Summary:
William T Hayes II, CEO of William T Hayes & Associates believes that hope is not a viable strategy for preventing a business from failing. In consulting, Hayes has found three common culpability issues for businesses in financial decline. First, most businesses in a financial decline rely almost entirely on the one thing they know how to do — cut costs.
The second issue is that strategic planning and tactical execution in a turnaround process are rarely skill sets of the company’s front-line officers, even if the executive leadership team may have a proven track record.
Lastly, the “root cause” — strategic error is the last thing when challenged with financial crisis, most organizations blame their predicament on anything and everything except the one thing most often at.
Article Quote:
“If your business is significantly underperforming, focus on the following: Other than cost-cutting, what other action items have you identified that will impact the top line? What skills and experience do you have as a management team that will allow you to effectively plan, develop and execute a recovery initiative? Other than the poor economic climate, which usually exacerbates a problem but does not create it, what is truly the root cause of the problem?”
Cutting costs is usually the first area where executives look to balance their profit and loss statements when facing a financial decline. However, cutting costs is only a temporary fix to the problem – much like applying a band aid.
Strategic planning must remain flexible when positive or negative factors arise. Accessibility to the plan -for everyone in the organization- helps keep the plan active so course corrections may be made early, before the company is in great financial distress. Strategic planning software that creates visibility on objectives, tracks progress, and keeps everyone involved greatly increases the chance for successful strategic plan implementation.
For more on strategic planning, see http://www.performancesolutionstech.com/category/strategicplanning/