Running a company can be surprisingly lonely. Many business owners need an outside perspective when facing difficult decisions, yet they often have no one they can openly talk to.
“I think I’ll sell the company and get a job instead.” That’s how our meeting started.
The surprising part? The company itself was doing well. Orders were coming in, clients were satisfied, and the business had been growing steadily for years. Yet the owner felt exhausted and unsure how to move forward.
Challenging situations are a natural part of business.
Within a short period of time, several key employees announced they would soon be leaving – moving abroad, going on maternity leave, or changing careers. For a small company, losing several people at once can quickly become a serious challenge. At the same time, new orders kept coming in and the busiest season of the year was approaching.
The business itself was healthy. The team structure was not.
Situations like this are common for growing companies. The way the business used to work simply stops working. And the owner suddenly finds himself facing difficult decisions.
The value of an outside perspective
Many business owners are surprisingly alone when it comes to important decisions. Some topics are too sensitive to discuss with employees. Others are difficult to share with business partners or even family members. Sometimes what helps most is simply having someone outside the company to think things through with.
Someone who can:
- help look at the situation from a different angle
- listen without judgement
- ask the right questions
During our consultations, we explored several key questions:
- Is it really so difficult to find capable and motivated people?
- Where are the imbalances in the labour market?
- What would the owner’s life actually look like if he sold the company?
Looking at the situation from different perspectives often reveals solutions that are not obvious at first.
An unconventional solution
In this case, we decided to challenge one common assumption of the Czech labour market: that most roles must be full-time.
Part-time jobs are still relatively rare in the Czech Republic. At the same time, many highly capable professionals – especially mothers returning to work – are looking for flexible opportunities. Instead of advertising only full-time roles, we created several positions with different levels of seniority and a high degree of flexibility.
The new team structure combined: full-time employees, part-time professionals, external contractors working on specific projects. This approach allowed the company to maintain capacity while building a more flexible team.
A new challenge for the owner
Of course, every solution brings new challenges. For the business owner, this meant:
- managing a more complex team structure
- making sure communication within the team works smoothly
- planning shifts so the office doesn’t become overcrowded
- accepting that the company will operate differently than before
Growing companies often require new ways of thinking and new ways of organizing work.
My role as an external consultant
In situations like this, my role is not to make decisions for the business owner. Instead, I create a confidential space where the owner can openly discuss concerns, uncertainties and possible scenarios.
The consultation typically includes:
- analysing the current situation
- defining the goal
- exploringpossible solutions
- supporting the implementation of the chosen approach
In this particular project, I also helped define the open roles and joined the owner during final interviews with candidates. Based on their strengths, we designed the final team structure.
Everything is still settling into place, and time will show how well the solution works in the long run.
What I appreciate most is the owner’s willingness to step away from the usual model of full-time employment and explore different possibilities.
It created new opportunities not only for the company, but also for people who want to work and contribute, even if they cannot be in the office from nine to five.
When it helps to talk things through
Running a company means making difficult decisions. And sometimes the most valuable step is simply having a confidential space where those decisions can be discussed before they are made.
If you are facing a complex situation in your business and would value an independent outside perspective, feel free to reach out. Sometimes the solution becomes clearer once you start looking at it together.
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