Turnaround

What does ‘turnaround’ mean to you? In a business sense you’re talking of turning a company back into profitability. Personally it would mean hitting some good fortune after a series of bad luck.  Bonnie Tyler demands an emotional turnaround in “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.

Turnaround can also mean just that, to turn on your heels and go back as you came. Only, let us this time have a renewed mind and some vigour in our step. A good question would be: “Why would you want to?” The French like to say “Pourquoi pas.”  

Bike in FMS colours - thanks to street wire artists

So get on your bike and let’s go.  On a personal level once you know why you’ve lost there are two ways to go forward. Enjoy the memories, learn from it, and move on; or try yet again to recapture those magical moments. Being passionate about your business career, the process remains the same. Yet here you have no choice: you must turn it around. The same accounts for a company.

Reflection on the current status quo should ideally be part of a continuous quest for renewal.  To affect this successfully you first need to have a vision of what it can be, then have the guts to cut whatever doesn’t work, adding new product categories and operating platforms. How? Get the big picture first and don’t bother about the details of how you’re going to get there. Start with a broad all-encompassing view and then zoom in. View your company as a client would, from the outside.

·         What are their first impressions? How do they find you?  – Digitally, physically, staff, voice.

·         Do you ask questions that will solve their queries? Are you flexible, customer-driven?

·         Do you consistently over-deliver on value? Does the company display moral courage?

·         What product categories are you competing against? What business are you in (not what you’re selling)?

·         Do you invest in your employees and then trust them to do their job? Do they display a quest for achievement, integrity, a propensity to learn?

New Beginnings Wines - a decade of success as illustrated in Platter's SA Wine Guide

Going through this process you need to be diligent in implementing the changes and ruthless in making cuts. See your company as a corporate brand; creating a unique company culture, with each platform having an over-arching theme. Consult your top management, utilizing their expertise to gain special insights. But don’t omit getting the enthusiasm of all staff, asking for practical inputs. Then, unlike the politicians, you need to do a progress report every 30 days, not only after a 100...

FMS does this very exercise twice annually, spending two months mid-year and another two at year-end to actively reinvent the company, keeping it on an accelerated growth path. So far we are looking pretty good thank you, ahead of all expectations. What about you?  Can you parade all the staff onto a podium, turn up Tina Turner and sing: You’re simply the Best!?

_______________________________________________________________________

Photo credits:-

FMS bike – Anton Blignault

New Beginnings & Platter’s – Arthur de Magalhaes

References:-

Arthur de Magalhaes, FMS

Bonnie Tyler “Total Eclipse of the Heart” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcOxhH8N3Bo

Dave Kahle – Kahle Way® Sales Systems

Jane Zhang “Dream It Possible” c/o Huawei https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtWJfcLEEv0

Juliette Salmon, FMS

Street wire artists, Cape Town: Rasta & Victor

The Holy Bible: NKJV - Haggai 2:4; Isaiah 41:10; Jeremia 8: 4; Isaiah 43:19

Tina Turner “The Best” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC5E8ie2pdM

Winesave® “Recapture the Moment” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h_oag2I0bo

© Anton Blignault, Cape Town