • Employees in retention education tend to be more committed to their organizations and consistently deliver higher job performance.
  • Other benefits of education for business employees are job mobility, promotions and career advancement within the company, which has become increasing important as baby-boomers prepare to leave the workplace."

 In addition to in person training and coaching, KLG Consultants, LLC  provides easy to use custom online portals branded to your company identity. The portals  help you educate, train, evaluate and educate your employees. Employee engagement has shown to be a major driver of workplace productivity.

Your employees will have access to a directory style portal that we customize and configure by job category for the Human Resources, Training or Hiring Manager.  Management has access to an administration panel that provides a host of reporting and admin type services including bulk purchasing of training courses or skill assessment tests.

The website that employees access contains three types of resources:
Employees are able to use the system to request information from schools and may buy online courses for self-development and skill advancement as well as skills assessment tests to gauge their need for training.

Your admin panel allows you to modify the employee’s website in numerous ways or KLG Conultants, LLC can do it for you.  You are able to add text and information to the site to meet your specific needs and may turn off categories and subcategories in the educational directory that you believe are not relevant to your employees.  If you have outside training that is provided to your employees as part of a certification process or continuing education, you can even provide links to these sites so that your employees have a “one stop shop” for all their educational and training needs.
Inside the admin panel you may buy bulk courses for your employees and may send out skills assessment tests to potential employees in the interviewing process; you will be electronically billed at the end of each month and you have a choice of paying with a credit card or printing the invoice and returning with payment.

Whether training or assessments are initiated by you or an employee, your reporting panel tracks who is taking classes or assessments and their outcome.  You are able to use this tool to help map, plan and track your employee education and development strategic plan!

Courses and Assessments subject areas include:

  • Business and Management
  • Education
  • Health and Medicine
  • Information Technology and Software
  • Religion, Communications, Arts and Humanities
  • Science, Engineering and Math
  • Sociology, Political Science and Justice
  • Test Preparation
  • Votech and Career Enhancement
Contact KLG Consultants, LLC today for a easy online demo!

                                                           KLG Consultants, LLC

Saturday, January 18, 2014

The Struggles of Small Business Owners


We imagine that a lot of small businesses start out or continue this way: from a dream, a hobby, an inclination, or the evolution of a job into a career.

 According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses (businesses with 500 or fewer employees) make up 99% of all employers in the United States.  A USA Today article reports that job creation at small companies has almost doubled from the end of winter to the end of summer of 2013.  These two statistics convey a marked interest in the American Employee and the American Unemployed evolving into the American Entrepreneur.  The Small Business Administration encourages and helps people to start their own businesses or to become “self-employed” through Self-Employment Assistance and other State Workforce Agency programs.

 In talking to many people who own small businesses, our colleagues report the most common “regret” is that they didn’t have more business related skills, specifically related to Accounting, Marketing, and Business Strategy.  The Small Business Administration encourages future and current small business owners to take advantage of business training and learning opportunities.  There are many competencies needed to start and maintain a small business.  No matter what kind of business it is, know-how related to Marketing, Accounting, Customer Service, Business Law, and Human Relations are paramount to success. In addition to our in-person trainingsKLG Consultants, LLC now offers many professional on-line courses that are specifically intended for small business owners and managers.

 These courses include:
• Start Your Own Small Business
• Employment Law
• Basics of Organizational Strategy
• Branding Yourself with Social Media
• Customer Service Strategies

 All of these courses respond to many different aspects of owning and running a small business.

It is commonly said that around 50% of small businesses fail in the first five years.  With this in mind, being prepared in every way possible, including appropriate training and knowledge related to owning a business, is vital to avoiding going out of business and financial entropy.  Taking an online course is both a schedule and wallet friendly way of acquiring specific skills and knowledge needed to run a business successfully and efficiently.

 Click here to review our entire online course catalogue.  USE KLG as your access code.

Friday, January 3, 2014

People, Culture and Mergers...Oh My..

Merger Integration


In most of today's organizations, change is unexpected and frequent, monumental in scope, relentless, and increasingly complex. Flux has become the natural state of most organizations.

Any business combination magnifies this challenge. Many leaders are skilled at effecting and responding to the structural side of change: creating a vision, reorganizing, and restructuring. But it is rare that they have mastered the skills to constructively manage the human side of change: grieving, letting go, building hope, and learning.

Without a plan and a system to help people through the integration process, the benefits of a merger frequently are not optimized due to Silo-ization. In some cases, culture clash will cause the process to fail outright. 


KLG helps increase the probability of the intended outcome of a merger or acquisition by:
  • Assessing the New Team and identifying, advocates and antibodies to intended success
  • Mapping out a plan to create a common culture
  • Gaining consensus on values, vision and mission
  • Gaining buy-in on a go-forward operating plan
Coaching leaders to:
  • Be tough while simultaneously expressing appropriate empathy.
  • Catalyze change while understanding transition.
  • Express a sense of urgency while retaining the capacity for realistic patience.
  • Be self-reliant yet trust others.
  • Radiate both optimism and realism.
  • Capitalize on strengths while fostering the capacity to go against the grain.



Our integration program takes sixteen weeks, but we only meet once a week with particpants for 2 hours maximum.

Contact KLG for More Information-

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Our National Mortgage Bank client is looking for Mortgage Brokers and Bankers

They treat qualified candidates like employees once hired, with benefits and take care of compliance issues. They will even pick up whole offices and take over the rent and other facilitates payments if you qualify. 

Why wait to see if the new environment will work for your group?





Send letter of interest with resume to: recruiting@klgconsultants.com