My Approach when assuming an operational turnaround role

   For the last twenty years, my career has centered on leading organizations or operating locations that require an operational turnaround. These assignments can be stressful, especially in the beginning, and all have required a systematic approach to allow me to be impactful on “Day 1”.  When accepting these roles, all were due to either a rapid increase in revenues or operational challenges that lowered productivity and financial performance. Either way, they had similar issues which were aligning purpose, process, and people. When revenues rise quickly, what worked yesterday will not work today let alone tomorrow. And with struggling operations, usually, there is misalignment of people, lack of a process and no clear purpose. Here is what I do when I take on these assignments.

    The first thing I do when I know that I am going to take on a new position of leadership is reach for my copy of “The First 90 Days” by Michael Watkins. This provides me a roadmap and game plan to understand the current culture, process ways to make an immediate impact and then provide feedback to my boss to understand what, why and when I will do certain things that may disrupt the business. I share that plan with him or her before I start so they know what to expect. I then immediately get involved with a “hands on” approach to understand the business to allow me to assess the leadership, the culture and take the pulse of the entire organization and how is has been led. I interview every office employee for at least one hour to learn about them both personally and professionally and provide them an opportunity to get to know me. Understanding the culture up front is crucial. Do not allow yourself to be pulled into the bad culture and become a victim of it. With Wellflex, we adopted the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) by Gino Wickman and it has been critical to establishing and aligning our employees to our core values and driving accountability. Rocket Fuel, By Mr. Wickman and Mark Winters, has been our glue between my president and myself to drive the culture the way we need it and want it.

    For manufacturing operations, I start with 5S. In my view, that is the absolute best way to jump start a Lean culture of Continuous Improvement. And do not try to go to fast and skip steps; ensure each location or department is adhering to the process every day. When we see that take hold, then we will move to identifying the value stream and understand the processes that exist or need to be created. Process mapping leading to synchronized value stream maps. But make sure the folks who participate are trained and understand the process of SIPOC creation. This has helped me in every location that I have provided leadership to understand why we have certain outcomes and what causes them. It allows us to then identify the changes that will provide better flow and enlist all our folks to “own” their portion. It clearly identifies what each person must do to support their team. I hesitate to put a timeline on these steps, but usually, after 8-14 months, we are working on this every day and it becomes second nature for us to follow and continuously perfect the process (PDCA). Lastly, “The Goal” by Eli Goldratt is required reading for all.

    Now, let's address the office part of my process. This is usually the toughest and most challenging part of my job. In most instances, I inherit a leadership staff that did not think I was necessary or required. My 90 Day plan helps me understand who is or will be onboard and who will resist any change I may want to make. Because I have been across many diverse markets (automotive, aerospace, industrial, energy, power generation, electronics) I am not seen as an “industry expert”. I have heard phrases ranging from “you’re just a car guy” to “that automotive stuff won’t work here”. What I like to do is establish a culture of change right off the bat and drive that mindset every day. I use Dr. Joel Barker’s video “The New Business of Paradigms” and repeatedly show it to drive my point home. To be honest, there are leaders that I inherit that will not make it either due to a lack of ability or lack of desire. Either way, I tend to move fast so as not to hinder our progress. EOS and “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni have helped me understand the importance of a tight knit team.

    My last item on how I approach my “turnaround” roles is the most important; I do not know it all and I cannot see all the waste and issues by myself. I need help and counsel and I need somebody to help me with the teachings and tools that go with installing a culture of Lean and Continuous Improvement. Ideally, I can find help and hire new leaders to assist me in the journey that are subject matter experts and can drive daily improvements. But until that happens, or until I have folks that can be trained, I rely on consultants to help me and, frankly, keep me on the straight and narrow. Andrew Bernhardt, Larry Loucka and Don Makie have been with me with me across multiple locations. Each has his scope of expertise and I pull them in when required. And then I check back with them to bounce ideas, results, and problems so I can continue to learn.

  Aligning people, process and purpose can be done in many ways and I am sure, there are those who will do it differently than what I do. I take knowledge from each role and blend them as I go to help me get better. These are just a few of the things I do and use at each assignment that I take on. My wife asked me when I was going to stop taking on these types of roles and I said that when I retire, maybe I will stop. Because what is most rewarding about what I do is seeing people who work with me move on and continue to do what we learned together. When they call me and ask me a question or I see them leverage what we did together to help others, that is my reward.