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Tip of the Spear Ventures

Venture Capital | Private Equity

communication

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

 

 

Leadership Challenge – Is It Possible to Emerge From the Darkest Hell Healed and Restored?

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We recently participated in a leadership roundtable discussion.  The focus was on the many leadership challenge moments that leaders face running their organizations.  Whether the leader is in charge of a startup, with its many ups/downs associated with daily (sometimes hourly) survival or the leadership challenge of running an existing organization (sometimes no easy feat regardless of how long they’ve been in business!)  There were many topics considered for discussion:

  • What’s the best way to develop the strategic plan (and how to get that strategic plan implemented)?
  • Best practices when it comes to dealing with moments of change
  • How to ensure that all (both leaders and team members) have the same organizational vision through communication
  • Implementing recruiting strategies for A+ candidates (A version of the Top Grading methodology)
  • Ensuring that the organization continues to be agile/innovative
  • Creating a “High Potential” program for future organizational leaders

As you can tell, the topics were those most pressing to the leaders gathered.  Questions were asked/answered, and an overall tone of satisfaction permeated the meeting room. That tone though shifted abruptly when one of the leaders in attendance asked the following question:

“Here’s a leadership challenge for you… Is it possible to emerge from the darkest hell healed and restored?”

If you’ve read Malcom Gladwell’s recently released book, David & Goliath, then you know the story presented in Chapter 5 – Emil “Jay” Freireich. The story is of Dr. Freireich and his tumultuous search for a cancer cure for cancer. There is also presented in this chapter a theory regarding direct hits, near misses and overall misses (Think the London bombing that occurred during World War 2 . The theory being that those who received direct hits, as morbid as it sounds, don’t really count for “after bombing” feedback.  Those that achieved overall misses still laid in wait/fear for future bombings (a very small minority).  Finally, those that achieved near misses and lived to tell the tale found that they were not only resilient, but encouraged and grew in their resolve to overcome successfully future bombings!

With this knowledge in mind, we shared the story and similar story that those leaders who have experienced truly dark spaces (The ones they don’t tell you about in MBA school) often times have similar resiliency and resolve to overcome! The pressing leadership challenge therefore doesn’t really appear to present itself of much of a challenge at all (albeit those effected might tell a slightly different tale!)

What’s the Point?  So what’s the point? Can it be as simple as “that which does not kill us only makes us stronger!” Based on the research of Malcom Gladwell adn Dr. Freireich, we think that not only is there a high resiliency that would allow one to overcome obstacles but also succeed.

Why Leaders Should Communicate with Influence?

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We run into a lot of leaders that are looking to hone their leadership skills, and nothing does more to propel their leadership capabilities as much as solid leadership communication skills.  In this post, we’ll take a look at why a leader should look to communicate with influence.

So communication, what’s the deal as a leader?  Well, as one of our clients told us, everything in leadership boils down to your ability to communicate effectively.  The key word there is effectively! With solid communication skills, everything is possible.  Without solid communication skills, everything appears to be a struggle (or is difficult to accomplish).  Here are a few benefits as a leader when it comes to communicating with influence:

  • Raise visibility
  • Increase promotability quotient
  • Leverage yourself as a credible source
  • Raise your self-image
  • Show that you can collaborate/cooperate with others
  • Encourage and foster a team atmosphere

Ever look at yourself from these perspectives?  If you’re honest and on-target, you probably have.  If not, your people (team members, peers, and superiors) do!

What’s the Point? – Effective leadership communication is not an option!  You must bring your A-game so that you can hit your target for each and every communication encounter.

If you’d like to find out more about why leaders should communicate with influence, and more importantly the “How to” in order to implement/execute better communication skills as a leader, register for one of our upcoming Communicate with Influence sessions through the Javelin Institute.