An interesting article today in the Lafayette Louisianna Advertiser. I don't know how long it will stay online, so here's the article in full.

It describes how use of administrative technology developed by L. Ron Hubbard helped a man turn his company around.



Executives learn to lead
Small firms join the rush to study management
John Sullivan

March 9, 2004


Claudia B. Laws/The Lafayette Daily Advertiser
Mike Carson, president of Carson Construction Inc. and Carson Homes Inc., stands Monday in the St. Jude home that his company is building in River Ranch in Lafayette. Two of his employees, Noel Otero, left, and Rodrigo Rodriguez, work on the home in the background.LAFAYETTE — About a year ago, Mike Carson’s construction company was ready to fold. Today, it has a project backlog that stretches forward almost a year. He estimates that before 2004 ends, he will double his work force to 200.

Carson, president of Carson Construction Inc. and Carson Homes Inc., said he owes this turnaround to a chance meeting with a management program created by L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer and creator of the Church of Scientology .

Carson was one of thousands of U.S. businesses that spent more than $51.3 billion on employee and management training in 2003, according to the U.S. Training Institute. A study by the institute found that the following items were the most common topics for management training: ethics, leadership, customer service and sales.

“We’re seeing more and more companies request business management programs,” said Roy C. Holleman, executive director of the Enterprise Center of Louisiana in Carencro.

“They are asking for everything from video conferences for managers to management training that can be done here,” Holleman said. “I think it is a trend that is here to stay — companies getting more training for managers to help them become more efficient and better producers.”

Carson said some people might be thrown off by the idea of going to a program founded by the creator of the Church of Scientology.

It’s called the WISE Management Program. WISE stands for World Institute of Scientology Enterprises.

“This program is for everyone, not just for members of the Church of Scientology mission here in Lafayette,” said WISE member Marie Pace. Pace is a member of the Church of Scientology and owner of Optimum Solutions Holistic Health.

“It saved me and my business,” Carson said. “I’m not sure how else to put it.”

The WISE program, Carson said, shows a business owner how to delegate responsibility; how to get rid of inefficiency and waste through a streamlined management process; and how to track each day with charts that show where each division is and how it is doing.

“That’s the key,” Carson said. “You learn to divide you business into seven categories, and you make sure that the work in each category stays there and it doesn’t start overlapping.”

Other management training programs run the spectrum from books and computer courses that can be bought at bookstores to high-level programs like the Owner/President Management Program, a three-week a year course that lasts three years at the Harvard School of Business.

The Enterprise Center of Louisiana is asked to helped arrange video conferences and for advice on Internet programs.

“The requests we are getting are from both small and large businesses,” Holleman said. “They represent a wide variety of our area businesses.”

Nathan J. Thornton Jr., director of the Micro Business Development Center at UL Lafayette’s College of Business Administration, agreed.

“What we are seeing now is something that I felt all along,” Thornton said. “Small businesses have one major thing in common — a particular skill or knowledge and turn that into a business.

“What we are seeing are more of these companies getting training for management skills. They have the skills and talents to open their businesses, but they need the management tools as well,” he said.

A lack of business plans or a sound operating program is the No. 1 reason why most small businesses fail, he said. The training programs, whether from the Center of the Carencro facility or private, all help give the business owners those tools.

“Training for management and business owners has pretty much caught on across the board,” Thornton said. “I don’t see it reversing itself any time soon.”