Zooming Out

Managing a small, dynamic team requires more art than science. Managers need to instill cultural values, provide training guidance, distribute tasks, and assign projects. Depending on the seniority, personality and work traits of the team members, many management responsibilities can be distributed.

At a certain point, a manager can get too caught up in the day-to-day training and decision-making. This is the dreaded micro-management trap. That is not to say that a manager should not lead by example and provide valuable input, but it is a slippery slope. At a certain point, talented team members who can self-manage and peer-manage will find that their insight and decision-making is stiffled. As well, the manager will be too caught up in the day to day battles and fire-fighting to drive the business with more strategic decisions. Managers need to zoom out to a higher level view in order to analyze the organizations activities and efficiency in order that higher impact structural changes to the organization can be implemented.

The key to avoiding this micro-management trap is to identify which team members are self-sufficient, empower them and leave them alone. The trickier part is to identify which team members have managerial qualities. For the managerial candidates, you can see if they are ready to lead by pairing them to newer and less-experience team members. Hopefully the managerial qualities of the candidate will show, and in turn, the newer member will be on the way to self-managing their work. However, if the match does not take, it is necessary to reassess the situation and make sure the newer member is receiving the proper support to get up to speed.

The opposite spectrum of management problems is the absentee manager. These managers are too removed from the action. The staff is unable to relate to the manager, as they do not have the contextual understanding of their challenges. Decisions that are needing management guidance are delayed or often mishandled due to this disconnect.

The challenge is to find the right balance between the two managerial extremes. Different levels of management delegation and hands-on guidance are needed based on the capability of the various team members. A manager needs to dig in with a less experienced team, but know the proper time to pull back as the team gets up to speed.

An interesting phenomenon is that a team grows fastest when a manager spends time out of the office and allows the team to self-manage day-to-day issues. After returning to the office, the manager can then coach the team on suggestions to handle more complex management issues that came up in their absence. In summary, a manager needs to be engaged and available, while at the same time empowering the team to self-manage. Enjoy the challenge.

Opportunity Knocks?

GetQuik engages with hundreds of small to mid-size businesses (restaurants & caterers) through our network. By hooking in these businesses, we have a ground-level view of the impact that the recession is having on these folks. For one, we are seeing an accelerated pace of restaurants changing hands. Many restaurants are having trouble dealing with scaled back consumer spending. The operators weathering the storm best are the ones who are disciplined about controling operational costs.


Some of the better managed and positioned franchisees owners are taking over stores from owners in the same franchise system. They are getting a great discount to assume control of these stores. As well, they are already familiar with dealing with the franchisor and the keys to success in the system.


We are also seeing some regional players, taking advantage of distressed retail locations to grow an already tried and true model. As an example, Pizza My Heart this month opened their 17th Bay Area location - San Jose - Evergreen. Further north, High Tech Burrito this month opened their 14th Bay Area location in Windsor.


Here are traits common to the winners:

• a proven model,


• focus on controling operational cost, and


• the ability to scale.

Economies of scale and marketing know-how are also valuable. However, as marketing powerhouse retailers such as Circuit City and Sharper Image have demostrated, excellence in branding and marketing are not enough. Without the ability to control operations costs, a sudden downturn in top line revenues will expose weak balance sheets.

Credit is frozen. Consumer and business spending is down. Yet, there are still business leaders who are not only surviving, but looking for business opportunities created by the current economic conditions.

Talent, Talent Everywhere

GetQuik has added a new member to our customer service team . LJ is our first Santa Clara University grad. We had interviewed a number of excellent candidates for the position, and were surprised at the quality of candidates searching for new opportunities. LJ will be a key contributor to GetQuik as we continue to grow and expand into new territories.

For the few companies with the combination of strong cash reserves and the ability to manage growth in these difficult times, access to top talent is better than ever. These talented individuals will provide the foundation for explosive growth when the economy eventually pulls out of this dizzying tail spin. As those in the valley recall, our most recent corporate phenom was seemingly the only company doing huge levels of hiring following the dot-com fallout. That company is Google. They parlayed their uncontested talent grab into one of the greatest success stories of recent times. The most likely valley candidate to benefit from the current talent windfall is Facebook, though Twitter is making things interesting with their newly minted "it" company status.

All the best to the great folks yet to land into new opportunities. Although it may seem otherwise, top talent is required, even in recessions.

Fuel of the Irish

Green clothes, green beer and corned beef and cabbage. It's that time again. If you are looking to host a party with some traditional Irish food, we can help you out. Email us at support@getquik.com and we can send you a recommendation for your St. Patty's bash.

I think we could all use a little luck of the Irish.

7 days to go - Tuesday March 17th is around the corner.

Calling a Bottom

It was shocking to see how quickly we crashed below the 7000 level for the Dow Industrials. It becomes surreal as you begin to wonder if there is any end in site to the onslaught. I was expecting the market to hold at 8000, but clearly that was too optimistic. It appears that the market has surrendered, which leads me to believe that we have hit rock bottom. The market and the overall economy are correlated though not synchronized. The Dow Industrials tends to serve as a leading indicator, so the markets tend to tumble and recover before the general economy follows suit.

A look at the Great Depression numbers.

July 1, 1929 - DJI - 333.79 (peak before crash)

April 1, 1932 - DJI - 42.84 (market low point)

The US GDP ran negative from 1929 through 1933. Unemployment peaked at 25% in 1933.

Most economists are predicting a rough 2009 for the US economy with hopes of recover in 2010. That being said, the market seems to have much of the angst and future problems built in already. There will continue to be negative economic news to come, with more layoffs and bankrupcies to be announced before we emerge from this economic meltdown. Yet, it is likely that the markets will soon creep back from the current sell-offs we are seeing. At today's close of 6726, we may find stability at this discounted level. The general economy is another matter. There are many storm clouds gathering and currently dumping on us, and we may not see the sunshine break through before the end of this decade.

The report of AIG's record loss of $61.7 in Q4 2008 will likely serve as a demarcation point for the market nadir.

Some rationality behind this thought:

- By bailing out AIG, the Feds in effect are protecting the entire global banking system from having to bring back on the books losses related to credit default swaps that were insured by AIG. The losses incurred by AIG are losses that otherwise would have ended up on the balance sheets of our already fragile banks.

- Additionally the Feds are aggressively infusing the economy with a huge economic stimulus plan. This should bring some short term relief to the markets.

The question of how we can afford to finance this stimulus plan is a different question altogether. One in which we do not have a good answer to. Government spending is difficult to wind down once it gets started, which in effect we are green lighting with the stimulus plan. The solution if we are not able to bring our spending in line is to create more government revenues. We will likely be moving towards a future of higher taxes to support our bulked up government. Although the markets boomed as Reagan and his successors drove down tax levels for businesses and individuals, we were running a troubling deficit fueled by foreign funding. We need to work towards a balanced budget. If higher taxes is a part of that equation, it is a bitter pill that we will likely need to swallow. One thing is clear, if corporate, individual, and market returns erode, the tax revenues from these deminished amounts will also lead to lower government revenues. So the first order of business is to triage the economic situation in order that there are companies, individuals and capital gains to earn tax revenues from. 2009 tax revenues for the US are going to take a huge hit from 2008 as this year there will be very little capital gains taxes collected by Uncle Sam.

If the market does indeed hold the line at 6500, it may not help those getting laid off, but it should indicate that the economy will eventually come around as well. It is human nature to think that when thinks are good that they will be better, and to think that when thinks are looking bad, that they will get worse. However, that is typically not the case. As the saying goes, "it is always darkest before the dawn." From the market perspective it is pretty freaking dark right now.