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!
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
- Turnaround Management: Why Companies Fail or Enter a Declining Period
- The Stages of Corporate Turnaround
- The Stages of People Turnaround Process
