Board renovation in a family company – 3 difficult decisions
In November 2024, we entered with an audit into a logistics company from Gdynia, run by three brothers. The business grew for 12 years, but suddenly stood still because no one knew who ultimately makes decisions about expenses over 4,500 PLN.
No more setting strategy at Sunday dinner
The biggest mistake in our clients' company was the lack of a boundary between home and office. The brothers could argue about leasing new trailers during a family dinner. This made childhood emotions affect the profit and loss account. At Management Eagle, we believe that we fix the mechanism, not the people, so we introduced a simple rule: no talking about work outside the hours of 8:00 am – 4:00 pm.
To be honest, the first week was terrible. One of the brothers, Andrzej, tried to call the others at 9:00 pm to discuss a problem with 12 drivers who didn't receive their fuel cards on time. We blocked it. Only when communication returned to the office and was recorded in the system did we see where the time was escaping. It turned out that they wasted 3.2 hours a day repeating the same information.
Emotions are a terrible advisor for Excel. If you can't separate a brother from a partner, you will always overpay for peace of mind.
Decision one: Budget under lock and key
In this company from Gdynia, each of the owners had access to the main company card. In one month, in September 2024, we counted 47 small transactions that had no business justification. From coffee at the gas station to private construction purchases. These were not large amounts, but they built a culture of lack of responsibility among 42 employees.
We took the cards away. We introduced a system of advances and reporting every Thursday until 2:00 pm. Every expense over 180 PLN had to have a project number assigned. A bird's-eye view of the facts showed that thanks to this simple move, 3,800 PLN more remained in the cash register in the first month alone. Without sugarcoating – it was a bucket of cold water for the board.
Decision two: Getting out of the driver's cab
The eldest brother, Robert, still felt best behind the wheel. Instead of managing a fleet of 12 cars, he himself drove the most difficult routes to Germany. He thought he was saving on a driver's salary. The truth was that his absence from the office cost the company delays in 14 key orders. No one was watching the deadlines because 'the boss was on the road'.
We had to make a difficult decision: Robert received a total ban on entering a truck as a driver. He was to stay in the office and watch the indicators. It hurt because he loved that job, but hard data doesn't lie. After 3 weeks from this change, the punctuality of deliveries jumped from 76% to 92%. This is real money that stopped escaping in the form of contractual penalties.
Decision three: New division of roles
The final step was to write down who is responsible for what. Previously, everyone did everything. The result? 23 times during the quarter it happened that the same order for parts was placed twice by two different brothers. Management Eagle implemented a simple structure: one watches people, the second the fleet, the third sales and customers. Nothing more.
Implementing these changes took us exactly 11 weeks. It wasn't easy, because in family companies everyone wants to be right. But when we showed them the report from the end of the year, where the operating profit increased by 14%, the arguments stopped. We fixed the management mechanism, and the brothers can finally eat Sunday dinner without talking about tire invoices.
Division of roles is not bureaucracy. It's a way so that three people don't do the same job for three salaries.
