17
de Setembre
de
2015
Act.
17
de Setembre
de
2015
"The main mistake professional directors make is thinking that the company is theirs, as if they do not work for someone else or for shareholders. On the other hand, the main mistake that directorswho own the company make is not realising that the company has to survive them, because a business has to endure over time." Thus FranciscoReynés, vice president of Abertis, addressed 80 directors from large companies in an event organised by the Observatori Colón in Barcelona. It describes the lot of executives who day after day take strategic decisions, such as where to export or how the company should go about innovating, but also other more internal decisions that affect the employees with whom they share a corridor or an office.
So, what is easier? To be an employee with executive capacity or to run one's own business? According to MiquelRoura, assistant manager and director of exports at Ceras Roura, it is no easy matter running the firm you own. As a manager of this 100-year-old company –located in Figueres and a producer of candles- Miquel was born and grew up in the heart of his company, as very possibly his small children will one day do. It is his company and it is also the familybusiness and, as a result, he thinks that "it all starts sinking in and you realise that it is a very personal thing, that it is not a case of working eight hours and then going home, sometimes you cannot even sleep... I think they are things that perhaps a director does not internalise," he points out.
Roura is an owner director. He received his training in business schools and has studied a masters in management and purchasing, "but there has always been the work experience in the company," he says. One aspect that MarcRoca, VIAempresa contributor and expert in interim management, considers important: "In my opinion, it ishighly recommended that the director spend some part of his or her professional life abroad, in other companies in the sector to see how they do things. That is what provides a much more objectview of what the market is like," he points out. According to Roca, if the owner only focuses on his or her company, "that is when strongemotions appear and when decisions are made that contradict the company's road map."
Maintaining the two halves in balance
On the other side of the scales is DavidPérez, manager at the cold meats producer, Font-Sans S.L., a familybusiness in Sant Feliu de Pallerols, which in two years' time will blow out the candles on its centenary. Pérez is the company's first professional director. "I am the first person who is not from the family to join the management, and I came in to help the third generation –the person currently running the operation is the 63-year-old father- to pass on the baton to the fourth generation," Pérez says.
With a turnover of six million euros and some 30 employees, the business project that Pérez runs is successful enough to ensure that there are no losses due to poor management. Here is where the manager's responsibility lies, explains Pérez. "The obligation of a professional manager is to provide information so that the aims are as clear as possible, but not to gamble because the money is the owner's, and it is his or hers to risk," he says.
Bringing the ownership and the management into line is almost an obligation for the Font-Sans director. "A good balance is to share the important decisions, bringing a professional vision but at the same time taking into consideration the decision of whoever is risking his or her money and this balance is more delicate the larger the company is," he points out. "It is important to reflect on the decisions to avoid risking the ownership, risks that one could take intuitively with your own money but not with the resources of others".
On the one hand, the decisions set out the future of the company and, on the other, in the case of the Rouras, the decisions are taken by the owners. Both MiquelRoura, and his father Xavier Roura -who is still active but preparing to hand over the reins- have the final word. "If they are less important decisions, then people in middle management positions have a free hand to make decisions and set prices, for example, but the final decision lies with us," he says. Roura is convinced that the aim of taking this path is that the company survives, just as it has over the years since it was founded in 1912. That is why they also rely on external consultants, outside of the workforce.
Human relations, the most difficult thing to manage
Besides decision making, for Roura, the most complicated thing for the owner is managing human relations in the company. "The work and the jobs are very internalised and for us that is easy, but what is difficult is managing people. Each person is different, with a different way of working and you have to unite the workforce piece by piece."
Marc Roca agrees with Roura: the hard part is human resources. Yet, Roca goes further and thinks that "the owner director often wants to impose his or her point of view, that his or her decisions need to be taken into consideration and that they be carried out as soon as possible." However, according to the expert, the professional director understands that "each decision has its own moment".
Pérez, as an employee with a director's position, also agrees that human resources are the most difficult to manage for owners. In this case, the company is located in a town of 1,200 inhabitants and almost the whole workforce is made up of locals. This is what makes decision making more complicated in this case: the local people are both employees and neighbours. "The owner feels limited when often there is the need to take vital professional decisions. The executive figure of a professional manager is not so limited and can help with these decisions," he says.
Inheriting the company or feeling like it is yours?
Returning to Reynés' initial reflection, Roca takes on the thesis that the professional executive is making a mistake if he or she thinks as if they were the heir to the company. "For me, that a director feels that they company is theirs is an advantage and totally positive because it means he or she is committed and that they share the company objectives and strategies." Involvement, motivation and commitment, values obviously shared with the owner of the business. So, what is the difference? Basically for Roca, the director who is not the owner "tends to be more professional because he or she has implemented strategies in other companies and sectors and so it is much easier to follow the company road map."
Nevertheless, Pérez –who has worked advising companies before and who knows different cases- thinks that "there are professional non-owner managers who, as they are aware that the company is not theirs, take risks with money that is not theirs, risks that they would not take with their own money: they have a low threshold of risk evaluation."
Both theories are born out of his experience advising Catalan companies. "I still come across companies in which the management of the owner should be professionalised. There is a need for this in our business sphere, both in family businesses and small to medium-sized companies, because the majority are family companies. There has to be more trust in the professional executive and the owner-manager has to know where the limits are, surrounding themselves with the necessary talent and employing whoever they need so that the company can move forward," says the VIA Empresa contributor. In summary, Roca thinks that "quite often, in order not to lose power, owners do not employ professionals who are sufficiently professional because they do not see what is lacking in the management of the company."
Another situation that can happen is that the company is aware of its needs and, to deal with them, takes on an outside executive to run the organisation: "I do not agree that owner managers do not think that the company has to survive them. In a business sphere such as ours -made up primarily of family firms- the intention is usually to maintain the business through the different generations of the family, as every father wants to pass everything on to their children... Another thing is that at times there is a lack of management or professionalism that can make it seem from the outside that the company does not want to survive, though I do not believe that this is the real intention," concludes Pérez.
So, what is easier? To be an employee with executive capacity or to run one's own business? According to MiquelRoura, assistant manager and director of exports at Ceras Roura, it is no easy matter running the firm you own. As a manager of this 100-year-old company –located in Figueres and a producer of candles- Miquel was born and grew up in the heart of his company, as very possibly his small children will one day do. It is his company and it is also the familybusiness and, as a result, he thinks that "it all starts sinking in and you realise that it is a very personal thing, that it is not a case of working eight hours and then going home, sometimes you cannot even sleep... I think they are things that perhaps a director does not internalise," he points out.
Roura is an owner director. He received his training in business schools and has studied a masters in management and purchasing, "but there has always been the work experience in the company," he says. One aspect that MarcRoca, VIAempresa contributor and expert in interim management, considers important: "In my opinion, it ishighly recommended that the director spend some part of his or her professional life abroad, in other companies in the sector to see how they do things. That is what provides a much more objectview of what the market is like," he points out. According to Roca, if the owner only focuses on his or her company, "that is when strongemotions appear and when decisions are made that contradict the company's road map."
Maintaining the two halves in balance
On the other side of the scales is DavidPérez, manager at the cold meats producer, Font-Sans S.L., a familybusiness in Sant Feliu de Pallerols, which in two years' time will blow out the candles on its centenary. Pérez is the company's first professional director. "I am the first person who is not from the family to join the management, and I came in to help the third generation –the person currently running the operation is the 63-year-old father- to pass on the baton to the fourth generation," Pérez says.
With a turnover of six million euros and some 30 employees, the business project that Pérez runs is successful enough to ensure that there are no losses due to poor management. Here is where the manager's responsibility lies, explains Pérez. "The obligation of a professional manager is to provide information so that the aims are as clear as possible, but not to gamble because the money is the owner's, and it is his or hers to risk," he says.
Bringing the ownership and the management into line is almost an obligation for the Font-Sans director. "A good balance is to share the important decisions, bringing a professional vision but at the same time taking into consideration the decision of whoever is risking his or her money and this balance is more delicate the larger the company is," he points out. "It is important to reflect on the decisions to avoid risking the ownership, risks that one could take intuitively with your own money but not with the resources of others".
On the one hand, the decisions set out the future of the company and, on the other, in the case of the Rouras, the decisions are taken by the owners. Both MiquelRoura, and his father Xavier Roura -who is still active but preparing to hand over the reins- have the final word. "If they are less important decisions, then people in middle management positions have a free hand to make decisions and set prices, for example, but the final decision lies with us," he says. Roura is convinced that the aim of taking this path is that the company survives, just as it has over the years since it was founded in 1912. That is why they also rely on external consultants, outside of the workforce.
Human relations, the most difficult thing to manage
Besides decision making, for Roura, the most complicated thing for the owner is managing human relations in the company. "The work and the jobs are very internalised and for us that is easy, but what is difficult is managing people. Each person is different, with a different way of working and you have to unite the workforce piece by piece."
Marc Roca agrees with Roura: the hard part is human resources. Yet, Roca goes further and thinks that "the owner director often wants to impose his or her point of view, that his or her decisions need to be taken into consideration and that they be carried out as soon as possible." However, according to the expert, the professional director understands that "each decision has its own moment".
Pérez, as an employee with a director's position, also agrees that human resources are the most difficult to manage for owners. In this case, the company is located in a town of 1,200 inhabitants and almost the whole workforce is made up of locals. This is what makes decision making more complicated in this case: the local people are both employees and neighbours. "The owner feels limited when often there is the need to take vital professional decisions. The executive figure of a professional manager is not so limited and can help with these decisions," he says.
Inheriting the company or feeling like it is yours?
Returning to Reynés' initial reflection, Roca takes on the thesis that the professional executive is making a mistake if he or she thinks as if they were the heir to the company. "For me, that a director feels that they company is theirs is an advantage and totally positive because it means he or she is committed and that they share the company objectives and strategies." Involvement, motivation and commitment, values obviously shared with the owner of the business. So, what is the difference? Basically for Roca, the director who is not the owner "tends to be more professional because he or she has implemented strategies in other companies and sectors and so it is much easier to follow the company road map."
Nevertheless, Pérez –who has worked advising companies before and who knows different cases- thinks that "there are professional non-owner managers who, as they are aware that the company is not theirs, take risks with money that is not theirs, risks that they would not take with their own money: they have a low threshold of risk evaluation."
Both theories are born out of his experience advising Catalan companies. "I still come across companies in which the management of the owner should be professionalised. There is a need for this in our business sphere, both in family businesses and small to medium-sized companies, because the majority are family companies. There has to be more trust in the professional executive and the owner-manager has to know where the limits are, surrounding themselves with the necessary talent and employing whoever they need so that the company can move forward," says the VIA Empresa contributor. In summary, Roca thinks that "quite often, in order not to lose power, owners do not employ professionals who are sufficiently professional because they do not see what is lacking in the management of the company."
Another situation that can happen is that the company is aware of its needs and, to deal with them, takes on an outside executive to run the organisation: "I do not agree that owner managers do not think that the company has to survive them. In a business sphere such as ours -made up primarily of family firms- the intention is usually to maintain the business through the different generations of the family, as every father wants to pass everything on to their children... Another thing is that at times there is a lack of management or professionalism that can make it seem from the outside that the company does not want to survive, though I do not believe that this is the real intention," concludes Pérez.