Let's Talk a Little Pressure
Turning a company around comes with some real pressure awareness
The Employees. The Owner. And You.
The truth is most people could do it, and I highly admire anyone stepping up and attempting these complex and rewarding challenges. To fully understand what you, as the leader, will be signing up for, I have written this through my lens as a leader and the realities of what to expect. Indeed, organizational turnarounds come in all shapes and sizes but let's assume this is a medium-sized business with a few hundred million in revenue, 1000 employees, several locations throughout the region, and the CEO/President reporting to a board of directors.
Before we start, it's good to remember this post is from the vantage point of the incoming leader expected to enact change.
Are you ready?
Okay, time to set aside the buzz words, stop posting meaningless quotes on LinkedIn about what leadership is (or isn't) and get set to roll up your sleeves and put every ounce of energy into the task at hand.
Here we go….
13 events to prepare for:
Emotional damage will run deep, and it is critical to find out how far and wide it is throughout the company.
There will be "bad actors," and removing them is the only way forward.
Timeline - it will take three years (on average) to stabilize the business.
You will experience pressure as you have never felt before.
Internal and external forces will shift throughout the three-year timeline. (See The Leader ‘Death X’ below)
You will be travelling, listening and learning from your people the whole time.
Initially, the existing staff will judge you without merit or justification.
You will put all of yourself out there, and rarely will others do the same.
Culture and financial performance will initially collide on an epic scale.
You will preach the path forward, and a small portion of people will welcome the change and accept accountability.
Most people will defend their area, job function and expertise while pointing to everyone else as the reason for their missteps.
Few people will acknowledge their contribution to the failing state of the business and the reason for your arrival.
Your emotional intelligence will be tested and stretched to the point of breaking.
Still ready for the challenge? Yes?
Okay, let's talk about ‘X Pressure’
When entering an established yet underperforming and culturally fragmented organization, the forces and pressures on the leader will be at odds for most of the first three years. The image below shows how internal (people) and external (owners/investors) pressures evolve. If either of them gets too far in front or behind the other, the leader must recognize this, and a significant course correction must occur.
Any leader out of sync with these pressures will have difficulty successfully turning around the organization. It is a delicate balance between financial performance, culture creation, internal and external stakeholder expectations, and most importantly - your ability to control your emotions and 100% commitment (through actions and behaviours) to every promise you make.
Please don't assume that you won't make any mistakes along the way because you will, but owning them and moving forward with the intent to do better is the only option.
Suppose you are reading this post to the end. In that case, I suspect you either find yourself in this situation, have been a part of a similar experience, or genuinely want to learn a new perspective of the "behind the scenes" challenges of an organizational turnaround. Either way, join the ISYN community to continue the discussion.
Thank you for reading!