It’s Lonely At The Top (But The View Is Nice)

It's Lonely At The Top

It’s lonely at the top but the view is nice and you should eat better

When you are an entrepreneur, it can be lonely at the top. And whilst the view can be nice and the food better, having someone to talk to in confidence can be invaluable.

But having that person to confide in about business is not always easy to find, especially someone who understands what it’s like to be an entrepreneur.

Five reasons why it’s lonely at the top

There are many reasons why it’s lonely at the top, but here are five reason why it can be so.

Power reduces trust in others

Trust is a social connect. Trust is what bonds people together, whether in romantic relationships or in business partnerships and between employees and their boss.

If a trust is broken in any relationship, it becomes very difficult to build that trust again, if ever. This will depend on the people involved of course and the type of trust that’s been broken.

When I was running my manufacturing business, it came to my notice that my right-hand-man was not only stealing from my factory, but was also doing work on the side stealing my customers.

It goes without saying that this was a huge trust issue. What made things worse is the person involved denied any wrong doing. He denied he’d stolen from my business despite my having a list of 10-12 employees giving evidence to the contrary.

Due to his lying and determined denial, it took a several months of an HR battle to sack him for gross misconduct. During which I had to make sure every ‘T’ was crossed and all the ‘i’s’ were dotted.

This was a lesson learnt for sure. The lesson here or a remind is that it’s not always the case that we can judge others by our own moral standards and level integrity.

In the same business where this trust was broken, there were many other trust-breaking incidents, which can all add to a general mistrust of individuals or employees.

This lack of trust creates an invisible barrier between a boss and their employees, whereby a certain amount of distance is required. This is not to say you cannot have trusting relationships with your employees, but it does show that you need to be wary of certain individuals.

When I look back, my gut was telling me that something was wrong. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. As you get older and wiser, and with more business years under your belt, you become hardened to these types of event. My business colleague often tells me that he wasn’t born a cynic! Nor was I, but you can’t help but become one.

The big lesson for me was to never underestimate the need for systems and controls in a business. But also, always look for the possibility of any collusion within a businesses systems and processes. For example, in the case described above, there were two other employees implicated in the same scandal too.

Keeping a respectful distance

When you’re the boss and at the top of a business, it’s important to keep a respectful distance between yourself and your team.

This distance is to safeguard yourself and to avoid any conflict in the future. This is especially true of personal relationships with team members. An office romance when you’re the boss can lead to a disaster. So don’t do it no matter what the temptation.

Imagine what might happen if you fall into a relationship at an office party, which all goes sour. Plus remember that office parties, which includes the Christmas party, are work time for you and for your team. If an employee misbehaves at an office party they can suffer the consequences of a disciplinary after the event. I know this, as I had to take disciplinary action against a team member after they caused a fight when drunk at a Christmas Party.

The same rules apply to you too.

There’d be nothing to stop an employee bringing a claim against you for sexual harassment after the event. You’d only have yourself to blame and you would have opened yourself up to a potential legal battle.

Keeping your distance must be maintained for your own protection. But of course at the same time as it protects you, it also creates a level of isolation too. You’re not like one of the team. You must keep your distance, which adds to the “it’s lonely at the top” syndrome.

Your power and earnings removes connection

Human nature is sometimes people’s worst enemy. There are many people, including your employees, who are the jealous type. Jealousy creates a rift between people and can cause barriers.

One of the biggest jealousy types is around money, which is probably second to jealously of friendships and partner relationships with the opposite sex.

More than likely you as the business owner will be earning more than most, if not all of your employees in the company. If any of your employees are the jealous type, they will be envious of you for sure.

This will form a barrier between them and you and will mean they’ll not relate to you very well, or you to them for that matter.

This barrier helps to cement the lonely at the top scenario even more.

There are certain business situations that cannot be confided in with your employees

There are times when you need to discuss certain aspects about your business, but are of a nature that you simply cannot discuss them with a member of your team.

Examples of this may include your decision to sell or exit the business, or where the business is going through tough times and a round of redundancies may be on the cards. Or perhaps the business is suffering from cash flow issues and you don’t want to discuss them with employees to avoid worrying them.

This situation creates a void for you and it’s never a good idea to bottle difficult situations up. It’s much better to be open and discuss them with someone, but it’s finding that someone to talk about the situation. Someone you can trust.

You need to be able to find a person, like your accountant or another entrepreneur, who you can confide in who will be objective about your problem. Getting another opinion or getting input about a challenge is mostly the best thing you can do.

Another option is to engage the services of an part time FD. It’s even better to find one who’s had business experience and been an entrepreneur themselves. This way the person will understand more the situation you are describing, because nine times out of ten, they will have had the exact same situation as you did.

Be careful not to distance yourself from employees that offer generosity

Many times business owners can become more cynical over time. An employee might well be doing something for you in your business out of their good nature. They may be staying on late or working extra hours to help you in your business. Be careful not to misunderstand the gesture, as this may well isolate you from this person or other employees in the business.

It is therefore important for you as an employer to reciprocate where an employee has gone above and beyond. Failing to do so may drive a wedge to increase the distance between you and your team.

This will bring about more of a lonely at the top situation for you unnecessarily.

I hope you enjoyed this article about it’s lonely at the top

I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your business in the comments below.

If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about business or finance (or specifically about it’s lonely at the top), please comment below with your questions.

There will also be many more articles about business and finance for you to read and learn about these subjects.

FD Solutions For Your SME Business

FD Solutions - Let us focus on your business together

Flexible FD solutions for your small business

Imagine for a minute the idea of having someone right by your side in your business. Picture for a moment your having a financial expert that you can confide in, a person who will be there to help you with your business finances.

What I have described above is the service I offer as either an interim FD or a part-time finance director in your business. You can have the skills of an expert FD, but at the fraction of the cost of a full time finance director. This is because a small business usually only needs a few days input per month, which is usually enough support required from a part-time FD role.

But always knowing that your part-time FD is on hand at the end of the telephone when you need them.

You as a business owner know that it’s lonely at the top, because there are many things you simply cannot confide in with your staff. Also, you sometimes don’t want to trouble your partner of wife with the financial wows or ups and downs of your business (if you have one that is!).

What is included in part time FD services?

The role of an part-time FD or an interim FD is to support the finance function of the business.

This support role can sometimes mean the FD needs to roll their sleeves up to get stuck in. But it can also mean standing back and helping with cash flow, help with identifying cost savings, help with raising of finance and much more.

Imagine what you could do with the extra time you gain by having an extra person on board who knows all about finance. Picture having a person on board with you that understands finance and someone who is able to oversea your accounts process.

Here’s a short list of just some of the skills a part-time FD can fulfill

Free-up your valuable time as owner/MD because the FD takes care of the finances

Imagine gaining extra time to work on your business doing what you should be doing, rather than having to worry about the finance side of your company. Your time is much better spent on other areas of the business. If you have an interim FD or a part time finance director, the finances are taken care of for you.

Up to date monthly management accounts

Imagine having each month a set of management accounts prepared to an audit standard, which have been properly checked and balanced. Think about how good it would be to have someone to not only be in charge of making sure your accounts are prepared on a timely basis, but also accurately too.

If you intend to raise finance for your business growth, having up to date figures is vital. Both banks and investors like to see a business run well and with someone in charge of the finances who knows what they are doing. It’s vitally important to keep abreast of your business numbers so that any funding requirements are spotted early. Banks are much more receptive to businesses that plan and are in control of their finances.

Additionally, if at some point the business is to be sold, it’s crucial that the business is able to provide up to date and accurate figures, as this breeds confidence.

Improve your business performance and profits

Used properly, your accounts can help you to improve your company. This is especially true if proper management accounts are produced on a timely and on a monthly basis. Imagine having an experienced FD working in your business with you who is able to analyse your numbers, to spot trends, identify any anomalies and to help focus the growth of your business.

Imagine having having someone working with you to help identify costs savings. Also, to have an experienced FD knowing how to analyse gross profit margins to look at ways to improve profitability.

Identifying key PERFORMANCE indicators

Identifying key performance indicators or KPIs in a business is one of the keys to growing a business. Also, by monitoring KPIs important to cash flow will help the business to avoid cash flow difficulties.

Cash flow MANAGEMENT

It’s not just about improving business profitability, because if you don’t collect your profits your cash flow will struggle. Cash flow is the life blood of all businesses, so it’s vital to make sure all receivables collected on time and are properly monitored. Plus payables are stretched as far as suppliers will go.

Picture the ideal situation where instead of you as owner MD having to have those difficult conversations with suppliers or banks, instead you have an FD on hand who will do this for you. Also, FDs are fully aware of the tricks and delaying tactics used by customers to slow down payment. You will be able to rely on your part-time FD to ensure this is dealt with promptly and on time.

Streamlining your accounts and processes

If your business doesn’t have an integrated CRM system and accounts system, time and money will be wasted. This is because by having more than one system duplication is necessary. Any system or process that requires duplicated entries means there are more chances of error and more man-hours (i.e. cost) is needed to process the data.

Most modern accounting software have an interface which allows data to transfer between other programs via a link known as an API. This avoids the need for additional data entry. This saves time, but also allows for monthly management accounts to be prepared much quicker and at the same time saving money.

This is an area of the business that an experienced FD will always review.

A sounding board to help with making important decisions

When a business is growing, especially if it’s growing fast, there are many decisions to be made. Imagine having someone at your side or at the end of the phone who will be that sounding board. Picture the ideal situation where you have someone else to help you make those important financial decisions. That someone will have their finger on the pulse of your business.

An FD will be able to help you with looking at the best way in which to finance the growth of your business. This could include bank finance in the form of loans or overdrafts. It could be looking at options such as invoice financing. Other options like venture capital and business angels could also be considered to raise equity for the business growth.

Additionally, an FD can help with pricing decisions. They can review supplier and customer payments terms with you. An FD can also be that sounding board to help you to review the resources you may need to support a new venture, which may include new equipment, larger premises or more staff.

Planning for the future of the business

Imagine having an experienced FD on hand to help you prepare those all important business plans and cash flow forecasts. Picture the next time you go to the bank having an experience finance director by your side to help with your business funding requirements.

To find out more or to make contact either phone using the number below, or complete the contact form below.