Answering simple but important questions could make the difference between choosing a quick fix or a truly broad turnaround strategy before a crisis strikes.
With a fresh year upon us, business leaders would be well-served to review key indicators and determine whether even short term success may be hiding significant long term problems. It may be time for a turnaround plan, depending how you answer the following 10 questions:
- Are you continually improving your margins?
- Are you meeting profit objectives primarily by cutting expenses?
- Are you growing below the market rate?
- Are you managing your business quarter-by-quarter?
- Are you regularly measuring customer satisfaction/loyalty?
- Are you in demand at industry conferences?
- Are you attracting top talent to your business?
- Are you retaining your best people?
- Are you expanding your community of partners faster than your competitors?
- Are you improving communication with key suppliers?
If your organization cannot answer these questions, you have a choice to improve your management system in the New Year by including them in a new dashboard. If your answers to these questions raise some concern, they should. The good news is you
can choose to create a turnaround plan before these critical leading indicators point to a real crisis.