Tip of the Spear Ventures

A Family Office that behaves like Venture Capital | Private Equity | Business Consulting

Tip of the Spear

What Role Does Technology Play in Turnaround Management?

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The Point: When a company is on the brink of financial havoc (or already facing financial havoc!), we tend to look for ways to turnaround the operation. Technology has been looked to as an answer to the financial havoc problem. The role technology plays in turnaround management has been a great one to explore (Keep in mind, there are other areas of a business to explore… But those are for a later blog post!). Companies can not only explore business technology, but now rely on it heavily whenever they identify a turnaround condition. Technology is filled with the means to improve the positive effects of your business strategy. In this blog post, you will get to know how technology has been able to be leveraged so as to help turnaround management, and why you should put it into consideration when you next face a turnaround opportunity… Enjoy!

What Role Does Technology Play in Turnaround Management?

Roles Technology Plays in Turnaround Management

ROLE #1: SURVEILLANCE – One of the reasons a company may be failing is the devoid of effort produced by members of the company. If your company happens to be failing because of this reason, and you finally detect that, it will still be difficult to make necessary amendments without business technology. However, with the help of technology, you can check out the efforts each member of your company is putting to work. This can be done at anytime, and it has even been made advance that you can check this out right from your home or even when you are outside the country. This can direct you in turnaround management and even in the designing of a new business strategy if needed.

For example, let’s explore the surveillance camera. If you do not have a surveillance camera in your company, you can do it at anytime and it is very easy to install. Surveillance camera has made it possible for business owners to detect a lot of unknown and obscure things that happen in the place of work when he or she is away. This is a major role technology plays in turnaround management.

ROLE #2: COMMUNICATION – Apart from the fact that surveillance can be very helpful in detecting useful information, there are also communication tools that can make the management of a company get to know information from both business members and outsiders. The internet has also been helpful in making anonymous individuals share reviews about the company (Think Yelp!, Google+, etc.) This can help business owners have insight of what the company is lacking, and more importantly what is needed to be done for an effective turnaround management. Business technology that enables communication between business owners and employees should be reviewed/mined for input in further modifications (Products/Services, Processes, and People). It is a shrewd business strategy to survey employees so as to get information from them, rather than approaching them personally, as they may not feel too comfortable divulging some information without fear of retribution.

SUMMARY

In this blog post we’ve explored the question “What Role Does Technology Play in Turnaround Management?” and provided 2 roles to assist turnaround management. Keep in mind, technology has gained wide acceptance by majority, and there is rarely a company that will say no to business technology adoption. What might be questioned is the timeline for installation.

 

Sam Palazzolo

PS – If you/your organization has challenges as a result of Turnaround Management activity, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and request future post titles! Here are a few other titles that are currently in the works:

  • Why Companies Fail or Enter a Declining Period
  • The Stages of Corporate Turnaround
  • The Stages of People Turnaround Process

 

 

Tip of the Spear Ventures Announces Restructuring of Business Advisory Services

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Private Equity | Venture Capital firm fulfills clients needs in Mergers & Acquisitions, Sales/Business Development, and Turnaround Management business advisory service offerings.

 

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) August 1, 2017 – Tip of the Spear Ventures, a Private Equity | Venture Capital firm, announces the restructuring of their Business Advisory Services. The restructuring of advisory services came about to satisfy client demand looking to accelerate exponential growth and minimize chaos along the way.

Sam Palazzolo, Tip of the Spear Ventures’ Managing Director, states:

“Sales / Business Development is crucial for business leaders, regardless of whether they are a startup or existing business entity. The saying ‘nothing happens in business until someone sells something’ has never been more true in the new economy!” As such, Tip of the Spear partners with clients to put in place proven sales/biz dev practices that lead to results.

“Mergers and Acquisitions can be, and often are messy. When two entities processes/people combine, a ‘perfect’ storm climate presents itself.” Whether you’re the acquiring organization or the acquired, Tip of the Spear assists M&A organizations in front-end target selection, approach strategies, and post-merger integration.”

“Lastly, what if you’re not looking for M&A as a solution, but instead towards Turnaround Management? Leading a turnaround rarely goes as smoothly as a made-for-television CNBC show!” Tip of the Spear provides their years of experience in the turnaround space to assist.

Tip of the Spear Ventures’ Business Advisory Services offer organizational leaders an opportunity to strategically partner with a firm with a “boots on the ground” methodology leading to innovative strategy execution and results.

 

About Tip of the Spear Ventures

Tip of the Spear Ventures (Private Equity | Venture Capital) operates a financial investment business with aligned advisory service offerings. Our business focus is based exclusively on sound transactions, and on strategically partnering with accomplished leadership teams to drive results. We have worked for more than 5 years identifying, investing in and creating value in great businesses.

 

Contact Information

Sam Palazzolo, Managing Director

Tip of the Spear Ventures

www.tipofthespearventures.com

855.97SPEAR (855 977 7327)

 

 

The Leadership Challenge: Launching a New Business – 3 Tips!

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The Point: We all love the success stories associated with launching a new business that are bantered about in the media. 20-30x returns are often reported to those early investors who were daring enough to participate in fund raising. However, what happens to the ideas that don’t get launched successfully? What becomes of the leaders who fail(ed)? Where do the investors turn for investment lost? In this post we’ll take a look at the leadership challenge of launching a new business from a 30,000 foot perspective and provide three tips to help insure success at a foundational-level is achieved… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Launching a New Business – 3 Tips!

I Have a New Business Idea!

Being an Entrepreneur can be an easy living. You come up with an idea, market/sell it to the masses, and reap your financial rewards. Easy, right? Wrong! The leadership challenge associated with launching a new business venture can be daunting (Read that as long hours spent performing what amounts to tedious in nature tasks with little/no reward the potential outcome). I knot this unfortunately first-hand as a result of both launching several new business ventures as well as from an investment perspective helping entrepreneurs raise seed funding when either they drain their own funds or those of friends/family.

Just because you have an entrepreneurial idea there is no guaranteed success quotient that lies on the other side of that idea. So what can you do to dramatically increase your odds of success? I recently sat on a panel to discuss just what an entrepreneur can do to greatly enhance their odds, resulting in the following three tips to launching a new business:

Three Tips to Launching a New Business

Tip #1: Have an Awesome Team

I’m a firm believer that you can do it alone, but why would you? With today’s new economy and access to international talent for little/no cost, why would you not want to employ the talents of others to assist you on your journey. Look to hire the best, brightest, and passionate people. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day (#SPQR), but that’s because they didn’t have the internet!

Tip #2: Vet the Idea

Often times I’m approached to invest in a “thought” or more likely a “dream” that the founder(s) had one evening. Make certain that the idea you are pursuing in your new business venture has “legs” and can stand on its own outside of you and your startup-team. In other words, go out and conduct your market studies to insure that what you have to offer is (a) desired and (b) someone is willing to pay for it.

Tip #3: Make Certain You Love

It’s extremely important that you absolutely/positively love the new business concept. Notice I said “love” in that last sentence, not “I like it” or “I can live with it” or even “That’s a quick way to make a buck!” Here’s why love is paramount: You are going to spend countless hours away from those that truly do love you. So in those solitaire moments you’ll want to insure that your passion outperforms all others in pursuing your new business venture. If you are not 100% committed with mind, body and sole you will not be successful. (PERIOD)

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge associated with launching a new business, as well as provided three tips to assist in creating a foundation of success. It’s important to remember that not every idea you come up with as an entrepreneur will turn out successful. However, it only takes one idea to propel you to the front page of INC Magazine once success occurs!

 

Sam Palazzolo

The Leadership Challenge: The Yoda Process to Meeting Success – 4 Tips!

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The Point: Have you ever been in one of those meetings where the leader ram-rod home point after point, only to have everyone participating withdraw further and further from the team’s mission? How about if your meetings just don’t have a high level of candor/commitment present? If so, then this special May 4th Star Wars themed leadership challenge tip is for you… Introducing the Yoda Process to Meeting Success along with 4 tips. May the force be with you… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: The Yoda Process to Meeting Success – 4 Tips!

Our Meetings Suck!?!

So you’re sitting through yet again another boring meeting at work… What makes the meeting so boring? Why do you keep on putting up with such time sucks? In my advisory services, I’ve noticed a lot of meetings taking place where nothing of importance gets reviewed, discussed, and resolved (if need be). Conversely, I also see a lack of meetings take place on topics that should be reviewed to realign stakeholders.

If you’re like me, you’ve read countless creative ways in which to make meeting success occur through the use of what I can only call “cute” techniques. Think a meeting is going too long? Implement an egg timer so that when the timer runs out, the meeting is over (or everyone gets paroled!) How about coming up with an agenda that dictates not only topics that are allowed to be discussed, but the individual who will be “telling” instead of “discussing” the topic at hand. Now don’t get me wrong, an egg timer can be useful (if you’re making hard-boiled eggs) and an agenda can keep you on-time/on-target (if your leader had ADD/ADHD). But what you might need to do is let the “force” guide you by implementing the Yoda Process.

The Yoda Process

Who can forget that scene in the swamp where a young Luke Skywalker is training under the Jedi Master Yoda. With failure after failure occurring, and frustration mounting, Yoda attempts to guide Luke to use the force to help him. Just like a lot of young leaders (young is a state of mind), Luke replies “All right, I’ll give it a try.” To which our Jedi Master explodes “NO! Try not! DO or DO NOT. There is no try.” So what if you had a Jedi Master in each of your meetings? Do you believe things would better? Better decisions would be made? More authority would be gained? Projects and goals would be achieved? If all of these sound like a good moment, then the Yoda Process is for you.

The Yoda Process consists of appointing a Yoda for each meeting. The role of this Yoda is to keep stakeholders in line (on topic) and engaged during the meeting. The Yoda also helps keep professionalism in play (Sometimes honesty has a price to play in hostility and disrespect). A key question to ask the Yoda during meetings are:

– What are we not talking about that we should?

– Is this the most useful utilization of the stakeholders time?

The Yoda can then report back on the meetings “State of Candor” and insure that meeting results are achieved.

Four Tips for The Leadership Challenge of the Yoda Process for Meeting Success

Here then are four tips for the leadership challenge of the Yoda process for meeting success that I would look for you to employ in your next meeting:

Tip #1 – Select Yoda Carefully

You just can’t pick anyone as the Yoda for your next meeting, or can you? I would implore you to have a “rotating” Yoda chair in which each team member is allowed to play the role of Yoda. Not only will this strengthen team dynamics, but should increase individual accountability!

Tip #2 – ID Yoda Questions

While I mention two questions to ask your Yoda during a meeting, your particular meeting might require different ones. Ask your stakeholders to develop/come-up with questions that are specific to your project at hand either prior to or at the start of your meeting.

Tip #3 – Keep Track of Yoda Progress

Monitor your Yoda progress by measuring milestones associated with the implementation of your Yoda Process. Remember, what gets measured gets managed.

Tip #4 – Meet with Yoda Post-Meeting

You should plan on debriefing with Yoda after your meeting, NOT to talk about the meeting that just was met about, BUT instead to identify what worked well/not so well, what should be continued/discontinued, and what should be done the same/different next meeting. These Yoda Post-Meetings should be shared with the next Yoda so that meeting faux-pas don’t repeat themselves.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve taken a look at the leadership challenge of the Yoda Process to Meeting Success and provided 4 tips. If there is a dynamic in the room where you perceive that someone is holding back, try to encourage them to speak openly. Hence the Yoda Process was born. This process/methodology consists of designating one (or more) individuals to monitor meeting conversations to insure that they stay on-topic/on-reality. In the event the monitor senses someone that is holding back, they will call that individual out, requesting that they sense the holding back moment as such, and speak on behalf of said individual. Remember, while May 4th might only come around once per year, the force should always be with you!

 

Sam Palazzolo

 

The Leadership Challenge: Cutting Ties with Poor Performers

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The Point: Performance reviews by the numbers often don’t take into account the emotional aspects of working with people. While the numbers should speak for themselves, is it important to take into consideration the “other” factors when determining future personnel roads forward. In this post we’ll examine the leadership challenge of cutting ties with poor performers… Enjoy!

The Leadership Challenge: Cutting Ties with Poor Performers

GM Dumps Cruze… Why You Should Do Likewise!

General Motors (full disclosure, I’m an Alumni that spent 6-years at “Mother Motors”) recently announced that they would be cutting 2,000 jobs at their Lansing, MI and Lordstown, OH factories. Amongst the collateral damage that played out is the dumping of the Chevrolet Cruze model. Why are they getting rid of so many people? The answer is simple… The vehicle just isn’t selling!

In the competitive automotive landscape, just like in your personnel decisions, there is a need to constantly review portfolios of performance to identify what is and what is not working. These decisions can be long and difficult, and their implications can be far reaching for the organization and people (both those left behind to do “more with less” as well as those thrust into the job market searching for work).

Cutting Ties is Easy/Difficult

So what is the leader to do that is faced with poor performance and market rejection? The easy answer is to cut ties based on the financial or operational performance. For example, if John Doe isn’t performing up to the desired performance level he should probably be provided the opportunity to go be successful somewhere else. Important to note that as a leader this should not be done at first-blush, instead you have got to give John the opportunity to receive the proper training/skills/technology to perform the role. Once able to conduct their role, if they are unwilling or abilities come in under performance thresholds it’s time to cut bait!

On the other hand, cutting ties could be very difficult. I know plenty of leaders who struggle with the thought of letting go of an employee because of the employee’s good nature, family relations, and overall good-guy persona. But these aren’t good business decisions, and this isn’t personal in nature. So poor performers should be given the opportunity to go on their marry way out the door (They will land on their feet somewhere, and wherever that is isn’t your responsibility).

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve examined the leadership challenge of cutting ties with poor performers. While the business versus personal decision making ability of a leader can be clouded, making decisions with crystal clarity will lead to better results (And you do want results for yourself/your organization, right?)

 

Sam Palazzolo

www.BloodSweatSpears.com