10 SIMPLE (but not easy) STEPS TO TURNING A COMPANY AROUND
10 SIMPLE (but not easy) STEPS TO TURNING A COMPANY AROUND
Yes we have a few bigger challenges than in a normal business cycle. Petrol costs are going to have a flow on effect, but given that we are all in the same boat, it will be interesting to see that some businesses will still grow and prosper, while others will give up, fall over, slip into a decline and even close the doors!
If you have staff then you have an opportunity, because company turn-arounds are actually not difficult - updating systems and processes is easy; updating the thinking and skills of the ‘people’ in the organization is usually the obstacle.
As a Personnel Manager in the poultry processing industry I observed managers and supervisors working 60/80 hours a week stressed beyond belief while employees leaned against walls bored out of their brains. Yet if anyone dared suggest a better way, EVERYONE in the organization went into paroxysms of fear, denial and resistance. We eventually did change the way people worked in that industry, and the results we achieved amazed even the most cynical.
Working as a consultant, helping organizations who are stuck in old ways of thinking and working, has taught me that there are a few basic steps which can springboard even the most sluggish organizations into results they thought beyond them:
1.HAVE REGULAR MEETINGS. Strange place to start? It is at meetings where honesty begins, ‘stuff’ gets sorted out and trust is formed.
2.SWAP THE ‘CHAIR’. If you always chair the meeting you’ll miss what is really going on at the meeting. And if you always chair the meeting the meeting will be the same every week or month. It is called groupthink.
3.SHARE INFORMATION. Teach people the cost of doing business; if you don’t teach them the intricacies, they’ll keep on making costly decisions.
4.COMMUNICATE REGULARLY AND GIVE FEEDBACK – pare back any problem and you will find that someone didn’t communicate with someone.
5.BE CONSISTENTLY HONEST! Most managers are honest in bad times and strangely quiet in good! A constant diet of bad news demoralises and demotivates.
6.HELP PEOPLE FIND A WIIFM. Humans resist change because of fear – fear of loss of jobs, loss of power, loss of status. I have learned that the only way to help people overcome a fear is to find a wiifm (what’s in this process for me?).
7.ASK FOR HELP. People love helping. Share problems, and you’ll be bombarded with a million ideas. Most may be of little value, but you will find some nuggets.
8.TREAT YOUR PEOPLE LIKE ADULTS. Most organizations work in parent/child mode – it debilitates both parties! Treat people like adults and they’ll behave like adults.
9.ASK YOUR PEOPLE WHERE THEY WANT TO BE IN 5 YEARS AND THEN HELP THEM GET THERE - you’ll never have an unmotivated employee again.
10.WORK OUT WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN 5 YEARS – don’t become the very person who is stuck in old thinking. Like attracts like.
And finally, if you are serious about results, Ricardo Semlar author of ‘Maverick’ did all of the above and improved productivity from $10,200 to $96,000 per employee, and now only shows up for work 2/3 times a year! He IS the owner – it isn’t the best look for a manager to only show up 3 times a year.
10 SIMPLE but not easy STEPS TO TURNING A COMPANY AROUND - To learn more about this author, visit Ann Andrews's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
So your company has hit a blip? Petrol costs are killing you; suppliers are putting their prices up daily; customers are taking longer to pay……welcome to the self-induced recession. A recession that we talk ourselves into every 5 – 7 years.
Yes we have a few bigger challenges than in a normal business cycle. Petrol costs are going to have a flow on effect, but given that we are all in the same boat, it will be interesting to see that some businesses will still grow and prosper, while others will give up, fall over, slip into a decline and even close the doors!
If you have staff then you have an opportunity, because company turn-arounds are actually not difficult - updating systems and processes is easy; updating the thinking and skills of the ‘people’ in the organization is usually the obstacle.
As a Personnel Manager in the poultry processing industry I observed managers and supervisors working 60/80 hours a week stressed beyond belief while employees leaned against walls bored out of their brains. Yet if anyone dared suggest a better way, EVERYONE in the organization went into paroxysms of fear, denial and resistance. We eventually did change the way people worked in that industry, and the results we achieved amazed even the most cynical.
Working as a consultant, helping organizations who are stuck in old ways of thinking and working, has taught me that there are a few basic steps which can springboard even the most sluggish organizations into results they thought beyond them:
1.HAVE REGULAR MEETINGS. Strange place to start? It is at meetings where honesty begins, ‘stuff’ gets sorted out and trust is formed.
2.SWAP THE ‘CHAIR’. If you always chair the meeting you’ll miss what is really going on at the meeting. And if you always chair the meeting the meeting will be the same every week or month. It is called groupthink.
3.SHARE INFORMATION. Teach people the cost of doing business; if you don’t teach them the intricacies, they’ll keep on making costly decisions.
4.COMMUNICATE REGULARLY AND GIVE FEEDBACK – pare back any problem and you will find that someone didn’t communicate with someone.
5.BE CONSISTENTLY HONEST! Most managers are honest in bad times and strangely quiet in good! A constant diet of bad news demoralises and demotivates.
6.HELP PEOPLE FIND A WIIFM. Humans resist change because of fear – fear of loss of jobs, loss of power, loss of status. I have learned that the only way to help people overcome a fear is to find a wiifm (what’s in this process for me?).
7.ASK FOR HELP. People love helping. Share problems, and you’ll be bombarded with a million ideas. Most may be of little value, but you will find some nuggets.
8.TREAT YOUR PEOPLE LIKE ADULTS. Most organizations work in parent/child mode – it debilitates both parties! Treat people like adults and they’ll behave like adults.
9.ASK YOUR PEOPLE WHERE THEY WANT TO BE IN 5 YEARS AND THEN HELP THEM GET THERE - you’ll never have an unmotivated employee again.
10.WORK OUT WHERE YOU WANT TO BE IN 5 YEARS – don’t become the very person who is stuck in old thinking. Like attracts like.
And finally, if you are serious about results, Ricardo Semlar author of ‘Maverick’ did all of the above and improved productivity from $10,200 to $96,000 per employee, and now only shows up for work 2/3 times a year! He IS the owner – it isn’t the best look for a manager to only show up 3 times a year.
10 SIMPLE but not easy STEPS TO TURNING A COMPANY AROUND - To learn more about this author, visit Ann Andrews's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
|||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
|||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Ann's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Fitness Sales Success Managing the Unimaginable Strategic Plan Internet Marketing Secrets Free SEO Report |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Social Media Blogs
Top 50 Social Media Blogs | |
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||