Having witnessed and participated in successful turnarounds over the years, one or both of the following things are needed to realize short term results improvement.
1.) An emergency
2.) A change in leadership
The word “emergency” usually describes something gone awry. The company turned in record losses for the quarter. The key architect of the best-selling offering left the company. The economy is forcing cutbacks. Employee morale has suddenly plummeted. If you consider how the company deals with any of those things, the “emergency” has the possibility of becoming a catalyst to improving results. At the precipice of making the most difficult decisions such as closing a plant for example, strong leadership finds a way to do something beyond the norm to turn things around. The “emergency” many times drives looking outside the box to find a new way to compete or even survive.

A change in leadership, the right kind of leader, can also bring about results improvement in the short term. Effective leaders take advantage of the opportunity to come into a new situation and deal with it quickly. They don’t need motivation from the team. They simply need the courage to make the decisions fast, get things moving in the right direction and turn things around given their new leverage. New leadership can be the key to getting results quickly.

Whether due to an emergency or new leadership, the ground is fertile for quick results improvement. When both occur simultaneously, the chances are far greater for significant improvement in the short term.