4 Questions to Turn Around Companies/Organizations that are in Trouble

Excerpted in part from “Great Leaders ASK Questions – A Fortune 100 List”

A friend of mine was visiting with his seatmate on a flight. When his seatmate shared that he was a “Turn Around” specialist, my friend wisely asked him, “What are the keys to turning a company around?”  He responded, “It is really quite simple!  All you have to do is find the answers to 4 questions!  Would you like for me to share them with you?”  My friend quickly responded, “I sense I am about to hear something very wise!  Would you mind if I took notes?”

The man replied, “Please do!”  And then began to share what he does to “Turn Around” any company or organization that is in in deep trouble.  “I start by listening.  I listen to board members, to management, to employees, to customers and to stockholders.   I listen until I can answer four questions:

1.  Who needs to be let go?

2.  What position needs to be filled?

3.  What product or service needs to be discontinued?

4.  What new product or service needs to launched?

Once I know the answers to these four questions, I am ready to deliver my recommendations for turning the company/organization to their Board of Directors!

Employee Morale

What would you guess employee morale is like in companies that are in trouble?  Why?

Might it be because everyone knows that:

• There is one person that should have been shown the door a long time ago – but for whatever reason is still there?
• There is one key position that needs to be filled – that for whatever reason has never been filled?
• There is one product/service that is still be offered that no one is any longer buying?
• There is one new product/service that needs to be launched–but that for whatever reason the trigger has not yet been pulled?

What happens to employee morale as soon as it is announced that:

• The one person everyone knows should have been shown the door a long time ago, has actually been terminated?
• The one key position that everyone knows needs to be filled, has actually been filled?
• The one product/service that no one is buying has been discontinued?
• The one new product/service everyone knows needs to be launched, is being rolled out?

Might it be that employees’ morale will  move from feeling “Hopeless” to “Hopeful?”

Where should you be asking these 4 questions?

Who should you share these 4 questions with?

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