The Art of the Business Turnaround – Embrace, Execute & Evolve

I remember sitting at my desk just wondering if anyone else saw it?  The writing was on the wall.  The global economy, changing demographics, and constant talk of the new information highway.  Shouldn’t everyone have seen the changes that needed to happen and fast?  At the time  I was faced with running a tired business in a declining industry that needed a huge injection of adrenaline in order to survive.  As I look back now, the level of denial was like a thick fog. The fog allowed everyone to sit back, take a breath and just hope that things would work out the way they had in the past. 

Well, let me fast forward 16 years and 600 war wounds later, to share what I wish I knew back then about change.  These are the lessons that have helped me work with companies to introduce change and get results fast.  

There are three distinct stages in the change or turnaround process – Embrace, Execute & Evolve. Each stage is critical and each stage is dependent on the other for overall success.

Embrace is simply the first phase that requires research, facing reality, planning and communicating. You need to develop a road map or plan that is rock solid and credible before moving on to the all important communication stage.  Do your homework and prepare to tell a compelling story of why radical change is needed in your business.  Remember – by this point you are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that change is required but the people around you will be hearing the message for the first time

Execute is all about teams making the change happen at the ground level.  By the beginning of this stage, your change message is probably 80% clear to 80% of the people.  That may sound good but the risk is that 20 percent of your employees will work against the change by chipping away at the majority.  The trick now is making sure the leadership team and front line management roll up their sleeves and set the example for others to follow.  If people don’t see and feel the passion and commitment to change they will stand on the sidelines, watch the game and wait for this new effort to pass. Now is the time to make some tough decisions about the employees that are on the sidelines or derailing the process.

Evolve is what happens when Embrace and Execute have been implemented correctly.  The word itself implies an evolution to the next level. From my experience this is the stage of the process that is most overlooked.  Usually the team is so busy executing and getting things done that they don’t notice how much has changed and improved. In a super charged environment the team actually evolves and continues to dig deeper to find more and more wins.  This is the point where good leadership means pausing to smell the roses and celebrate the successes.

I have been involved in over a dozen turnarounds in one form or another.  There is never an end to positive change and process improvement, but at the end of each project there is a great sense of satisfaction from seeing teams of executives, middle managers and front line workers come together to succeed at turning a company around.

In the next few blog posts I will expand on the three phases of change and build some detail and perspective around the concepts of Embrace, Execute & Evolve.

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