Family Mentoring

Most businesses are family owned and operated. They differ from large corporations in several respects.

Perhaps most notably family held operations have more restricted access to a broad spectrum of resources. Especially important will be the lack of financial resources and management resources with the skill sets required in a time of difficulty. Exacerbating this situation will be the lack of the crystal clear objectivity required to form and execute an effective strategy.

Importantly , the rigours and demands of management duties combined with the family dynamic create an environment unlike anything found in the large corporate model.

In the smaller family firm the additional demands on management brought on by financial distress are often overwhelming. Immediately – and nearly concurrently management must deal with several important issues, these are likely to include:

  • Assessment
  • Developing a turnaround plan
  • Negotiating with secured and unsecured creditors
  • Possible divestiture of assets
  • Maximizing and managing liquidity
  • Managing threats from constituents

The skills and experience required to effectively meet these demands are highly specialized and are rarely found within existing management teams.

Simply hiring professionals and consultants to address these demands  frequently results in lack of coordination, miscommunication and loss of control. The process becomes inefficient and therefore costly. The longer problems continue, the greater the loss in value.

At TCMI  we are able to maintain a sensitivity to the family dynamic and provide cost effective services for small firms to facilitate a turnaround or renewal. We are able to quickly integrate into the management team as counsel and advisor or as Chief Restructuring Officer or CRO. Leveraging existing management skills,experience and historical knowledge of the business we ensure a highly efficient and coordinated restructuring process.

The family retains control of the process, the restructuring is typically of better quality, completed in a shorter time and at significantly less cost than other alternatives.