Coming Back Better requires that leaders show the way.  I believe that the image projected by its leaders makes improvement possible or impossible.  That's why we're talking about your leadership image before any of the other "how to's."  Here's my logic:  You won't change your business for the better unless your people believe in the process.  They won't believe that change is for their advantage unless you show them how.  You can't show them how to work the process unless you believe in it, and can articulate it, and are being honest with them.  So you have to believe that your business can change, and that it will be better when good times come back.  For many small business managers, believing in it is the tough part.  But doing so is what changes your image, and that's essential to make the process work.    
    I admire and respect small business owners and managers.  I think that people who start and manage and protect and promote and improve small businesses (just arbitrarily, I'll make that less than 200 employees) are today's American heroes.   People who lead family-owned and managed companies, and people who run small agencies that help needy people, are the heroes of today.  People who fore-go the salaries and benefits and security and safety of either big business or government employment, hoping to support themselves and provide employment to others; those are my heroes.  Those are today's pioneers.  They are the people for whom I'm writing this blog.
    I also know that small business owners and managers, and executives of nonprofit enterprises, are not likely to have had much formal or sponsored training in management.  Many of the just fell into, or were born into, the organization they now must run.  They may not have had much choice about taking the job.  But they are determined not to fall down and let it fail.  Where to turn?
    Or, they may have been the head of some technical specialty of a social service agency, and, through no fault (or initiative) of their own, now find themselves in charge of the whole or some part of the operation.   Their business (for it surely is a business) may be short of funding.  Tax revenues may be down, and their competitors may be going ravenously after the few traditional donors in their field.  Where to turn?
    Or, they might have succumbed to the promise of ownership after sad and disappointing experience in a big enterprise and have bought or started a small business at what seemed a bargain price.  But then came hard times!  I've been there, more than once!  So now what to do?
    You have to believe that you and your organization can be winners!    And one of the tests of winners is that they know the things they are good at and the things they don't do well.  Winners know what might be their chances for success, and the hazards - competition, costs, lack of skills, decrepit facilities, poor location - that the business must somehow overcome.  When your people think you know these things you are on your way to success and you have the image you need. 
     How to know if you're projecting the right image (Modeling the Way) for comeback success? For one thing, you will be convinced that your team buys into the process.  They will be enthusiastic about working for a vision of the future that will move them toward success.  They will participate, as their position suggests, in analyzing your SWOTs. At this point you won't have a shared vision, but you will have convinced them that you all need one. They will understand that you can and will lead them to that vision.  If you're going to use outside help, such as a consultant or some respected advisors who understand visioning, you should have shown them how you expect your team to benefit from the knowledge you'll gain.  When you sense that your team is with you, you have the right leadership image.

  What do you need to know to start the Vision process?   That's what my next post is all about.

Bob