JoAnn Laing's Blog - All About Small Business

Small business leaders seldom think their enterprise can operate without them. Most never consider what must be done to ensure smooth continuity when a small business founder and/or owner becomes incapacitated   it can significantly affect the business, often leading to operational disruptions, financial strain, and more. But, having a plan in place, such as designating someone to manage the business, preparing necessary documentation, and considering insurance options, should mitigate these challenges.

Impact on the Business: The incapacitation of the  founder/owner can have a devastating impact, especially without a contingency plan.

Potential consequences include:

·   Operational disruptions: If the business founder and/or owner is incapacitated due to a serious accident, illness, or other debilitating reason, critical tasks and decision making may be left undone, disrupting daily operations, leading to delays, missed deadlines, frustrated clients and lost business.

·   Financial strain: The founder’s and/or owner’s incapacitation can create financial pressure, especially if they are the primary income source.

·   Loss of institutional knowledge: The founder and/or owner often holds critical knowledge about the business, its customers, and processes that may be lost without proper documentation.

·   Employee Loss: The resulting instability of the business can cause key, valuable employees to leave and make it difficult to attract new talent.

·   Succession disputes and loss of control: If there’s no clear succession plan, internal conflicts regarding leadership can arise, further destabilizing the business.  The business could be at risk of mismanagement or even closure.

Mitigate the Risks: Plan for incapacitation.

• Succession Planning, temporary or longer-term: Identify a trusted individual (family member, employee, or trusted friend) who can step in to manage the business during the founder’s and/or owner’s absence. This person should be granted the necessary authority to make decisions, plus have access to financial and operational information.
• Legal agreements: Formalize agreements with the designated individual, outlining their responsibilities and authority, plus compensation.
• Power of attorney: Consider granting a power of attorney for business matters to ensure seamless handling of financial operations and other key aspects of the business. Without proper planning, a court may need to appoint a conservator to manage the owner’s affairs and the business, potentially leading to delays and loss of privacy.

·   Corporate documents: Regularly update corporate documents (e.g., articles of incorporation, bylaws) to reflect current business structure and ownership arrangements.

·   Buy-sell agreements: For businesses with multiple owners, a buy-sell agreement is essential to manage transitions in the event of an owner’s incapacitation or death.

·   Develop a contingency plan: Create a written plan detailing how the business will operate in the founder’s and/or owner’s absence, including who will manage daily operations, finances, and client relationships.

·   Seek financial and legal advice: Consult with a financial advisor and legal counsel to ensure the contingency plan aligns with the founder’s and/or owner’s wishes and legal requirements, plus are strategies are tailored to the specific circumstances of the business as well as its founder and/or owner.

·   Financial management: Ensure there’s a plan for managing the business’s finances and securing sufficient funds to continue operations, including payroll and debt payments.  Set aside an emergency fund to cover an increase in expenses and/or potential loss of income during incapacitation.

·   Document key processes, client information, and financial details: Record crucial business processes and procedures as well as critical client and financial information to ensure continuity of operations, even without the founder’s and/or owner’s direct involvement.

·   Communication: Establish a communication plan to inform employees, clients, and other relevant parties about the situation, provide updates on business status, manage expectations and potential impacts, and expected timeline for return of the founder and/or owner.

·   Get disability insurance: Review existing insurance policies, including disability coverage, Disability insurance can provide a portion of the owner’s income during a period of illness, which helps alleviate personal and business financial strain, offset potential financial losses.

·   Consider key-person disability insurance: This type of coverage benefits the business, safeguards the business financially, if the founder and/or owner or other key employee becomes disabled.

·   Explore federal and state assistance programs: Programs like state-mandated disability insurance programs or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) may provide some financial support.

Addressing Challenges in times of uncertainty.

·   Build a support network: Don’t go it alone, and don’t hesitate to ask for help from trusted friends, family members, or professional advisors.  Develop relationships with industry peers, freelancers, and mentors who can offer assistance, encouragement, and guidance during a crisis.

·   Seek expert advice: Consult with medical professionals, as well as financial and legal advisors, for guidance and support.

·   Automate and outsource: Leverage technology to automate routine tasks and outsource non-essential business functions to free up time and resources.

·   Delegate responsibilities: Empower and train employees to take on additional responsibilities; ensure they are familiar with key processes and client interactions.

·   Prioritize health:  The founder’s and/or owner’s return to good health should be the top priority.  Returning to work too early can prolong recovery and potentially lead to further setbacks or incapacitation.  Consider seeking professional mental health support to address the emotional and psychological challenges of managing a business while incapacitated.

·   Consider the long-term: Reflect on the business’s long-term viability and make adjustments as needed.

By proactively addressing these considerations, small business founders and/or owners can better prepare for and navigate the challenges associated with unexpected incapacitation.

All images by FREEP!K

The key to scaling and continued growth is morphing from a founder-led to a team-managed company.

After founding your company, you’ve put your all (heart, soul, capital, connections, and more) into making it a success.

The major obstacle to scaling a business is that the centralized decision-making that propelled early success becomes a bottleneck. To continue growing and increasing business value, you, the Founder and owner, should consider transitioning from a founder-led to a team-managed approach. 

Future-proof your business’ long-term success by building a management team that fuels enduring impact. 

But, establishing a management team comes with its challenges, which include:

1. Leadership gaps: The initial leadership team may lack the expertise to manage larger teams or address complex operational needs.
2. Operational inefficiencies often emerge when there is a lack of scalable leadership, causing decision-making to slow down and team alignment to weaken.
3. Additionally, rapid growth can lead to cultural fragmentation, where the company’s core values become diluted, resulting in inconsistent practices across teams.

Addressing these challenges requires a planned approach to building a leadership structure that scales with the organization.

Shift from founder-led to team-managed leadership: Founders often struggle to relinquish control; however, effective scaling requires empowerment across the entire leadership team. The Founder’s role needs to evolve into that of a strategic leader who focuses on vision and culture. To achieve this, take these action steps:

1. Delegate decisions: Define the decision-making responsibilities for team leaders, allowing you, the Founder, to focus on high-level strategy.
2. Hire complementary skills: Bring in leaders with expertise in areas where you may lack depth or interest, such as operations, human resources, sales, marketing, or finance.
3. Set boundaries: Set clear protocols for when leaders must consult you, the Founder, versus when they can make independent decisions.

Define core values to rate success: A cohesive leadership team should operate under shared values that align with the business purpose. Core values should be actionable to guide decision-making and interpersonal dynamics.  To achieve:

1. Operationalize values: Translate abstract principles into specific behaviors. For example, a value like “customer focus” might include responding to client inquiries within 24 hours.
2. Utilize values in hiring and promotions: Evaluate leadership candidates for alignment with company values to ensure a cultural fit and promote staff who embody the business’s core values.
3. Reinforce regularly: Incorporate values into performance reviews, team meetings, company-wide communications, compensation, promotions, and other areas.

Encourage accountability through having clear objectives: Accountability is essential for sustaining momentum during growth. You risk misaligned priorities and inefficiencies when there is a lack of clarity in leadership roles and goals. To establish clarity:

1. Define KPIs for managers: Establish measurable objectives for each person, tying them directly to the business’s growth goals.
2. Provide feedback: Regularly evaluate performance against objectives and adjust strategies as needed to align with business needs and the evolving marketplace.
3. Create a culture of ownership: Encourage managers to take ownership of outcomes, celebrate successes, and learn from failures. Consider providing stock in the business.

Provide learning and development: Managers need tools and training to address new responsibilities and challenges. Investing in their development enhances individual performance and strengthens the team’s and business’s resilience.  Here are some steps to take:

1. Tailor training programs to individual needs and roles: offer leadership development programs focused on skills for each individual’s function, plus more general leadership skills like strategic thinking, team management, customer service, and conflict resolution.
2. Set up a mentorship program: Pair emerging or potential managers with experienced managers and leaders to facilitate knowledge transfer and prepare the next generation for the business.
3. Provide continuous learning opportunities outside the business: Encourage leaders and managers to participate in industry conferences, workshops, and networking events to stay abreast of best practices.

Build business and management resilience for the changing business environment: The ability to pivot and lead through uncertainty, marketplace changes, aggressive competition, and/or adversity is a hallmark of strong leadership teams. Businesses are always facing external pressures, which calls for resilient leaders. To get your team ready:

1. Consider various scenarios: Train leaders to anticipate and prepare for potential disruptions. While you might think of all possibilities, considering what might happen will better prepare you for the unknown.
2. Cultivate Adaptability: Encourage leaders to view challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation. Being agile and responding should be considered a strength.
3. Promote Well-being: Provide managers and leadership teams with resources for stress management, work-life balance, and mental health. Your leaders must be solid personally for them to be effective at work.

Founder Challenges and Suggested Solutions

While this is a learning experience for all, sometimes the Founder finds it more difficult than the team to transition.  Why? The change for the Founder is more personal.

Here are some steps for the Founder to transition more successfully.

Acknowledge and assess the transition: Recognize that the transition marks a shift from a broad founder role to a more focused leadership position, one that requires different skills and perspectives.  Communicate “Why,” the reasons for the transition, and how it aligns with the business’s growth and strategy. 

Plan and prepare for the transition: Develop a comprehensive plan that outlines clear goals, realistic timelines, and effective communication strategies. Then, ensure adequate resources (mentoring, training, and budget) are available to support the transition. Set clear expectations, such as defining your new role and responsibilities and how success will be measured for both yourself and the team. Transparency is key in building trust and addressing concerns; communicate the transition clearly and involve the team in the process.

Handover leadership and onboard the team: Ensure a seamless transfer of critical business knowledge and responsibilities to the team. Establish a presence by actively engaging with the team, building strong relationships, and helping them understand their roles, opportunities, challenges, and business goals. Earn the trust of your team by dedicating time to listen and learn from them, plus demonstrate honesty, reliability, and fairness in your interactions with them.

Integrate and stabilize the team:  Empower the team by delegating responsibilities, recognizing contributions, and fostering a culture of empowerment and accountability. Encourage teamwork and open communication; facilitate a supportive environment; and constructively address conflicts. Shift the focus from your individual Founder’s vision to the team’s collective mission and the business’s goals. Set and implement key performance indicators to track progress and identify areas for improvement. Frequently ask for and act on feedback from your team and other stakeholders to identify areas for growth and development and celebrate what is working.

Ensure personal growth and adaption for all: Continuously invest in your team’s individual learning and skill development to adapt to the evolving demands of leadership. Refine your leadership style, striking a balance between fostering the company’s culture and driving necessary changes. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, be patient. Leadership transitions take time, so be patient with yourself and your team. Along the way, maintain consistency in your actions and communication. 

Following the above steps, a founder can effectively transition their business to a team-managed one, empower their team, and contribute to its ongoing success.

Long-Term Benefits of Strong Leadership

A scalable leadership team provides the foundation for sustained growth. Benefits include:

1. Increased agility: leaders who make informed decisions can respond quickly to market changes.
2. Improved efficiency: clear accountability and alignment reduce operational redundancies.
3. Enhanced stability: a team has additional strengths, perspectives, and capacity.
4. Stronger culture: unified leadership fosters consistency in values and practices across the business.
5. Greater innovation: Empowered leaders are more likely to pursue creative solutions and drive long-term success.

Leadership is the linchpin of success. By successfully transitioning to a team-centric approach, defining actionable values, fostering accountability, and investing in development, businesses can build a leadership team capable of sustaining growth and navigating challenges. The journey requires intentionality, but the rewards—both for the organization and its people—are transformative.

Cyberattacks have increased in frequency and maliciousness, including phishing, ransomware, and distributed denial of service attacks against networks. Growing cyber threats to business reputation, operations, and intellectual property theft can impact your business’s ongoing viability.

Businesses of all sizes and sectors need increased cyber security diligence.  While larger enterprises have more data and often greater ransom demands, smaller business systems are usually easier to breach by hackers or bad actors.

To lower your risk of being hacked, everyone should take into account the following cyber hygiene guidelines:

• Have a risk management plan that examines particular requirements and vulnerabilities as well as facilitates incident response. Your plan should cover the ramifications of new technologies such artificial intelligence and their potential use in cyber protection.
• On a regular basis, follow release dates, patches, and upgrades on your operating system, networks, and devices.
• Make sure your passwords are strong and not easy to guess; mandate passwords should have at least 8 characters with least one capital letter, one number and one special symbol.
• Include authentication, for most sensitive access you should use biometrics.
• Consider using strong encryption on sensitive date, preferably quantum-resistant.
• Use Identity Access management and a Zero Trust approach; know what people and devices are in your business networks and what user privileges each person has.
• All employees should be educated and reeducated on an annual basis with quarterly reminders about how to use social media responsibly and stay alert to phishing attempts. Note: employees are the #1 risk for your business’s cyber security.
• Regularly back-up your sensitive business data. Think about keeping a copy of the information on a machine that is not in your business network.
• All the employees should stay clear of public networks, and if you must use one then use a VPN.
• If your business lacks the knowledge to manage the above cyber security measures, then consider using a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) or Managed Service provider (MSP) who can assess, upgrade, and safeguard your business’s cyber assets.

It is not just cyber hygiene that is important, but also having a strategy to stay secure and be resilient.

• Take a risk management approach. Be proactive: be alert, train staff, discover gaps in your business’s security, and mitigate vulnerabilities to reduce risks. Owners and responsible managers should be familiar with the guiding principles of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover.
• Now that generative artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are increasingly in use and sophistication by attackers and defenders alike, it is important to consider all components (people, technologies, procedures, and policies) of cyber security.
• The foundation of cyber security is communication. Business owners and management must coordinate their objectives, work together, and evaluate the businesses information security programs, controls, and network safety on a regular basis. Preparedness comes from the exchange of threat intelligence and innovative security advances, plus it is essential that all people using the systems receive security awareness training.
• Effective cyber security needs expertise. If your business does not have it internally, find reliable help outside. Owners and managers can always benefit from outside knowledge, opinions, and suggestions. Areas of special expertise should include policy, cyber security technology solutions and services, training, legal compliance, liability insurance, and governance.
• New cyber technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud and edge computing, and quantum computing are impacting the landscape. It is important to understand and use them in defense of your business.

Cyber security is becoming more sophisticated, plan and act now to defend your business from cyber-attack.

Cyber Security

Cyberattacks have increased in frequency and maliciousness, including phishing, ransomware, and distributed denial of service attacks against networks. Growing cyber threats to business reputation, operations, and intellectual property theft can impact your business’s ongoing viability.

Businesses of all sizes and sectors need increased cyber security diligence.  While larger enterprises have more data and often greater ransom demands, smaller business systems are usually easier to breach by hackers or bad actors.

To lower your risk of being hacked, everyone should take into account the following cyber hygiene guidelines:

• Have a risk management plan that examines particular requirements and vulnerabilities as well as facilitates incident response. Your plan should cover the ramifications of new technologies such artificial intelligence and their potential use in cyber protection.
• On a regular basis, follow release dates, patches, and upgrades on your operating system, networks, and devices.
• Make sure your passwords are strong and not easy to guess; mandate passwords should have at least 8 characters with least one capital letter, one number and one special symbol.
• Include multifactor authentication, for most sensitive access you should use biometrics.
• Consider using strong encryption on sensitive date, preferably quantum-resistant.
• Use Identity Access management and a Zero Trust approach; know what people and devices are in your business networks and what user privileges each person has.
• All employees should be educated and reeducated on an annual basis with quarterly reminders about how to use social media responsibly and stay alert to phishing attempts. Note: employees are the #1 risk for your business’s cyber security.
• Regularly back-up your sensitive business data. Think about keeping a copy of the information on a machine that is not in your business network.
• All the employees should stay clear of public networks, and if you must use one then use a VPN.
• If your business lacks the knowledge to manage the above cyber security measures, then consider using a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) or Managed Service provider (MSP) who can assess, upgrade, and safeguard your business’s cyber assets.

It is not just cyber hygiene that is important, but also having a strategy to stay secure and be resilient.

• Take a risk management approach. Be proactive: be alert, train staff, discover gaps in your business’s security, and mitigate vulnerabilities to reduce risks. Owners and responsible managers should be familiar with the guiding principles of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover.
• Now that generative artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are increasingly in use and sophistication by attackers and defenders alike, it is important to consider all components (people, technologies, procedures, and policies) of cyber security.
• The foundation of cyber security is communication. Business owners and management must coordinate their objectives, work together, and evaluate the businesses information security programs, controls, and network safety on a regular basis. Preparedness comes from the exchange of threat intelligence and innovative security advances, plus it is essential that all people using the systems receive security awareness training.
• Effective cyber security needs expertise. If your business does not have it internally, find reliable help outside. Owners and managers can always benefit from outside knowledge, opinions, and suggestions. Areas of special expertise should include policy, cyber security technology solutions and services, training, legal compliance, liability insurance, and governance.
• New cyber technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud and edge computing, and quantum computing are impacting the landscape. It is important to understand and use them in defense of your business.

Cyber security is becoming more sophisticated, plan and act now to defend your business from cyber-attack.

Cyber Security

Cyberattacks have increased in frequency and maliciousness, including phishing, ransomware, and distributed denial of service attacks against networks. Growing cyber threats to business reputation, operations, and intellectual property theft can impact your business’s ongoing viability.

Businesses of all sizes and sectors need increased cyber security diligence.  While larger enterprises have more data and often greater ransom demands, smaller business systems are usually easier to breach by hackers or bad actors.

To lower your risk of being hacked, everyone should take into account the following cyber hygiene guidelines:

• Have a risk management plan that examines particular requirements and vulnerabilities as well as facilitates incident response. Your plan should cover the ramifications of new technologies such artificial intelligence and their potential use in cyber protection.
• On a regular basis, follow release dates, patches, and upgrades on your operating system, networks, and devices.
• Make sure your passwords are strong and not easy to guess; mandate passwords should have at least 8 characters with least one capital letter, one number and one special symbol.
• Include multifactor authentication, for most sensitive access you should use biometrics.
• Consider using strong encryption on sensitive date, preferably quantum-resistant.
• Use Identity Access management and a Zero Trust approach; know what people and devices are in your business networks and what user privileges each person has.
• All employees should be educated and reeducated on an annual basis with quarterly reminders about how to use social media responsibly and stay alert to phishing attempts. Note: employees are the #1 risk for your business’s cyber security.
• Regularly back-up your sensitive business data. Think about keeping a copy of the information on a machine that is not in your business network.
• All the employees should stay clear of public networks, and if you must use one then use a VPN.
• If your business lacks the knowledge to manage the above cyber security measures, then consider using a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) or Managed Service provider (MSP) who can assess, upgrade, and safeguard your business’s cyber assets.

It is not just cyber hygiene that is important, but also having a strategy to stay secure and be resilient.

• Take a risk management approach. Be proactive: be alert, train staff, discover gaps in your business’s security, and mitigate vulnerabilities to reduce risks. Owners and responsible managers should be familiar with the guiding principles of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, Recover.
• Now that generative artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are increasingly in use and sophistication by attackers and defenders alike, it is important to consider all components (people, technologies, procedures, and policies) of cyber security.
• The foundation of cyber security is communication. Business owners and management must coordinate their objectives, work together, and evaluate the businesses information security programs, controls, and network safety on a regular basis. Preparedness comes from the exchange of threat intelligence and innovative security advances, plus it is essential that all people using the systems receive security awareness training.
• Effective cyber security needs expertise. If your business does not have it internally, find reliable help outside. Owners and managers can always benefit from outside knowledge, opinions, and suggestions. Areas of special expertise should include policy, cyber security technology solutions and services, training, legal compliance, liability insurance, and governance.
• New cyber technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud and edge computing, and quantum computing are impacting the landscape. It is important to understand and use them in defense of your business.

Cyber security is becoming more sophisticated, plan and act now to defend your business from cyber-attack.

All images by Freepik