The 360º Turnaround CEO – Building Tomorrow’s Business

It Takes A Natural Born Leader to Turn A Business Around

Being a CEO requires a unique skills set whether you’re running a multinational, private company or a family business. The demands are even greater when you’re embarking on turning around a struggling business.

6 Tips to Consider When Hiring a Turnaround CEO

#1 Have clarity – a CEO can only succeed when they are clear about their role, who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. This helps to identify the organization and it’s true purpose. An organization that does not know who they are or their purpose will not succeed.

#2 Be a visionary leader – successful leaders have the ability to see possibilities and opportunities. Organizations led by CEOs who lack vision are often blindsided by their ompetitors and new entrants.

#3 Get everyone on board to take responsibility for profitability – this is a team task to consciously reduce costs and improve operating efficiencies. By focusing on the numbers daily and instilling a culture of profitability ownership will move the team to understand the value of taking care of customers.

#4 Evaluate the current situation – by understanding your market, competitors, value proposition and customers you will be able determine what your strategies, roadmaps and priorities should be to move the organization into recovery mode. Concurrently, ascertain how much operating budget you have and what finances are available to achieve the turnaround effectively. You do not want to have to compromise and cut corners because funds are limited.

#5 Create a cohesive team – A CEO alone cannot achieve a turnaround – it takes a team. It is crucial to create a team where the right people are in the right roles working in the most efficient way. The organization will be positively energized and engaged.

#6 Execute well – by creating the right strategies the organization is well placed to executive the plans. Organizations that do not move beyond the strategy phase paralyze themselves as they are either unsure about their strategy or are afraid of making a mistake. Moving into execution is critical to gain momentum and allow the empowered teams to deliver. By creating the right metrics, there will be room to revisit and improve strategies and plans if things are not going well but the fear of failing must not be a hinderance. People who learn from their mistakes create successful organizations as they have a
continuous learning and improvement mindset.

A turnaround CEO requires a well-defined strategy and action plan, realistic timelines and the support of the entire organization to achieve better financial results, greater market share and increased profit.

The reality is that every organization will stagnate or decline at some point in their lifecycle and this is not necessarily a bad thing. Whilst turnarounds require time, commitment and the right leadership, if embraced with an open mind, there are countless opportunities to improve, learn, re-evaluate and
reinvent.

To navigate change it is important to set the expectations at the start and communicate these effectively to all stakeholders. During the journey capture and act on reasonable insights and feedback whist realigning areas of improvement. After all it’s called turnaround because you are turning a business 360º.

Contact us or call on +971 552 167 567 to have a chat about how we help you recruit a successful turnaround leader for your organization.