Taking Leave

> Determine if the time is right for you to take a sabbatical.


Mike Felmlee was in a delicate position. It was August 2005, and as the new CEO for the Prouty Project, a 10-person Minneapolis-based strategic planning and consulting firm, he was caught somewhat off guard by an announcement from the firm's dynamic founder, Jeff Prouty. Prouty had decided to take a four-month sabbatical.

Uncertainty reigned. What would happen when the guy whose name is on the door stepped away from the business, even temporarily? Would anybody listen to the new guy, Felmlee? Would business walk out the door? And what would happen when the founder came back?

"One thing I've learned over the years is that if you have to choose between fear and anxiety, choose fear," Felmlee says. Why? Because fear can be addressed far more directly than anxiety, he says. Fear can be quantified. Fear can be conquered.

Felmlee spoke recently to a gathering of small-business owners and business service providers sponsored by the Platinum Group, an Eden Prairie-based management and investment firm that helps companies cope with transitions, such as the sale of the business, succession planning, and sabbaticals for a company owner. I'm familiar with Platinum because I worked there prior to joining Wealth Enhancement Group.

"With baby boomers now heading into their early 60s, many small-business owners are stepping back and asking 'What's next in my life? What's next for me as a business owner?'" says Steve Coleman, the Platinum Group partner who heads up the firm's sabbatical consulting efforts. "A sabbatical is an opportunity for a business owner to put his head up, look around, and gain some perspective."

The first step Prouty Project's employees took to begin the transition process was to ask, "What are our fears?" Felmlee says. "Then we asked what were our roles and responsibilities going to be."

A key step in that process was also asking Prouty, the firm's majority owner, what they couldn't do in his absence. They were surprised when Prouty came back with only two off-limits matters: "You can't change the name of the firm," Felmlee recalls him saying, "and you can't fire our banker." Everything else was fair game.

From there, the group decided on how they'd split up various roles and responsibilities, and how they'd make the transition to being a Prouty-less firm. One of the first initiatives they embarked upon: a hug-a-customer campaign—no small task considering there was a total of 80 customers at the time. The campaign helped to lock down a significant amount of business, particularly for the critical third quarter, the company's busiest time. All of this took place before Prouty even left for his sabbatical. "That's when we knew we were going to be okay," Felmlee says. "That gave us a lot of confidence."

Nine months into the year, when Prouty returned, business was up 20 percent from the same period the previous year. But the team was concerned. What would be different now that Prouty was back? They cleared this hurdle by immediately holding a meeting with him to describe "the good, the bad, and the ugly" happenings during the previous four months, and to welcome him back to the business.

One important change did take place after Prouty's return: He moved into a new office away from Felmlee's to show the team that Felmlee was now in charge of day-to-day-business.