When a business is struggling to break even, has downsized heavily or lost a great deal of market share, it’s not uncommon for the owners or the board to cast out the prior CEO and search for a new leader. If you find yourself in this position, you certainly have your work cut out for you. Not only will your achievements speak for you in this new role, but also how you respond to the circumstances generated by the past leader. This can be a lot to chew and then swallow, and so it’s not surprising only those with strong dispositions can thrive in this role.
Turning around a failing or ineffective business, project or office can be a large ask, but it is also a possibility. It’s worth keeping in mind that this could be worth your time, as it will help you avoid making excuses and instead start using your fresh perspective to enact immediate changes. Using the following advice, we hope to aid you in this journey, to help you once again nurse a worthwhile business back to health.
Please, consider the following…
Establish Reliable IT Networks
Reliable IT networks can, quite literally, help your firm once again connect to its prior efficiency. Perhaps one of the hallmarks of an uncared-for or failing business is the unwillingness to keep on top of IT networks and develop them in the best context.
This is why it’s important to use the best IT managed services to keep on top of your networks, and if you’re unsure about that, we would warmly recommend you see more here, as educating yourself is key. When staff are properly equipped, working within a fast and secure network, have communication lines established, and cybersecurity is paid attention to, you can promote tech ‘hygiene’, providing a worthwhile infrastructure to help aid all of your future recuperative efforts.
Rebalance Your Talent
If the business is failing, odds are that people were the cause of it. It’s not worth blaming your clients, customers or even outsourced talent, as that only leaves you running in circles, and will displace where the true blame should be applied.
Rebalancing your talent can be an essential means of curating the best team. You may find out, due to an anonymous survey, that a whopping 70% of your staff are unhappy with the management team. Now, is that a real indication of how things were, or might it be the staff members are looking for something to blame themselves? From there, ensuring accountability by considering past strategies, measuring their effects and seeing just what the most impactful decisions were can be an important part of your process. Turning around a failing business requires you bring in the right people, lose the wrong people, or simply recomprise your team in the right manner. It might be that you realize you are vastly overstaffed or understaffed, and it’s not hard to see what solutions will need to be applied there.
Rebalancing your talent should never be out of the question, no matter how hard it can seem. When you apply yourself to this solution, you’ll have a better impact over time.
Sell Unnecessary Assets
If improving your cash flow is a paramount requirement, then selling off some of your unused assets can give you that important cash boost, and it can also reduce the overheads related to keeping said assets on your books. Inventory you no longer need to use, tangible property you have sitting around, or even old storage cupboards filled with ergonomic office chairs should all go, allowing you to streamline the holdings of your firm, keep your balance sheet clean, and use that money to fund your regenerative efforts.
Reinvent Your Brand
Sometimes, the damage to your image is such that you need to approximate a new solution going forward. This is not uncommon, so don’t think this is a great market of failure. It can be cathartic for a business and its staff to reinvent, to become refreshed, to find a new standing. You needn’t have to join another industry or completely reinvent your product offering, of course, but the delivery methods might change. Branding, packaging, a new name, a new logo, perhaps even a new office and website can allow you to start again without the weight of the past weighing you down. This may be a slow process, and should only take place after you are confident in a worthwhile direction.
With this advice, we hope you can properly turn around a failing or ineffective business.
