As a leader, you'll inevitably face the challenge of addressing underperformance. Whether you've inherited an underperforming team or are tasked with leading a business turnaround, the pressure is on you to implement sustainable improvements—and do so quickly. The key in these scenarios is to take a structured approach: evaluate the current state, envision the ideal future state, and outline simple, actionable steps to bridge the gap. Throughout this process, maintaining a laser focus on both team and personal development, while making small, tactical enhancements, will lead to lasting, sustainable performance improvements. Remember to stay practical, avoid unnecessary complexity, and always start with your people.
At Catalyst Point Leadership Advisors, we’ve honed our approach through years of experience leading turnarounds in both teams and businesses. Below is a glimpse into our turnaround playbook, which distills the key tactical actions and elite team development strategies we've found to be most effective.
Tactical Acumen: Building a Foundation for Success
Identify and Prioritize Customers: Understand who your most valuable customers are and who are the least. Focus on strengthening relationships with the former and reducing exposure to the latter. Never lose sight of the customer or the market.
Market Awareness: Continuously study market trends—know which markets are growing or shrinking and why. Explore growth opportunities, take decisive action, and move quickly. Market research is crucial.
Cost Scrutiny: Examine all costs closely—there are always untapped opportunities for cost reduction. Where possible, review cost savings as a group to encourage brainstorming, cross-functional collaboration, and boost engagement.
Focused Metrics: Measure what matters most but avoid trying to track everything—overloading on metrics can dilute focus. Keep metrics simple and track them relentlessly to maintain progress.
Visual Management: Visual management is essential—the more people aware of performance, the better. Ensure everyone knows whether the team is winning or losing each day.
Value Over Volume: Prioritize growing value over merely increasing output. If you can grow both value and output simultaneously, that’s ideal.
Weekly Planning: At the end of each week, take a moment to plan for the following week. This simple habit can dramatically improve alignment and execution.
Elite Team Development: Elevating Performance from Within
Right People, Right Roles: Regularly assess whether you have the right people on the team and in the right positions. Identify each person’s inherent strengths and motivations and align their roles accordingly.
Talent Assessment: When hiring or evaluating talent, focus on “skills, wills, coachability and drive.” Skills can be developed on the job, but willpower and coachability are intrinsic. Someone may be willing, but are they driven to achieve success?
Team Over Self: The team must always come first. If someone can’t embrace this mindset, they may not be a fit. There’s no room for egos.
Invert the Pyramid: Management’s role is to support junior colleagues, not the other way around. Always include the voices of those doing the work when solving problems in their area.
1% Improvement Daily: Encourage teams to focus on getting 1% better each day. Incremental progress leads to significant performance gains over time. The goal is to foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Praise and Accountability: Be generous with praise when you see these actions being taken—this reinforces the change you’re aiming for. Also, address underperformance directly; if you don’t, your top contributors will become frustrated.
Need Help? Catalyst Point Leadership Advisors Can Guide You
If you’re facing a business turnaround or need to elevate team performance, Catalyst Point Leadership Advisors is here to help. We bring a wealth of experience and proven tools to develop an executable improvement strategy that sticks. Get in touch with us today, and let’s start making your vision a reality.
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