Our Process
The Collaboration Effect on Profit (CEOP)
Our process (the CEOP) is unique from other advisory firms. We focus on business owners – helping their companies and their families achieve their goals. Companies and families are radically different with the Collaboration Effect on Profit. The CEOP is a combination of people and numbers – the right people working together toward the right numbers.
But how do you know if you have the right people and the right numbers? The CEOP can help you with that. Click below to learn more.
The 3 Wins Approach
The 3 Wins is a financial model created to help business owners prepare their company for sustainable financial success.
Shareholder Win
Financial Independence
Ownership Transition Planning
Estate Planning
Family Legacy Planning
Wealth Management
Company Win
Financial Goal Setting & Review Process
Key-Leader Development & Long-term Retention
Investment Management
Key Leader Win
Financial Independence
Leadership Skills Development
Compensation & Benefits Plan
Profit Participation
virtues
The Great 8
The Great 8 are a set of timeless and universal virtues (and their opposing vices) that guide the collaboration of leaders and teams in pursuit of sustainable financial success.
We believe that growing businesses should have strong leadership in addition to the owner that can carry the vision of the company forward. This leadership should work as a “virtuous team” supporting each other with clearly defined individual roles in pursuit of a courageous vision shared by the team.
Strong and virtuous leadership teams are required for businesses to succeed to the next generation.
Do you find yourself wondering…?
• How can we create a culture of trust and accountability that attracts—and keeps—the best people?
• What will it take to ensure our company has a sustainable competitive advantage?
For years, we wrestled with questions like these. Then, a few years ago, the answers became clear to us when we discovered “The Great 8” Leadership Virtues. When put into practice, these eight virtues can transform not only the leader—but also the entire company.
The “Virtues” become the lynchpin that make our 3 Wins approach possible. Otherwise, you could invest a lot of money promoting the wrong behaviors weakening business performance.
How We Help You:
Our process teaches teams how to implement the virtues in a continued, sustainable way. And when you pursue The 3 Wins in light of the “Great 8” leadership virtues, you’ll build a high-trust, high-performance culture, reaching a level of collaboration that becomes a force multiplier to achieve breakthrough profits. We call this dynamic the Collaboration Effect on Profits.
collaboration
So, how can you create this Collaboration Effect on Profit in your company?
Start with the 3 Wins:
Shareholder Win
We start with the Shareholder Win – the personal win for the owner(s). It is critical for an owner to define goals and create a plan for personal financial success. This part of the process includes financial independence goal setting, ownership transition planning, estate/generosity planning, family legacy planning, and wealth/risk management.
Key-Leader Win
Then we look at the Key-Leader Win – those in the company who are central to its success and difficult to replace. They lead as if they were an owner and embody the culture and vision of the company. Their wins are often very similar to the owner’s win. We help build a plan for incentivizing and retaining your top talent.
Company Win
Lastly, we look at the goose that lays the golden egg…or the tide that raises all buoys: The company win. If the company doesn’t have a courageous vision based on sound numbers and talented people, it will struggle and with it the owner and key leader wins. All stakeholders are represented under the company win.
Here are the important planning areas for the Shareholder Win:
Financial Independence – we help you answer the personal question, “What’s Enough?”, and then identify an increased capacity for charitable giving.
Ownership Transition Planning – it’s inevitable that you will sell or gift your business; we help you and your business prepare for that event.
Estate/Generosity Planning – we help you design a tax efficient, sustainable, and multi-generational impact plan.
Family Legacy Planning – we help you prepare the next generations of your family – spiritual, financial, vocational, relational, and social – to lead the stewardship of your legacy.
Wealth/Risk Management – we help you manage your assets through a customized portfolio design process to accomplish your personal financial independence and legacy family plans.
Here are the important planning areas of the Company Win:
Financial Goal Setting & Review Process – what are the company’s financial goals and growth forecasts? Is there a sound understanding of cash flow needs, profit budgets, retained earnings targets, and dividend opportunities? Are these numbers based on a courageous vision, are they communicated clearly to all stakeholders, and is there a monthly financial review process in place to track the progress toward the goal?
Key-Leader Collaboration – key-leaders are talented and knowledgeable about their work, yet they do not always collaborate at a high level. It is vital to bring the leaders together to work toward an agreed upon vision and goals.
Key-Leader Retention – Collaboration towards a goal can increase when leaders are provided the opportunity to participate in the success they help create as if they were an owner.
Investment/Risk Management – with a courageous vision in place, long-term company goals may include different investment/risk needs.
Here are the important planning areas of the Key-Leader Win:
Financial Independence – we help your leaders answer the personal question, “What’s Enough?”, and then identify an increased capacity for charitable giving.
Leadership Skills Development – leaders bring talent and knowledge to their work, and in each role they want to continue to learn and develop. Providing an opportunity to continue their development is a benefit personally and professionally.
Compensation & Benefits Plan – a compensation and benefits plan should be valuable and competitive to attract and retain top talent.
Participation in Profit and Value Growth – A company’s vision should include a growth goal for both value and dividends. When these goals are achieved, key leaders should have the opportunity to participate in the success they help create as if they were an owner.
When you pursue the 3 Wins—in light of the “Great 8” leadership virtues—you’ll see a level of collaboration in your business that becomes a force multiplier to achieve sustainable financial success.
To understand these virtues and how they work, you need to first see them in the context of their opposing attributes: the vices.
Courage vs. Fear
We will always confront situations where fear grips us — that’s a given. But when we commit to the consistent practice of courage, we will build the resilience and strength we need to break free from the grip of fear to lead with virtue.
Attentiveness vs. Distraction
Businesses suffer when distractions rule instead of a steady attentiveness to the strategic target. For our teams to consistently hit the target, we must help our teams remain attentive to the target.
Integrity vs. Dishonesty
Integrity is essential for building a strong bond of trust. If you breach that trust, you put relationships—and your company’s viability—at risk. Tell the truth with confidence. Create greater credibility because you deliver on what you promise. You build security and longevity in an organization because everyone is committed to doing the right thing.
Humility vs. Egotism
When we’re truly humble, we feel free to focus on serving others, which builds trust and increases our influence. Humility enables us to forget about ourselves so that we can be genuinely interested in the other people within our organization.
Accountability vs. Greed
Financial risks are enormous when there is a lack of strong accountability. Accountability elicits the perspective of others to ensure you’re doing business the way it ought to be done. When you permit others to hold you accountable, you can gain a better perspective and make wise decisions.
Peacemaking vs. Territorialism
Peacemaking is leadership strength through vulnerability with the goal of restoring and maintaining “peace” with yourself and others. Often, the perception of being a “peacemaker” is that it’s a mark of weakness. But the reality is that peacemakers are the ones who have built a vibrant high-trust environment where people want to work.
Empathy vs. Busyness
No matter what’s going on with your business, empathy enables you to slow down your mind enough so that you can discern what is truly important, not only for yourself but also for the people you’re meeting with.
Acceptance vs. Anger
When anger takes hold, our natural response is to confront the problem by attacking the people involved. The virtue of acceptance offers us a more productive way to address an issue—and preserve the relationship—by causing us to pause and reflect on the humanity of those who have fallen short of our expectations.
But virtuous leadership isn’t merely about high-minded ideals. It’s about being intentional with connecting the dots between cultural virtues and real-world business value.
We believe that financial strategies tend to generate the best results within companies that are committed to creating a high-trust, virtuous culture. Otherwise, you could build the most thorough financial plans and invest in the most generous incentive plans, but inadvertently promote the wrong behaviors.
And that’s where the virtues must go into practice—to help you connect virtue to value in a way that taps into the power of the Collaboration Effect on Profits.
This is how we teach the virtues in practice:
|
Virtue |
Practice |
Question |
|
Courage |
Vision and Strategy |
Is your vision for your company courageous? |
|
Humility |
Role Optimization |
Do you have the right roles on your team? Do you have the right person in the right role? |
|
Empathy |
Most Important Tasks |
Does each person on the team understand the most important tasks of each role? |
|
Attentiveness |
Line of sight |
Does each person on the team have a clear line of sight on the company’s progress toward the vision? |
|
Accountability |
Achievement Reviews |
Does each leader receive feedback and provide feedback on their performance? |
|
Acceptance |
Personality & Team Profiles |
Does each leader understand how their personality contributes to the success of the company’s vision? Does your team understand how they work best together? |
|
Integrity |
Interpersonal Communication |
Does your team understand how to communicate clearly, effectively, and consistently? |
|
Peacemaking |
Positive Conflict |
Does your team understand how positive conflict opens doors to the best solutions, strategic decision making, and fulfillment of abilities and talents? |
How will you prepare for sustainable financial success and achieve the Collaboration Effect on Profit in your business?
