Guidelines to a Turnaround

Today I am sharing some guidelines for handling a Turnaround of a company in trouble. These aren’t revolutionary and apply simple commonsense, but the key is to get buy-in with your employees and generate a strong sense of execution with everyone.

Here they are:

1. Everyone has to know the vision and the strategy … everyone from the top to the bottom. Most important, first line managers are the key … they must do two things and do them well everyday … get their job done and work together.
2. Setup an environment for success. When there is a win, everyone wins.
3. Open communication throughout … tell employees what’s going on … fully and honestly. No closed books, no clicks or groups, no “No’s” … openness only.
4. Everyone needs to know and believe that what customers want first and foremost is dependability and predictability. Anything short of these two factors can cause disasters.
5. Predictability is a good thing. Almost everybody loves predictability because they have learned what you do well and what to expect. So embrace predictability.
6. If you’re the top-guy, every problem is your problem. This is where Tom Peters’ MBWA (Managing By Wandering Around) plays into you being successful. Top-guy has to know his/her people and understand that they want to know him/her.

Finally, when you solve the problems and gain true dependability and predictability then you must learn/know that it’s a lot harder to keep things going great than to get them going great in the first place. This is where your steps of sharing the vision, setting a strategy, gaining commitment turn into results that impact the bottom line positively. This is what makes you a winner and where you want to be.

© Phil Hoffman 2014. All rights reserved

Revisit – Basic Guidelines for a Turnaround

The turnaround of an existing company is one of the most difficult things to do. For success it requires a real focus on what is to be accomplished, commitment of authority and responsibility from the top, and a tenacious approach to reaching the goal as quickly but pragmatically as possible. Here are seven basic steps for handling a turnaround of an ongoing company from an earlier blog I shared. These aren’t revolutionary and apply simple commonsense, but the key is to get buy-in with all your employees and generate a strong sense of execution and urgency for success with your leadership team.

Here they are:

1.     Everyone has to know the vision and the strategy … everyone from the top to the bottom. Most important, first line managers are the key … they must do two things and do them well everyday … get their job done and work together.

2.     Setup an environment for success. When there is a win, everyone wins. Everyone! (Talk about wins no matter how small and celebrate big wins)

3.     Open communication throughout … tell employees what’s going on, fully and honestly. The leader must be visible and accessible to everyone.

4.     Everyone needs to know and believe that what customers want first and foremost is dependability and predictability. Anything short of these two factors can cause disasters.

5.     Predictability is a good thing. Almost everybody loves predictability because they have learned what you do well and what to expect. Embrace predictability as a good thing because you are doing things right and with excellence.

6.     If you’re the top-guy, every problem is your problem. This is where Tom Peters’ MBWA (Managing By Wandering Around) plays into you being successful. Top-guy has to know his/her people and understand that they want to know him/her.

7.     When you solve the problems and gain true dependability and predictability then you must learn/know that it’s a lot harder to keep things going great than to get them going great in the first place. This is where your steps of sharing the vision, setting a strategy, and gaining commitment turn into results that impact the bottom line positively. This is what makes you a winner and where you want to be.

What are your thoughts about a turnaround?

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved