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Tip of the Spear Ventures

Venture Capital | Business Transformation Consulting

turnaround management

Turnaround Management: Assessing Leadership – 3 Tips!

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The Point: The need for great leadership in turnaround management cannot be overemphasized. Leadership is actually what will determine the level of effectiveness of any action taken by the company. Leadership dictates talent management, which plays a significant role in the wellness of a company. You may intend to turnaround your company, or perhaps tried but been seemingly ineffective, and feel you need to assess your leadership to see if that is where the problem is coming from. In this post we’ll explore Turnaround Management: Assessing Leadership and provide 3 Tips (methods) for success… Enjoy!

3 Tips for Leadership Assessing during Turnaround Management

Tip #1 – Assessment Tools

It is required for holistic assessment to be taken, in order to scrutinize different aspects of leadership. Quite simply, there are various ways by which leadership can be assessed, but the problem is that none of them are accurate to the extent that they can be fully relied on. This is as a result that individual behaviors are highly sophisticated and dynamic (dare I say “chaotic”?) This method of using assessment tools may entail giving questionnaires, carrying out 360 degree evaluations, carrying out FIRO-B, setting interviews, reference guidelines, and so many more. Assessment tools can be very effective when various perspectives are sought so as to gauge leadership.

Tip #2 – Leadership Simulations

In traditional assessment centers, leadership is actually assessed with the help of multitudinous leadership simulation exercises. The way exercises can be used in talent management is the same way you can use simulation exercises to assess leadership. This method requires you to have physical (or virtual) locations, as well as various leaders and assessors that will be present for some time. What leaders typically see as drawback to this method is that it is not affordable and/or it takes significant time (Don’t get me started on the “reality” perspective either!) If your company can invest the same amount of money that has been invested for talent management and other managements to this method, this could be an excellent and shrewd decision. This is because leadership simulations methodology is intensely effective and expeditious. It also worth the money been as far as turnaround management initiatives are concerned.

Tip #3 Employee Engagement

Excluding direct observations of employees and arranging surveys of employees is another highly effective way to assess leadership for turnaround management. Companies can at any time develop questionnaires to gauge leadership effectiveness when it comes to employee engagement. This can also be done for turnaround management to see if leadership is the cause of the regression, or failure to achieve goal. This is effective for talent management in several different ways; It lets you know the employees that are improving. It also shares insight into prospective employees that might need additional support (new hires). Finally it could shed light on if resources are needed to increase employee engagement.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve examined turnaround management and the opportunity for assessing leadership along with 3 tips. There can be various reasons why companies need to assess leadership, especially during turnaround management. Assessment tools, leadership simulations, and employee engagement are at the forefront.

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:

 

 

TURNAROUND MANAGEMENT: Do Your KPIs Tell You It’s Time?

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The Point: – The compilation and coordination of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are taken very seriously by numerous companies for good reason. They often determine the business strategy the company will accept, and the strategies that should be rejected. Their compilation acts as a tool that differentiates the company from other competitors. So if you ask some business owners, they will tell you that the essentiality of business KPIs can never be over-emphasized. When your company needs turnaround management, business KPIs can help you drive back your sales, profits, and even make your company’s growth surpass previous levels. Nonetheless, if they are not managed appropriately, they can be detrimental to your business strategy. So in this post, we’ll explore the topic of Turnaround Management: Do Your KPIs Tell You It’s Time?… Enjoy!

TURNAROUND MANAGEMENT: Do Your KPIs Tell You It’s Time?

DO YOUR KPIs TELL YOU IT’S TIME?

Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) tell you whether it’s time to make changes in your business or not. Basically, the reason why companies rely on KPIs is to know if the things that are being done in the company are having a real effect on the business, measuring performance in a variety of categories. You can invest all your time and energy in getting so many tasks done by your company, only for your business KPIs to tell you that your performance needs improvement. You may think you have the best business strategy, but unknowingly to you, it is not effective enough. KPIs can indicate to you that there is need for turnaround management before the problems of the company present themselves (And if you’re like most of the organizations I consult with, there typically are one or two problem areas present regardless of how smoothly run the operation is!) Companies that track their KPIs and take it with seriousness rarely face worst state issues.

IT’S ALL ABOUT BUSINESS STRATEGY!

Measurement of business’ KPIs indicates to the leader how much, or the number of something, there is and allows for compare/contrast analysis between the different measurements taken (i.e.. total revenue last month versus previous month, year-to-date average, last year same month, etc.) The metrics and measurements however tell managers that it is time to add something to the business strategy or remove something.

KPIs FOR BETTER PROJECT/RESOURCE/TEAM MANAGEMENT

A company that does not rely on business KPIs will find it more difficult to manage projects, resources, and massive teams, when compared to a company that tracks and measures KPI. This is the advantage of companies that rely on KPIS that makes them rarely face issues in the worst situations. Every business owner should see the measurement of KPIs as a perspicacious idea, and use it to decide “next steps” for their business.

WHO SHOULD COMPILE KPIs?

Since your KPIs tell you it is time to make changes in various aspects of your business, it should never be taken as a trivial tool. If possible, employ a qualified person that can measure KPIs with data integrity/consistency, and at the same time decipher it for you. Your KPIs will guide you positively in so many ways, so it should be measured regularly, and followed-up properly to avoid unnecessary and superfluous turnover of processes/procedures/management.

SUMMARY

In this post we’ve explored the Turnaround Management topic of KPIs, namely if they are telling you it’s time to move your business around. Your KPIs are a toolkit that shares a lot of important metrics by which you can drive your business forward with from analysis. Not measuring leads to not managing, and may cause you to miss out on important turnaround opportunities!

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:

 

 

The Tough Work of Turnaround Management – 4 Tips!

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The Point: If you’re like me, you love CNBC’s “The Profit” staring Marcus Lemonis! Week after week Marcus seems to not only identify, but successfully partner with organizations looking to turn their business around. But does reality really work out this way off of television? The Profit makes turnaround management look so damn simple/profitable! So I started thinking, “What is the tough work of turnaround management?” So in this post, we’ll explore the tough work you’ll need to employ in order to achieve success in your turnaround endeavors… Enjoy!

The Tough Work of Turnaround Management!

Wait a Second… This is NOT so Easy!

Are you a businessman or a prospective businessman who is just curious to know how tough turnaround management can be? You may not want to feel too inquisitive, and therefore keep your curiosity to yourself (or as my old-boss used to say, “Kid, don’t quit your day job!”) If truly you belong to this category, then you are currently perusing the right post. Turnaround management and business change are important for new developments in an organization’s business strategy, and should be done with adequate seriousness, regardless of how tough they seem. Although I won’t say it is elusive to achieve success, it can require some special dedication and seriousness to achieve desired outcome (Value creation, profitability, etc.)

The Tough Work of Turnaround Management!

Here are four (4) tips to help keep you aligned for success in a turnaround based on the most common failures I’ve seen/experienced:

Tip #1 – The Toughness of Taking Charge: Factually, you have to learn to be a leader before you can finally lead. For an effective business change, you must be ready to take charge. Among the members of your business, there will be some that appear hard to control. However, know this much that you must do it! Having an excellent business strategy but zero leadership is like having a good car with no one willing to drive it (or no engine!) (If you’re looking for leadership development while encountering a turnaround scenario, I’ve established a new offering just for you. Drop me a line at selections@tipofthespearventures.com).

Tip #2 – The Power of Confrontation: Some people need confrontation before they can get things done. Confrontation is not really bad as people perceive it to be, and it can be highly effective! You have to apply pressure sometimes to get people to work. Some people always try to avoid confrontation so they don’t look cruel, but this notion should be erased when it comes to business change. Confrontations do not always mean lambasting a person, and if you are the kind that confront this way, you may have to change completely. Every statement uttered by you when confronting a team member should be positive, so as not to dispirit them.

Tip #3 – Building a Culture of Success: It takes more than a well-designed business strategy to metamorphose from a business that has gone sideways/down completely to a business that everyone wants to liaise with. If you do everything possible by you for turnaround management, but don’t get success, it is equivalent to you doing nothing. A business owner who has lost superfluously may even dash his hope in business change, and feel it is no longer possible to recuperate all that is gone and go back to normality. It is tough for you to lose too much, and still believe you will be successful, but it is paramount to believe so.

Tip #4 – Choosing the Right People: Choosing the right persons is also a challenge in going back to normality. Developing a new business strategy to bring back you company to normality may entail you dismissing wrong people, and retaining or recruiting the right people. This is a difficult task, compounded by the fact that it is difficult to differentiate between the right people and the wrong people.

SUMMARY

It may not be stress-free for to turnaround a company, but I’ve found degrees of success can be achieved if you take charge, are willing to confront, looking to build a culture of success, and choosing the right people. Remember, real-life isn’t like a made to order television show! You’ll have to put in a great degree of dedication and seriousness in order to achieve the best outcome within a short period of time as possible.

 

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:

 

 

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